Things have gotten a tad wild in the Tier 3 junior landscape on the East Coast last week! In case you missed it, below is an updated recap:
It started with this press release from the USPHL in regards to two new teams joining their league:
The EHL seemed blind sided by this decision by communication from the commissioner of the league, Neil Ravin, who followed that announcement up a day later with a press release of his own:
It didn’t take long for the ever outspoken, “interim commissioner” of the USPHL, Murry Gunty, to jump to twitter and post the following about the EHL as a league and their commissioner:
As you can see from the correspondence above, when asked for any type of proof of this accusation, Mr. Gunty, who again is the “interim commissioner” of the league that these teams just jumped to, who he then proceeded to bash the league they left and their commissioner (mind you also, Mr. Gunty at one point had a team in the EHL) had nothing further to share besides what would essentially be the equivalent of a “just trust me bro”.
Yet, Mr Gunty decided that since nobody from the EHL was going to take the bait, he might as well keep calling folks at the EHL out (as of this posting, Commissioner Neil Ravin nor the EHL has responded back to anything).
It’s not a secret that most teams in the past that have left the EHL for the USPHL have either a) relocated and eventually folded or b) ended up going right back to the EHL (unlike other folks, I’ll provide you with the actual proof of that which can be found here )
One other interesting tidbit from the announcement shared by the USPHL in their official press release on the website was this:
“We are thrilled to welcome the AXE team and their clubs to the USPHL,” said Interim Commissioner, Murry N. Gunty. “These are elite people and elite organizations, and they will have a huge impact on both our league level operations/strategy as well as our on-ice product. The Jr. Rangers and Railers will further elevate our league and our ability to advance our players to the highest levels in college and pro hockey.”
In addition, the NCDC will experiment with a pay-to-play option for these two New England division teams on a one-year trial basis. The remaining New England teams along with the Mountain and Atlantic Divisions of the NCDC will remain tuition free.
https://www.usphlpremier.com/boston-jr-rangers-railers-junior-hockey-club-join-usphl
So not only do you have new clubs jumping ship from one league to another, you essentially put back the Tier 3 business model into your Tier 2 division, which leaves a whole slew of statements and questions such as:
You are now claiming that those two teams from the EHL are not only good enough, but will elevate your league.
Does this mean the EHL and NCDC are on par with each other?
What is the point of having them pay-to-play if they are already at that level and in that league?
Keep an eye out for more information as I’m sure there will be more to come….
Cause, you know, just trust me bro.
