El Paso Rhinos to join two new leagues
El Paso, TX - When one door closes, another one opens.
That was the case for the El Paso Rhinos after the team announced Tuesday that it will join two new hockey leagues.
The team's previous league, the Western States Hockey League (WSHL) suspended operations due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rather than wait for the WSHL to decide on its next move, the Rhinos went ahead and jumped over to another league, two of them in fact.
The Rhinos will compete in the North American 3 Hockey League
(NA3HL) for the 2020-21 season, and then for the 2021-2022 season the Rhinos will have teams in both the NA3HL and the North American Hockey League (NAHL).
The team says that when the season was cut shorts back in March, the Rhinos’ ownership group decided to shift its focus entirely.
Rhino Head Coach Cory Herman explains, “Being in the NAHL has always been our goal. [The NAHL] brand, professionalism and level of play is where wewant our program to be. Joining the NAHL and NA3 gives players two options and it helps our program grow.”
The NA3HL is one of two USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III Junior leagues and the NAHL is the only USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier II Junior league.
The primary goals of both the NA3HL and the NAHL are to adequately train players and provide resources, namely coaching, exposure and developmental vehicles—that will help them secure NCAA hockey
scholarships.
Over the course of the last five seasons, over 1,500 NAHL players have made NCAA commitments and 30 have been drafted into the NHL.
In 2020-21, the Rhinos will play in the NA3HL’s South Division of the where their opponent list will include teams from Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
Like the WSHL’s series and season format, three-game series will be played on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The Rhinos also will play a 47-game regular-season, playoffs, and possibly in the Fraser Cup Championship Tournament, which crowns the NA3HL's playoff champion.
