Welcome to PUCH.

The year is 1981. The hockey world has been on fire. The WHA was recently merged into the mighty NHL and a young Wayne Gretsky was lighting up the league. North America's largest cities had suffered population losses but sports continued to grow strong. Cooperalls had been introduced to professional hockey. Ronald Reagan had been elected president and was determined to contain Soviet expansionism. The Oakland Raiders were preparing to battle with the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl. The New York Yankees were on a collision course with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. The Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets would meet in the Finals. The Space Shuttle would go into space. Blondie had two songs in the Top 10. Dallas was the #1 show on TV.

Let's back up a minute.

A young businessman from New York named Edward Earl Emerson had seen his hockey career cut short by injuries. Emerson had finished his accounting degree and found himself climbing the corporate ladder on Wall Street. But he was unfulfilled. He started to play local amateur hockey with friends who felt similarly. With his great organizational skills, Emerson gathered enough hockey players around New York to create a competitive league that soon outgrew itself and even the city. Soon he had real sponsors. Soon players from all over North America were asking Emerson how they could participate in his league. That was when Emerson decided to go for it and build and launch a semi-professional league from scratch. It was a Herculean task but he was confident it could be done successfully.

Emerson dreamed up a new league model that would include fan support and supporter's clubs that would help finance and manage each hockey club in the league. It was working across the pond in the UK in soccer and Emerson felt it would work in North America in a rapidly growing sport like hockey.

In the beginning of 1981, Emerson went on the recruiting trail to find potential owners who would be willing to embrace the new model and finance new teams. He found more than two dozen businessmen who were excited about the league. Emerson whittled the pool down to 10 strong candidates and decided to jumpstart the league with 10 original hockey clubs. The league would begin play on New Year's Day in 1982.

While the new owners were busy securing sponsorships and arenas for their teams, Emerson found a graphic artist to create identities and uniform designs for the 10 new clubs. Emerson hoped that strong identities would help forge a strong league as it weathered growing pains and financial hardship to become a success.

With more than 300 players signed up to enter the inaugural league draft, Emerson recruited hockey coaches and scouts to join the league. He set up a league headquarters in his hometown New York City and prepared introduce the new league and reveal the new hockey clubs to curious fans around the globe.

There was just one question left. Who would be joining these hockey clubs?

Up Next: The first hockey club is revealed

I'll have you know that I'm only pronouncing this name like "puke." this should be fun tho! can't wait to see where the ride takes us

Can't wait to see what you've got in store for us!

FC Macbeth wrote:

ItDoesntMatter wrote:

I'll have you know that I'm only pronouncing this name like "puke." this should be fun tho! can't wait to see where the ride takes us

 
I think it's sounds more like the word pooch.

For the record I pronounce it "puck" but I've come up with at least 5 creative ways to say and I think that will be part of the fun with this league. I encourage wackiness!

Steelman wrote:

PUCH Lands a Sponsor Too

Before Edward Earl Emerson could schedule a press conference to reveal the first hockey club, he announced some excited news for the fledgling league. PUCH uniforms and apparel will be sponsored by New Balance, a rapidly growing shoe and apparel company based in Boston. New Balance wanted to break into a new market and chose PUCH to test their athletics brands.

PUCH is elated to land such a big fish and is excited to collaborate on hockey sweaters and gear with them. Emerson said that NB will help produce a lighter hockey jersey using their nylon technology that they have engineered originally for runners.

 
New Balance unis, a different but sweet new direction to go!