Even though I feel like the SHL would benefit having expansion teams in cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh or Columbus, that's not something that would excite me that much. But add a team in Montreal and that's an another story. If the cudas ever have to trade me or let me go, that becomes my number one destination.
04-18-2021, 11:51 PM(This post was last modified: 04-18-2021, 11:52 PM by Zoone16.)
For the sake of balancing the divisions, and not doing a full on realignment, I would put a team in Montreal. Not only is it my hometown, but they haven’t had a team since FuzzSHL moved the smjhl team to Carolina. As for a team name, I’d go for the Montreal Patriots or something in the same vein as the Canadiens in the NHL. I liked the Militia name & branding too.
Alternatively, the Mexico City Aztecs would be a great idea to bring hockey to a non-traditional market for a winter sport....
None of these would pull me out of Baltimore... but I would seriously consider it for a future player.
Realistically you'd have to drag Mat Smith kicking and screaming from Chicago, since there's no way in hell he's leaving willingly, but the most likely expansion city that might make him turn his head would be one that nobody's really talking about, Ottawa. It's the perfect location for an expansion team, the capital of Canada, never had an SHL or SMJHL franchise before, and just an untapped market in general. The only problem is that there's not many clever or cool names you could give to a team in Ottawa, (considering the professionals decided that "Senators" and "RedBlacks" were good team names) the only one I could think of is Wolves but it's a little too close to the New England Wolfpack's name.
I like the idea of a worldwide league and then I would really push for the Marianas Trench Bottom Dwellers. Its about the only expansion team I would consider going to willingly.
Every time this discussion is brought up I pick the same city... Hawaii is a city we need to expand into. Just imagine playing in Hawaii and then on your off days being able to relax in Hawaii. Yeah, logistics are crazy and it wouldn't make sense.... BUT let's just have some fun. It would be amazing.
Arizona would be a cool hockey market, I like the desert themes you can go with there. Even something haunted or to do with the mining boom could be cool, or something true to the areas roots of Native American life and lore. Too many animal teams and not enough supernatural ones!
04-19-2021, 12:25 AM(This post was last modified: 04-19-2021, 12:27 AM by visceralpotamus.)
While I am fully commited to the Edmonton Blizzard, especially with respect to their commitment to making the locker room as welcoming as possible to non-human athletes....the dream of an animal only team does....titillate me.
The Galapogos Islands are a natural home base. A paradise largely undisturbed by human influence, where Tortoises are allowed to roam free and song birds sing unimpeded by the hustle and bustle of noisy cities. While I don't suggest the team should be entirely nonhuman (inclusion goes both ways) I would love to management composed of non-humans, so as to ensure that our perspectives are seen and respected. Finally the branding that would make this move very tempting....
While a tortoise makes sense, I think we have enough animals being used as brands across the league (I'm sure that the league did their due diligence and requested permission from the respective communities *eyeroll*).
We've got a phoenix, an eagle, a buffalo, steelhawk, a bull, a wolf, a barracuda, a dragon, a panther, a lion, and a fox....
I think its time we took a page from greendale community college and roll with the:
Galapogos Island Human Beings
notorioustig IIHF Federation Head
Toast's Idiot of the Year 2021
My expansion branding would be nautical themed and based in Seattle. I'm a big Greek mythology buff so I have settled on the name Argonauts, based on the Greek legend. The colour scheme would be navy and gold and I think it would be really dope to see branding like this in the SHL in expansion. I hope they hire me
04-19-2021, 12:26 AM(This post was last modified: 04-19-2021, 12:27 AM by Kyamprac.)
I really love the new look for Winnipeg.. so the expansion team would have to have some pretty killer branding and an even better locker room to drag me away. I'm still waiting for someone to startup the Canberra Kookaburra or something.
04-19-2021, 12:30 AM(This post was last modified: 04-19-2021, 12:33 AM by leafsftw1967.)
Here are my top cities and branding that I think should be in the running for the season sixty SHL expansion:
1. The Austin Powers
One of the fastest growing cities in the United States, Austin is more then ready for their first major league sports franchise. The Texas state capital is the largest US city without a major league sports team so this could be a great opportunity for the SHL to expand its brand. Hockey is not new in the state of Texas either with the Dallas Stars being a great success in the NHL. The NHL was innovative enough to get to Las Vegas first. So why not have the SHL follow suit and be the first to claim Austin?
I think an Austin Powers team theme would be the best branding in the SHL that would gain a lot of notoriety from the famous movie series and should get a lot of talk going around the team. I think the name is also a pretty unique play on the city combining it with a familiar piece of entertainment that its sure to be an out of the box hit!
2. The Halifax Highlanders
The capital and largest city in Nova Scotia, Halifax's four hundred thousand population undoubtedly would embrace an SHL team. Nova Scotia is one of the most populated Canadian provinces without a major sports league team to call it home. So again I think this would be a great opportunity for the SHL to capitalize on an untapped market especially since the SMJHL was able to successful run a team in the city already. Nova Scotia's love of hockey is large with the support for their junior QMJHL Halifax Moosehead that regularly sell out games and with the development of hockey stars like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Al MacInnis.
So this team would not only be a team for the City of Halifax, it would be a team for the Province of Nova Scotia, a team for the Region of Atlantic Canada so it is fitting that the team branding pay homage to the Scottish-Canadian Community that helped first settle the Atlantic provinces.
3. The Mexico City Aztecs
While there could be an argument about there being little interest in hockey in Mexico City, you could have said the same about hockey in Los Angeles a few decades ago, too or even more recently Las Vegas. As the largest metropolitan area in North America with convenient ways of traveling to the city there will be a large pool of people to target for an SHL hockey fan base. Mexico City has attracted MLB, NBA and NFL games in the past so why not have the SHL take the next step and try to go all in with capitalizing in another untapped market and establish a hockey team in this major city?
As a member of the indigenous people dominant in Mexico before the Spanish conquest of the sixteenth century, I think the Aztec branding would do a great job in paying homage to the roots of where the city came from and provide people with some familiarity with the branding to an often foreign sport in Mexico City.
The Moon. That's right, the big rock that orbits the Earth and allegedly influences the tides. Who wouldn't want to play on a team that plays their home games in reduced gravity and with the best view possible? Could be the Luna Eagles, named after the ship that carried Armstrong and Aldrin down the Moon's surface.
Vlastislav Malik has yet to play in a Specters jersey, but he loves it already! IF he had to choose another team to join, it MIGHT be one situated in Toronto (guess why). Honestly though, it would be very tough to pass up an opportunity to play for an extra-terrestrial team! Martian Manhunters? Saturn.....someone help me out here.
Take me back to the days of the Portland Admirals, when Admiral Ackbar was more of a messiah to us than our true lord and savior. Yeah, yellow and black and pirates, baby!
if the Las Vegas Jokers came into existance I would be out of LA in a heart beat. Alternatively If the PHL's Washington Bombers were reborn in the SHL I would also bounce on up out this bish.
Something in Ohio. Was the AD for Cincinnati in the SBA's version of the NCAA and think it would be nice if the league for a team in either of the major cities. I guess the other big ones would be Montreal or Philly.
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