VHL Archeology Part 4

[Will3 467]

So it is time for the fourth part of the deep dive into the past series on the fourth of May. Perfect. Time to engage in my second favorite hobby of bringing of bringing the past teams of the VHL and VHLM for your enjoyment and consideration. Two more US based VHLM team are ready to be studied so let's begin the analysis.

 

Something very similar to the Madrid Thunder happened to this unlucky franchise.  In between the season of the Minot Gladiators  you will find the Syracuse Wolfpack. This ill fated team existed for only four seasons in between long stints in Minot. Given how short the time in Syracuse was, I can only guess that the move was controversial similar to the Madrid Thunder.  I doubt this team will ever returned to the VHLM for one simple reason. The city of Buffalo is a bigger market and it is considerably close to Syracuse. I don't mean to knock Syracuse as a sports city, it is just that when you have  a choice between a potential market of 1.1 Million people or 662,057 people, which one do you think is going to win. Also the name might need to be changed as the Wolfpack name is currently being used by an actual AHL team. Overall, with a bigger market relatively close by and the potential name change needed I doubt that VHLM will ever return to Syracuse alought it is still a possibility though improbable.

 

Back we go to the beginning for this hockey club. The Fresno Bull would play in the first 8 season of VHLM play before becoming the first VHLM to relocate to Buffalo and eventually become the Saskatoon Wild. (I am going to have to talk about that Buffalo franchise next week, am I." It is an unexpected place to put hockey franchise in an upstart league, near the center of California, but I wasn't around to make such decisions. I would rate the chances of the Fresno Bulls being reborn for the modern VHLM as good. There would likely be competition for a new Californian VHLM in the form of Sacramento. They would probably have a slight advantage over Fresno in getting a team. It would likely be a toss up over who would actually get the franchise. If Fresno would return, a name change to distance themselves from the Fresno State Bulldogs would be nice. A rival for the Las Vegas Aces might be good for hockey in this untraditional region, which is why a new VHLM franchise in the Fresno-Sacramento area is likely to happen at some point in the future. 

 

This little adventure has ended. There are many more team from the past to analyze. It is so much fun to dig into the rich past of the VHL. Perhaps I will do  a poll to see which cities I have covered you would like to see hold hockey teams again. Maybe I will do that after this series is over. But for next week two more dead teams to science over. I will see you then. Thanks for reading  and #MaytheForthbewithyou.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Will3