ECHL Adds Chicago Franchise

Chicago will complete its hockey trifecta when a new ECHL team begins play in fall 2011. The league announced the new franchise awarded to C&S Family Sports last week.

The Windy City is currently home to the NHL's 2010 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks as well as the AHL's Chicago Wolves. It's also home to the USHL's Chicago Steel, the AAHL's Chi-Town Shooters and the brand new Chicago Hitmen of the NAHL.

It begs the question, where does Detroit get off calling itself Hockeytown?

Anyway, the new ECHL club doesn't have a name yet, as you might've guessed. Just like the Greenville team, the owners are holding a name the team contest, which can be conveniently found at www.nameyourhockeyteam.com. The contest runs until July 21.

A feature of the website usually lists the Top 5 names being voted on. Unfortunately, it seems to be down at the time I'm writing this. At last check, Chicago Icehawks was in the lead. Hopefully they can do better in the next few weeks.