Just got off the phone with IHL Commissioner Dennis Hextall. Some highlights:
* Chicago Hounds owner Craig Drektrah is attending the ECHL meetings right now and will likely be invited to join.
* The Kinneys actually made money for McMorran Arena this year and then the arena management decided to change the terms of the deal, so the Kinneys said enough is enough.
* Hextall thinks the Kinneys will be back in the IHL in the near future but not next season, possibly putting up a building in Howell.
* Evansville is supposed to have a definitive answer on Thursday whether it will join IHL for next season.
* There are two or three potential expansion cities already looking at the IHL for the 2011-12 season.
* Hextall also thinks Flint and Muskegon could be back someday because he's not convinced those cities will support junior hockey.
* ``The IHL is not dead. I think this is a step back, but I think we may come out of this stronger than ever within a year or two years. This is going to be a real learning curve for both the IHL and CHL. We'll see what happens.''
* Why doesn't the IHL just merge with the CHL: ``We're dating, but we're not married. We want to keep our own identity for a couple of years and see how this works out. Both sides want to take a good, long look at
