[Tiger Fan]

August 15, 1972
RIVAL HOCKEY LEAGUE TAKES FLIGHT
Prairie Circuit Rebrands as Continental Loop, Declares Major Status

The inevitable has happened. With rival leagues springing up across the sporting landscape—from football to basketball—it was only a matter of time before professional hockey drew its own challenger.

On the heels of the North American Hockey Confederation’s latest expansion to Pittsburgh and Atlanta, a group of promoters from the Prairie League has stepped forward, rebranding their circuit as the Continental Hockey League and declaring themselves a major league.

For the past six seasons the Prairie League operated quietly as a western minor loop, its clubs scattered through the Canadian prairies and the northwestern United States. But opportunity knocked this summer when Ottawa and Buffalo—each long rumored to be seeking NAHC franchises—were again passed over. The Prairie group moved quickly to fill the void.

Former Toronto Dukes star Lou Galbraith, now a key figure in the Prairie loop's Winnipeg Falcons organization, joined forces with veteran coach Badger Rigney, the old Detroit Motors bench boss, to map out a bold plan for a coast-to-coast league. With existing franchises in Denver, Kansas City, and Seattle already in place along with three Western Canadian teams, Galbraith and Rigney found willing partners in the eastern cities that had grown tired of waiting for the Confederation’s call.

Using their long connections in the game, the pair convinced potential backers in Ottawa and Buffalo to sign on, arguing that hockey could follow the same path taken by football and basketball—where rival circuits had gained parity and even forced mergers. Within weeks, the Prairie League name was dropped and the Continental Hockey Association was born.

Momentum built quickly. Cleveland was soon on board, and when word spread that Hobie Barrell, the Detroit Motors’ high-scoring ace and arguably the sport’s biggest star, was prepared to jump, the new league’s credibility soared. Three more entries—Chicago Lions, New England Privateers, and New York Eagles—were hastily organized, the latter reviving a name from hockey’s past at Rigney’s suggestion.

By late summer the Continental had twelve clubs signed, sealed, and ready to skate come September. And with contracts being waved in front of established NAHC players, the first open battle for talent in a generation has begun.

What effect this will have on the Confederation remains to be seen, but the pattern in other sports is clear: competition means higher salaries, restless owners, and plenty of headlines.

Pro hockey, long insulated from such warfare, is suddenly in the middle of it. The puck drops this fall, and the game may never be quite the same again.

BARRELL BOLTS DETROIT FOR ATHLETICS

A week later it was confirmed that Hobie Barrell, four-time winner of the McDaniels Trophy as the NAHC's most valuable player, has left the Detroit Motors and signed with the Ottawa Athletics of the new Continental Hockey League. The 31-year-old winger had spent his entire 11-year career with the Motors and his 492 goals and 1,020 points had left him third all-time in NAHC goals and points, trailing only Quinton Pollack and Tommy Burns. With Ottawa Hobie will be reunited with his brother Benny Barrell. The duo had spent eight years together in Detroit and combined on four Challenge Cup wins, with Hobie adding one more title last year after Benny was left unprotected by the Motors and selected by the Calgary Grizzlies in the 1970 expansion draft.

Barrell's contract is believed to a record amount ever paid to a hockey player, a multi-year deal that is rumoured to be worth one million dollars.

Hobie did not confirm the contract terms but did note that while the money was more than he ever dreamed of making, the real drawing card to jumping leagues was the opportunity to be reunited with his brother on the Athletics. The boys are no strangers to Ottawa as Benny played his junior hockey across the river in Hull, Quebec and both had spent a year in Canada's capital as youths when their father, former baseball player turned U.S. state department official Fred Barrell was stationed there. Fred is presently serving an unspecified role for the American government in Berlin.

The Barrell's decision to jump leagues is expected to open the floodgates for other NAHC players who may have been on the fence about joining the new loop but are now instilled with confidence in its potential after signing the Barrell brothers.