A few minutes with...Duane Lewis

The commissioner of the Central Hockey League talks about the Brahmas, the Eagles, the Mudbugs and league expansion

I spoke with CHL Commissioner Duane Lewis just before the start of Game Five after photographing the Ray Miron’s President’s Cup, which had just been unpacked and polished in the referee’s room at the NYTEX Sports Centre.

As you may or may not know, Lewis played three years of junior hockey with the Georgetown Raiders (OPJHL) prior to attending Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario where he earned an Honors Degree in Economics and a minor in Sports Administration. The right wing played four years with the Voyageurs, scoring 54 points (31 G, 23 A) in 94 games.

He played professionally with the WPHL’s New Mexico Scorpions and Amarillo Rattlers during the 1996-97 season, tallying 31 points (13 G, 18 A) in 50 games.

Lewis, 36, gained experience in the administrative side of professional hockey, working in the National Hockey League’s Officiating, Central Scouting and Public Relations departments during his four years of University. Lewis' father Bryan (a referee for 19 years in the NHL) was the league’s director of officiating from 1989-2000.Duane Lewis became Manager of Hockey Operations for the Western Professional Hockey League in May of 1997, Director of Hockey Operations in June of 2000, and was named Senior Vice President, Operations in September of 2002.

Almost a year ago, on June 17th, he was named Commissioner of the Central Hockey League, becoming just the second person to have that title after Brad Treliving departed to become the Assistant General Manager of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes.

Here is our conversation.

Q: Let's talk for a minute about these Texas Brahmas, a team that returned from a one-year hiatus in 2006-07 to a berth in the Finals just two seasons later.

A: It’s nice to see. Obviously, they put a lot of effort in. The ownership’s been with them the entire time and they’ve gone through a lot and for them to go through the situation of not playing for a year and now coming back, it’s a great story. It’s a credit to the ownership, a credit to the management and credit to Dan Wildfong for the job they’ve done this year. It’s a good story for them to come here in the finals and obviously being one win away. Regardless of how it turns out, that’s a successful season in anybody’s book.

Q: 60 minutes is a lot of hockey to play and there’s nothing guaranteed; we may just be going back to Colorado. A number of people at the beginning of the season saw Texas-Colorado as a potential match-up for the Finals, and it came to pass. Colorado is a fantastic team; great coach, great organization altogether. Tell me your thoughts on the Eagles’ efforts this year.

A: Well obviously, they won the Governor’s Cup and they’re in the Finals now, four of six years. There are on-ice and off-ice, a strong franchise in the CHL and no question again this year, 3-1 is maybe not indicative of a series. Obviously, I think they’re a very strong team. Well coached, well managed, etc. as well as the Brahmas and I think it’s going to be a great match up. For them to go through it again, four out of six years and make it here again is a testament to their organization.

Q: The news this week was unexpected about Bossier-Shreveport, but I believe a lot of people feel that the organization will have a team on ice next season. What are your comments on the situation?

A: Yeah, it’s unfortunate and John Madden decided that it wasn’t for him to go forward with the organization and that’s an owners right to do that. We feel confident that we can get another ownership group in place this year. It’s too good of a market in hockey, let alone the CHL, to lose. We’ve been there for a long time and we fully anticipate being there, playing again this season. We just have a short time frame to do it in and hopefully someone steps to the table. There are some irons in the fire right now, so hopefully those can come to fruition or one of those can very soon.

Q: It’s pretty exciting this season with two new teams entering the league. Independence, with the great management of Brad Lund and the organization seems to be doing a great job altogether already. Allen, of course is going to bring more minor professional hockey to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I assume the league is over the moon about having these two new franchises on board.

A: Yeah, this is great for us to expand. Sometimes there is contraction and unfortunately that is the name of the game but for us to expand in these markets and get two brand new facilities and create some more jobs for people and grow the sport of hockey in some areas is very, very exciting to us. We’re happy to have both of these markets in place. Both ownership groups and management teams are going to be first class. A little bit later start than we would have hoped in both of them, but that’s par for the course it seems in this economy. They have great people in place and have already started off very, very well and I think they’re set up for success long into the future.

Q: As with other leagues, there are teams within the CHL that are having a hard time but at the same time it is a strong league. After this many years, especially after the merger between the CHL and the WPHL, the league still seems like it’s in good shape. Going forward are you looking at further expansion and increasing the number of teams in the league?

A: Somebody asked me that question before and there really is no set limit or set number that we want to get to. There are times when you are going to lose teams. It’s as inevitable as the history sport, no matter what you’re talking about and we’re not immune to that. We do have a strong business model here and we think that the teams work very closely together, which I think is a nice thing and they help each other out and say “this works well here; we’re in competition on the ice but off the ice, we’re working together.” There are some potential markets for expansion we’re looking at right now to build arenas and help open up some markets that other people might not be open to. We do see some room for expansion and as I said. There’s no set number, but I think in the next few years we’ll have some opportunities to grow this league in our geographical footprint; to expand and make sure there are some more teams for fans to enjoy and players to play in. That’s what we look forward to.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith