Per Greg Rajan, the IceRays were holding a press conference today, during which they likely announced their departure from the Central Hockey League. According to the IceRays' Facebook page, the presser began at 2:15 p.m., so news from that should spread soon enough.
I'll be calling Coach Ruskowski for his reaction to this becoming official, the effect it will have on the Bucks, his thoughts on the future of the CHL considering it has lost two cities in a matter of weeks and to get an idea about whether or not he is pursuing any players who recently became free agents in Amarillo or will soon become available from Corpus Christi.
Meanwhile, one player who Ruskowski did acquire from the IceRays during the 2009-10 season will not be returning to the team - and not just because of the drop in his caliber of play toward the end of the campaign - as Kevin Desfosses has signed with the Neuilly-sur-Marne Bisons in France.
You can read a roughly translated version of the story here; thanks to Robert Keith from the Texas Brahmas Insider for pointing that out.
As far as Todd Griffith, whose Hockey DB page seemed to imply a return to the Newcastle Vipers, a return to the Bucks might be more likely.
Hockey DB might have messed up on that one, as there is nothing official noting a return to the Vipers and the last news from there was of him leaving the club for a second time.
Adding to the idea that he could come back is the fact that I saw Griffith writing his bike down McPherson just two days ago.
Back to the status of the CHL with losing teams and all that, there may be some good news on that front, as Justin Cohn is reporting an interest in turning the IHL team in Fort Wayne into a CHL franchise.
According to Cohn, CHL Commissioner Duane Lewis has confirmed that the league wants at least a few of the IHL teams, and Cohn also links to a story saying the Bloomington Prairie Thunder are already headed in that direction.
If the league is able to add teams, of course it will want to do so, but adding more and more that are quite far away from the Bucks is only going to make the sting of losing Corpus worse expense-wise.
I'll be back with updates as more is announced about all of these situations.
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I overheard Griffith say during the season ticket holders' party that he was going back to his home in Canada sometime during June or July. That's why he is still probably here in Laredo. However, I wouldn't be surprised if he returns to Laredo. But who knows.
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