The Erie Blizzard will join the Midwest Junior Hockey League, a new Tier II Junior A league sanctioned by the American Athletic Union, in the 2012-13 season. But first, Curtis Prue, the club’s owner and general manager, will focus on putting a roster together.
The Blizzard will hold a pair of two-day tryout sessions at Ice Center of Erie – Aug. 11 from 3-4:30 p.m. and Aug. 12 from 9-10:30 a.m., as well as Aug. 25-26 from 3-4:30 p.m. The cost for each session is $75. The league’s inaugural season, which runs from Sept. 14 to March 17, features 16 teams separated into two conferences (American and National) and four divisions (North, Central, East and West).
The Blizzard are in the National Conference’s East Division with the Dayton (Ohio) Aeros, Lake Erie Steelheads (Cleveland) and the Northwest Ohio Grrrowl. Teams will play a 50-game regular season, with the top two teams in each division advancing to three rounds of playoffs. Member teams will play in the Veterans Memorial Cup playoffs. The Veterans Cup champion will qualify for the AAU national championship April 8. Prue said the league should release the schedule in the coming days.
The Blizzard played in the much-maligned Continental Junior Hockey League in their inaugural season two years ago. The CJHL had two teams in 2010-11. As Prue said in December 2011, the Blizzard left the CJHL a season ago because it had one team and the AAU, a national sanctioning body for multiple sports, refused to sanction the league. Prue hastily co-founded the East Coast Jr. Hockey League last season, since the team needed a sanctioned league to register players in order to insure them. But they were a Tier III Junior A independent team.

It looks like the Erie Blizzard will be back for another season in 2012-13.
Curtis Prue, who’s now the junior hockey club’s owner and general manager, said this week that the Blizzard has joined the Midwest Junior Hockey League. According to juniorhockey.com, it’s a Tier II Junior A league that’s sanctioned by the American Athletic Union.
The Blizzard, who joined a month ago, didn’t have to pay an expansion fee because they are a founding member of the league. Prue said the MJHL has 14 teams, primarily made up of teams that left the USA Hockey-sanctioned Great Lakes Hockey League. They will play a 50-game schedule. Juniorhockey.com said the MWHL’s inaugural season is set to begin on or around Sept. 15.
Prue said he has four players returning from last year’s team. Prue hasn’t determined what it will cost players to play next season, but he figures it will be between $3,500 and $4,500.
Prue has six undisclosed applicants for the vacant head coaching position.

- Victor Fernandes

The Erie Blizzard have chosen to leave the much-maligned Continental Junior Hockey League, coach Curtis Prue confirmed Thursday. The Blizzard will be an independent team for the rest of the season.

“We’re not playing in the league because there’s only two teams,” Prue said of the CJHL, a Tier III Junior A league that has developed a poor track record in less than two seasons of existence. The league had only two teams last season after the Blizzard merged with the Niagara Fury, of Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Prue said the team needs to sever ties with the CJHL in order to reach its goal of a 25-game season. The Blizzard began this season with three games in eight days against the Fury, the league’s only other team.

Officials have contacted club teams in the American Collegiate Hockey Association and junior teams from other leagues. Prue said he has contacted Tom McKinnon, coach of Mercyhurst College’s club team.

Prue said the Blizzard could travel to Dallas, Texas, the first weekend in December to play games against teams from the Tier III Junior A Western States Hockey League. “Nothing is booked yet,” Prue said.

After this season, Blizzard officials want to join a new league. Prue pointed to the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League, a Junior B league based in Indiana and Michigan, and Ontario-based Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League.