Jr. Hurricanes Upgrade to MET

            The Jr. Hurricanes are looking forward to their second season as a Jr. B team, but it will not be in the Continental Hockey Association (CHA).  Instead, the runners up from the CHA Playoffs will be making a major improvement for the 2008-09 season.  GM / Head Coach Shawn Ray has made another improvement to this young Jr. program as they will be playing in the oldest and most respected Jr. League in the country, The Metropolitan Hockey League.

            “This is a forty year old league with a lot of history and security behind them.  They have an established Jr. A League (AJHL) attached to their Jr. B product and it only made sense to jump on board,” Say’s Shawn Ray.

            This opportunity came available very recently, but it has been in the works for several months when Glenn Hefferan, President of the MET and Atlantic Jr. Hockey League saw the growth of hockey in the south.  With the success of the Jr. Hurricanes last year in the CHA, it was only a matter of time before the program would make a move to a bigger and better league.  “We are always asking for the players to improve as the game goes on and in practice, so it only makes sense that we offer them a better product.  The Met League has much better teams and a much better level of competition,” ads Shawn

            This past April, the Jr. B Nationals took place in Marlboro, MA with the two best teams coming out of the MET League. The Long Island Royals defeated the Northern Cyclones to win the 2008 Jr. B Nationals.  These are the teams that the Hurricanes will be facing off against when the puck drops for the 2008-09 season.  Other teams that joined the MET South League will be CHA’s Regular season Champions Hampton Roads Whalers, Atlanta Knights, East Coast Eagles, Team Carolina and the Charleston Wolverines.  Other teams from Florida other then the Hurricanes are Jacksonville, Tampa, Ft. Myers and West Palm.  “There will be some growing pains for some of these teams as they get in to the Jr. B level, but the payoff for these teams will be that they play in the MET League rather then the CHA or SEJHL.  We are very excited for the upcoming season and look forward to the challenge,” say’s Ray