WHA Amateur Draft

8 teams, 30 rounds
Shane Hynes by Florida in 19th round
Matt Moulson by Hamilton in 30th round
There was also a 30 round professional draft. I didn't notice any Cornellians doing a quick scan of the list.
See www.worldhockeyassociation.net

I'm still not convinced this WHA is really gonna get off the ground. They list 8 franchises - Toronto, Halifax, Detroit, Hamilton, Dallas, Quebec, Florida, and this "Founder's Franchise".

I'm not even sure what that last one is, and considering it apparently doesn't have a city yet, I think we have to consider it iffy. Toronto is still pending negotiations to play in the SkyDome??? I was at the SkyDome this summer for a Jays game and i don't recall seeing a rink, so I'm very confused. And in Hamilton they're locked in a legal battle with the Hamilton Bulldogs and the AHL. At the very least, that one will probably take a while to resolve, making taking to the ice in October shaky at best.

So that means they'll probably have 5-7 teams, 3-4 of which are in NHL cities (assuming Florida is Miami). If the NHL does play (big if) that leave their only markets where they'll get the spotlight as Quebec, Halifax, and whereever that "Founder's" one ends up. Even without the NHL, Detroit and Toronto have AHL teams, and its not like fans in Miami were flocking to the Panthers to begin with.

They've already given up on Orlando and Jacksonville, 3 days ago they didn't have Florida on there. Seems like they've been bouncing between 5 and 8 all summer. Just doesn't seem very stable. Guess we'll see.

One risk for college hockey might be that the WHA, in order to field teams, signs some collegians, and then the NHL reacts by signing more of them to minor league contracts in an attempt to thwart the WHA. Neither league, however, may be in the financial position to be handing out real attractive offers, but even $100,000 might induce some collegians to leave school.

What they do at the SkyDome for hockey games is they take it and divide it in half with a big tarp-like wall and they put a hockey rink on the playing field (over the astro turf). The operation looks similar to what they did in Edmonton last winter. The SkyDome has a lot of entertainment venues that feature an ice skating rink, mainly Disney on ice and figure skating. It's pretty interesting to watch. Although, there are plenty of rinks around the Toronto area for the Toronto franchise to play in if the SkyDome doesn't work out. Remember that the Maple Leaf Gardens stand empty waiting to be used. Fortunatelly, unlike the other original six arenas, it wasn't leveled after the new arenas were built.

Maple Leaf Gardens is now being turned into a supermarket, they're taking out the ice

Last I heard the Founders were waffling between Dallas and Vancouver, and since Dallas seems to already have a WHA team...

According to this not very informative map: [www.worldhockeyassociation.net]

the fixed franchises are:

Detroit
Halifax
Hamilton
Miami
Quebec City
Toronto

and the last "floating" franchise is Vancouver/Dallas.