| abstract
| - The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 39th season of operation in 2014-15. It is currently the only Junior A Tier II league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternative to the United States Hockey League (USHL). The NAHL is the oldest and largest junior hockey league in the United States. The league currently consists of four divisions with a total of 24 teams. The teams span the United States from Pennsylvania in the East to Washington in the West; from Alaska in the North to Texas in the South. The teams play a 60-game regular season, starting in mid-September and ending in early April. The top two teams of the NAHL playoffs will meet in a predetermined location to play in the Robertson Cup Championship Tournament. From its beginning in 1975, the NAHL was primarily a 6-12 team league based in the Midwest, known as The North American Junior Hockey League Jason Weber, of Livonia, Michigan, is the all-time leading scorer in the NAHL, tallying 65 goals and 115 assists for 180 points from 1990-1992. Other notable alums from the NAJHL include Pat Lafontaine, Mike Modano, Doug Weight, Pat Peake, Brian Rolston, Brian Holzinger, Brian Rafalski, and Todd Marchant. In 2003, the league merged with the defunct America West Hockey League to form a 19-team league, the NAHL, which has led to the current 24 teams playing in the 2014-15 season.
- The North American Hockey League (NAHL) was founded in 1975 as the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League. The league was renamed the North American Junior Hockey League in 1984. The league dropped the word "junior" from its title in 1992. The league merged defunct America West Hockey League merged in 2003 to form a 21-team Junior A Tier II league, sanctioned by USA Hockey. The NAHL currently acts as an alternative to the United States Hockey League (USHL). In 2010 the league reached an agreement with the Central States Hockey League for the CSHL to become a feeder league to the NAHL and the CSHL was renamed the North American 3 Hockey League. The league currently consists of four divisions with a total of 24 teams. The teams span the United States from Massachusetts in the east to Alaska in the West. It also spans from Alaska in the north to Texas in the south. The teams play a 60-game regular season, starting in mid-September and ending in early April. Until the 2012-13 season the winner of each division will joined a host team of the Robertson Cup Championship Tournament, a five team round-robin event. The format was changed to a format where the highest remaining seed play the lowest remaining seed and the 2nd highest seed plays the 3rd highest seed in the semifinals and the semifinal winners meet in the final for the J. Ross Robertson Cup. In the spring of 2015 Lewiston, Maine was approved as a location for a new team for the 2015-16 NAHL Season however, the ownership group withdrew the application citing a lack of time to get prepared for the season. The group stated that they are intending to re-apply for membership for the 2016-17 season, however no action was taken for 2016-17. The Brooklyn Aviators of the United States Premier Hockey League were working on purchasing the rights to the Flint, Michigan-based Michigan Warriors franchise who were left homeless as a result of the sale of the Compuware Arena in Plymouth Township, Michigan which had the USA Hockey National Team Development Program relocate to Plymouth and the subsequent relocation of the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League to Flint, this transaction did not come to fruition either. On the afternon of June 1, 2015 The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees Twitter page posted the following: "Barring a last minute save this afternoon will mark the final day of operation for the NAHL RGV Killer Bees. Thanks to one and ALL!!". The website thejuniorhockeynews.com posted the story stating that the team was on its way to Aston, PA, which is the present home of the Eastern Hockey League's Philadelphia Little Flyers organization. The team was later saved in a tweet early evening on June 5th stated that the Killer Bees will be back during a 48 hour extension on finding local ownership. The team was apparently unable to find a local owner as it was [1] on June 8th that the organization was moving to Aston, PA and were taking the name Aston Rebels. On October 22, 2015 a press conference was held in Shreveport, Louisiana to announce the addition of the Shreveport Mudbugs. The previous Mudbugs teams was founded in 1997 and played in the Central Hockey League until folding in 2011. The Hirsch Colisuem is undergoing a $1.5 million upgrade and will once again have an ice surface. The new team will commence play with the start of the 2016-17 season. On April 1, 2016 the league announced the addition of the Northeast Generals organization for the 2016-17 season. The organization had been accepted as a member of the North American 3 Eastern Hockey League for the 2015-16 season with a team that was based out of Canton, Massachusetts. The NAHL team will be based out of the New England Sports Village in Attleboro, MA. The team also announced plans to play some games at Walter Brown Arena on the campus of Boston University and Matthews Arena on the campus of Northeastern University. The NA3EHL (now NA3HL) team will continue to operate.
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