No guarantees, but NLPH likes North Bay

Unlike other fledging hockey leagues, Cary Kaplan is not making any promises to North Bay hockey fans.

He’s heard all the stories about other leagues like the WHA2 and the Federal Hockey League attempting to set up franchises in North Bay.

“We are going to walk before we run with this thing,“ said Kaplan, who’s Southern Ontario consulting firm Cosmos Sports, is helping the U.S. based National League of Professional Hockey set up its strategic planning and management.

On Wednesday the league announced that the eight team league will begin play in the fall of 2005. Kaplan said they already have three ownership groups in place and they are looking for five more.

Owner First

While the league has showed a business plan to the city, Kaplan insists they won’t move forward on anything else until they get an owner who wants a franchise in the Gateway city.

“Once we get the owners in place, we will try to suggest market places to them,” said Kaplan.

“Our objective is to find a group with the financial where with all to run a franchise in one of our target markets, like North Bay.”

The Players

The league is hoping to have an inaugural 20 round, eight team draft in the spring of 2005.

The league would consider itself the lowest level of minor professional hockey, and they feel there is a need for it.

“A lot of players fall through the cracks in the hockey world,” said Kaplan. “This league is a place for guys who haven’t found a spot in the system.”

Kaplan believes an example of that can be seen on CBC’s, “Making the Cut,” series. The hockey reality show took thousands of Canadian hockey players to tryout camps breaking it down, with the top six players getting tryout spots with National Hockey League teams.

He thinks players from that competition can play in the NLPH.

Will it Happen?

So is this again the last we hear about a pro hockey league coming to town? Well, that will depend on whether a owner wants to bring pro hockey to North Bay.

The league’s expectations are not set high, but at least they are realistic.