Why is it that we only play like one or two teams a year from the east coast?

From: Dee

Comments: i have a question would you guys know anything about if the echl is gonna add more teams to the league ive heard rumors of the chl and echl combining but not sure if its true or not cause i would like to see more teams on the west coast and another question why is it that we only play like one or two teams a year from the east coast?

Reply: There is no truth to any league-combining rumors, and as of right now there are no set plans for adding more teams. We also would like to see a couple more teams out west, it always is fun to see new teams come into town.

As for the East/West games, we are happy to have one Eastern team coming to town this season, when the Florida Everblades come Oct. 26. To your question of why teams don’t come west more often, or us going east more often, it really is a cost and travel issue. It’s a long way to go and a pricey trip to head across the country. It’s a situation that sports leagues deal with at all levels, that’s why divisions are set up geographically in every league. Usually teams play games within their conference, even in the National Hockey League. The L.A. Kings, for example, make one trip to the Southeast this season – it’s a four or five hour flight across the country, they play four teams in seven days, and spend all night flying home. It’s just a difficult thing to do too often.

-The Mailbag Guy