New franchises

[Dabnad 191]

In the VHL, we know that there are already a lot of teams in the league. However, if we were to have more teams, where should we put them. We would most likely be excepting somewhere in Europe or North America which would be logical but today, I’ll be exploring 3 places that make sense and 3 that most people wouldn’t expect on this list. Without any further delay, let’s start this up. (Note the first 3 will be the excepted ones and the last three will be the less excepted ones.)

 

1. Madrid Masters
Madrid is a city inside of Europe which is mostly underrated. Many people don’t think about it when they think of hockey but what if the VHL brought hockey to Spain and because of that, maybe even Portugal. These two countries inside of the Iberian peninsula have a huge part that hockey hasn’t explored yet which we could, and should, definitely explore. I also think that this team will be a huge step to making this country a hub for hockey and possibly the home of many hidden players.

 

2. Berlin Breakers
Germany is another place inside of Europe which has mostly been underrated for hockey. This nation has given over 40 players to the NHL which also includes the almighty Leon Draisaitl and also includes Marco Strum. Building a team for this city will be a huge thing for not just Germany, but also for hockey in general seeing the amount of space Germany has to grow. Building this country up inside of hockey will also give its neighbors (such as the Netherlands and Belgium) a chance to grow hockey themselves which is why having a team here would be great for hockey. I also think that having a hockey presence inside of Germany will encourage hockey inside of France which will make this even better.

 

3. Kingston Knights 
Kingston (which is the capital city of Jamaica for those of you who didn’t know), is also another place in North America where hockey has a very good chance of growing. This is the third place on this list where hockey sent currently one of the bigger sports however, we can definitely work to make it one of the biggest sports that the country has seen. Hockey in the Caribbean isn’t very well known due to there being a lack of snow and ice in the region however, with modern technology we could definitely build artificial ice skating rinks which would be the home of the Knights.

 

Now let’s look at some places most of us wouldn’t except to be on the list. For the sake of not being biased, I will be including a team from Africa, Asia, and South America. I will not be including Oceania because it wouldn’t make sense for the sake of logic and the logistics for a team here would be very complex and nearly impossible seeing that Oceania and North America are opposite in terms of time. Now without much further waiting, here are my last 3 places which I think should get a team for the VHL.

 

4. Johannesburg Jaguars 
Johannesburg is a city in South Africa and one of (three) capitals for South Africa. South Africa is the only full member country for IIHF inside of Africa and one of three countries which plays a role inside the IIHF (the other two countries being Algeria and Morocco). South Africa is also a country which has a lot of space to grow when we speak about hockey since it’s not the biggest country when speaking about hockey. There are two regional leagues in the country, the Gauteng Premier League and the Western Province League. The top teams meet for the national title in the Interprovincial Championships. (Sourced from Wikipedia) This shows that while they may not have a lot of hockey, they do play some even till date.

 

5. Tokyo Titans 

Tokyo is the biggest city in the world by its metropolitan area. This place has a huge potential to grow as a VHL team and I think that a team in Tokyo would be amazing for the atmosphere inside of the games along with more attention for the league. The Japan Ice Hockey League was the national league in the country from 1966–2004, when it folded in favor of the multi-national Asia League. Since 1933, a cup competition, the All Japan Ice hockey Championship has been held. A women's counterpart has been held since 1982. Japan has men's, women's and junior national teams. The Japan women's national team qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Japan hosted and participated at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo.(sourced from Wikipedia) All of this shows that Japan has huge potential to become a big market for the game of ice hockey.

 

6. Shanghai City Snipers

China is huge country, it has the most people in the world (at the time of writing) and it has a huge market to explore (identical to the one which Tokyo has but even bigger). Before people say that I should’ve picked Beijing over Shanghai, the reason I chose Shanghai was that the city of Shanghai is because Beijing already has a team inside of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL also known as Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga good luck pronouncing that if you’re not from Russia). China itself has 410 rinks and 2,764 registered ice hockey players. The Chinese Ice Hockey Championship has been held since 1953. The country's top team was China Dragon, who played in the multi-national Asia League. China has men's, women's and junior national teams. Andong Song was the first Chinese player drafted by the New York Islanders in the 6th round (172nd overall) in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. (Sourced from Wikipedia) All of this has led me to believe that Shanghai would be a jackpot for the VHL in terms of viewership and revenue.

 

All of these countries as cities have great potential to become great hockey cities granted the funding and advertising of the teams. I really think that this expansion would be a great chance for the VHL, VHLE or the VHLM to expand around the globe. Some honourable mentions I would like to put out are: Delhi Dragons, Sydney Strikers and Santiago Striders. All 3 of these cities (all in different continents) have a chance of growing hockey in their region which is why I think these three places could also work however, I think the others beat it just barely. Other than that, this is Dabnad Shaw signing off once again.

 

1105 words

Claim for week ending Jan 6, Jan 13

[Daniel Janser 2,218]

How can you say Tokyo is a niche/unexpected market when already back in 1974 Buffalo drafted famous Japanese skater Taro Tsujimoto from the Tokyo Katanas at two-hundred-something overall?

Edited January 31, 2022 by Daniel Janser

[atw2592 286]

Reviewing: This was a great article because I loved the team names you came up with. I don't know how close we are to an expansion, but I think the league should give these some thought. The Madrid Masters just rolls off the tongue. Classic name. Great reasoning as well because hockey really hasn't made it to this part of the world yet, so the newness factor would definitely sell tickets. Shanghai City Snipers is also badass. A Chinese team would be sick. 10/10

[comrade cat 310]

39 minutes ago, Dabnad said:

In the VHL, we know that there are already a lot of teams in the league. However, if we were to have more teams, where should we put them. We would most likely be excepting somewhere in Europe or North America which would be logical but today, I’ll be exploring 3 places that make sense and 3 that most people wouldn’t expect on this list. Without any further delay, let’s start this up. (Note the first 3 will be the excepted ones and the last three will be the less excepted ones.)

 

1. Madrid Masters
Madrid is a city inside of Europe which is mostly underrated. Many people don’t think about it when they think of hockey but what if the VHL brought hockey to Spain and because of that, maybe even Portugal. These two countries inside of the Iberian peninsula have a huge part that hockey hasn’t explored yet which we could, and should, definitely explore. I also think that this team will be a huge step to making this country a hub for hockey and possibly the home of many hidden players.

 

2. Berlin Breakers
Germany is another place inside of Europe which has mostly been underrated for hockey. This nation has given over 40 players to the NHL which also includes the almighty Leon Draisaitl and also includes Marco Strum. Building a team for this city will be a huge thing for not just Germany, but also for hockey in general seeing the amount of space Germany has to grow. Building this country up inside of hockey will also give its neighbors (such as the Netherlands and Belgium) a chance to grow hockey themselves which is why having a team here would be great for hockey. I also think that having a hockey presence inside of Germany will encourage hockey inside of France which will make this even better.

 

3. Kingston Knights 
Kingston (which is the capital city of Jamaica for those of you who didn’t know), is also another place in North America where hockey has a very good chance of growing. This is the third place on this list where hockey sent currently one of the bigger sports however, we can definitely work to make it one of the biggest sports that the country has seen. Hockey in the Caribbean isn’t very well known due to there being a lack of snow and ice in the region however, with modern technology we could definitely build artificial ice skating rinks which would be the home of the Knights.

 

Now let’s look at some places most of us wouldn’t except to be on the list. For the sake of not being biased, I will be including a team from Africa, Asia, and South America. I will not be including Oceania because it wouldn’t make sense for the sake of logic and the logistics for a team here would be very complex and nearly impossible seeing that Oceania and North America are opposite in terms of time. Now without much further waiting, here are my last 3 places which I think should get a team for the VHL.

 

4. Johannesburg Jaguars 
Johannesburg is a city in South Africa and one of (three) capitals for South Africa. South Africa is the only full member country for IIHF inside of Africa and one of three countries which plays a role inside the IIHF (the other two countries being Algeria and Morocco). South Africa is also a country which has a lot of space to grow when we speak about hockey since it’s not the biggest country when speaking about hockey. There are two regional leagues in the country, the Gauteng Premier League and the Western Province League. The top teams meet for the national title in the Interprovincial Championships. (Sourced from Wikipedia) This shows that while they may not have a lot of hockey, they do play some even till date.

 

5. Tokyo Titans 

Tokyo is the biggest city in the world by its metropolitan area. This place has a huge potential to grow as a VHL team and I think that a team in Tokyo would be amazing for the atmosphere inside of the games along with more attention for the league. The Japan Ice Hockey League was the national league in the country from 1966–2004, when it folded in favor of the multi-national Asia League. Since 1933, a cup competition, the All Japan Ice hockey Championship has been held. A women's counterpart has been held since 1982. Japan has men's, women's and junior national teams. The Japan women's national team qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Japan hosted and participated at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo.(sourced from Wikipedia) All of this shows that Japan has huge potential to become a big market for the game of ice hockey.

 

6. Shanghai City Snipers

China is huge country, it has the most people in the world (at the time of writing) and it has a huge market to explore (identical to the one which Tokyo has but even bigger). Before people say that I should’ve picked Beijing over Shanghai, the reason I chose Shanghai was that the city of Shanghai is because Beijing already has a team inside of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL also known as Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga good luck pronouncing that if you’re not from Russia). China itself has 410 rinks and 2,764 registered ice hockey players. The Chinese Ice Hockey Championship has been held since 1953. The country's top team was China Dragon, who played in the multi-national Asia League. China has men's, women's and junior national teams. Andong Song was the first Chinese player drafted by the New York Islanders in the 6th round (172nd overall) in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. (Sourced from Wikipedia) All of this has led me to believe that Shanghai would be a jackpot for the VHL in terms of viewership and revenue.

 

All of these countries as cities have great potential to become great hockey cities granted the funding and advertising of the teams. I really think that this expansion would be a great chance for the VHL, VHLE or the VHLM to expand around the globe. Some honourable mentions I would like to put out are: Delhi Dragons, Sydney Strikers and Santiago Striders. All 3 of these cities (all in different continents) have a chance of growing hockey in their region which is why I think these three places could also work however, I think the others beat it just barely. Other than that, this is Dabnad Shaw signing off once again.

 

1105 words

Claim for week ending Jan 6, Jan 13

make a montreal or quebec one for lord i wanna see quebec in one of these teams

[Beketov 9,131]

29 minutes ago, comrade cat said:

make a montreal or quebec one for lord i wanna see quebec in one of these teams

Blame @Beaviss for moving Quebec City to Vancouver.

[Beketov 9,131]

1 hour ago, Dabnad said:

Many people don’t think about it when they think of hockey but what if the VHL brought hockey to Spain and because of that, maybe even Portugal.

Funnily enough the VHL actually had a team in Madrid for a bit. Vasteras moved there for a few seasons before moving back to Vasteras later.

[Dabnad 191]

3 minutes ago, Beketov said:

Blame @Beaviss for moving Quebec City to Vancouver.

Hey, Vancouver is nice

[Dabnad 191]

35 minutes ago, comrade cat said:

make a montreal or quebec one for lord i wanna see quebec in one of these teams

Sadly, I focused on Europe 

[comrade cat 310]

@Beavissbek told me to blame it on you that we dont have a quebec team soo i officially hate you now 

Edited February 1, 2022 by comrade cat

[comrade cat 310]

38 minutes ago, Beketov said:

Funnily enough the VHL actually had a team in Madrid for a bit. Vasteras moved there for a few seasons before moving back to Vasteras later.

can you make another vhle vhlm vhl idc team that is in quebec?

 

[Beketov 9,131]

31 minutes ago, comrade cat said:

@Beavissbek told me to blame it on you that we dont have a quebec team soo i officially hate you now 

To be fair we can MOSTLY blame a Quebec based terrorist group who used the name of the team that WE BLOODY HAD FIRST so the connotation was not great.

 

But yes, also Beav.

[comrade cat 310]

2 minutes ago, Beketov said:

To be fair we can MOSTLY blame a Quebec based terrorist group who used the name of the team that WE BLOODY HAD FIRST so the connotation was not great.

 

But yes, also Beav.

well change the name

[Beaviss 4,958]

14 minutes ago, comrade cat said:

well change the name

 

Vancouver is cooler 

[comrade cat 310]

1 minute ago, Beaviss said:

 

Vancouver is cooler 

you are insane

[Dabnad 191]

42 minutes ago, Beaviss said:

 

Vancouver is cooler 

Agreed

[Lemorse7 1,023]

Love it Shanghai city snipers sound like my next expansion team name for nhl ahaha thanks for the idea  

[Will3 467]

You have some good team names. Some ideas for future expansion of the E and a future league in Asia. I did something like this 8n the past.

[comrade cat 310]

On 1/31/2022 at 8:51 PM, Beketov said:

To be fair we can MOSTLY blame a Quebec based terrorist group who used the name of the team that WE BLOODY HAD FIRST so the connotation was not great.

 

But yes, also Beav.

soo uhh can you make another quebec team and make it stay as a quebec team?