Central Hockey League 2008-09 schedule expected this week

Texas Brahmas fans are anxiously awaiting the release of the 2008-09 season schedule, expected to be made public this week. Brahmas management will be interested in seeing how road trips have been scheduled as the rising cost of travel expenses, especially the increase in diesel fuel prices have taken a bite out of the teams' bottom line.

The issue of travel costs was discussed at the league's annual summer conference. As these expenses take up a large segment of teams' budgets, the league has considered regional match ups and creating more "geographic rivalries" while putting together this season's schedule.

This season, the league has done its best to "cluster" road trips so that teams can play as many opponents as possible while away from home.

"We want each team to knock out as many games on the schedule as they can in one visit," CHL director of communications Bob Hoffman told the Greeley Tribune.

For example, last season, the league scheduled a December road trip for the Brahmas to play a three-game series against the Youngstown SteelHounds (1,241 miles away). That trip included a two-game series against the Mississippi RiverKings and a game against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs on the way back home. Scheduling considerations like this will be common for all teams in the 2008-09 schedule.

The following are travel times and driving distances (according to MapQuest) between the Brahmas home ice and that of its opponents in order from the shortest to the longest trip:

Oklahoma City Blazers - 3 hours, 13 minutes - 201.74 miles
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs - 3 hours, 39 minutes - 221.64 miles
Tulsa Oilers - 4 hours, 37 minutes - 270.35 miles
Odessa Jackalopes - 5 hours, 12 minutes - 334.75 miles
Amarillo Gorillas - 5 hours, 33 minutes - 340.19 miles
Wichita Thunder- 5 hours, 46 minutes - 369.11 miles
Corpus Christi IceRays - 6 hours, 39 minutes - 419.17 miles
Laredo Bucks - 6 hours, 56 minutes - 437.22 miles
Mississippi RiverKings - 7 hours, 44 minutes - 496.07 miles
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees - 8 hours, 53 minutes - 528.24 miles
New Mexico Scorpions - 10 hours, 4 minutes - 649.70 miles
Rocky Mountain Rage - 12 hours, 28 minutes - 771.46 miles
Colorado Eagles - 12 hours, 51 minutes - 803.48 miles
Arizona Sundogs - 15 hours, 20 minutes - 1,030.57 miles
Rapid City Rush - 16 hours, 29 minutes - 1,057.51 miles

Longer home stands are also expected. Last season, the Brahmas enjoyed a nine-game home stand between November 17th and December 8th. In addition the team also had six weekends scheduled with at least two consecutive home games.

The Brahmas will also benefit from the fact that the league generally sets its schedule up so division opponents play at least one-third of their schedules against each other. Due to a realignment, the Brahmas have moved from the Northeast Division to the Southeast Division, all of whose teams are in Texas.

"We saw an opportunity to put more teams in closer proximity to some opponents than in years past," Hoffman said.

Image credit: Central Hockey League