Sticking Around: Revived Chaldean Hockey League All About Community and Competition
By Steve Stein
First there was a two-season pause. Then there was a pandemic that ended a season just before a champion was crowned.
The Chaldean Hockey League navigated those detours and once again is an integral part of the Chaldean community. “The league is all about community,” said Jacob Garmo, captain of Team Red. “And it has a great future because of all the young players.”
Drake Danou, goalie for the 2021-22 CHL playoff champion Team Green and Most Valuable Player of the league playoffs, also was the goalie for 2021 Division 2 state champion Birmingham Brother Rice High School. He said the pressure to win post-season games in the CHL and high school isn’t the same, but it’s just as intense because of the nature of the CHL.
“There’s a different kind of competition in the CHL than there is in high school,” said Danou, now a freshman at Michigan State University. “You’ve heard of a lot of guys you face in high school, but you don’t know them. You know them in the CHL. The competition is more personal.”
More personal, but respectful, said Kyle Kassa, CHL commissioner and Team Green captain. Dropping the gloves and fighting isn’t allowed in the non-checking league, he said. If there’s a fight, the players are sent to the sidelines for the rest of the season.
That penalty hasn’t needed to be enforced since CHL play resumed in the 2018-19 season after two seasons off.
Kassa said the revamped league, which had four teams in 2018-19 and increased to its current six teams the following season, is more competitive than in the past and the fighting rule makes the league safe for players. Garmo agreed.
Much of the credit for the improved league goes to the team captains, according to Kassa.
“Players don’t have to worry about other players being over-aggressive,” Garmo said. “As captains, our job is to get our players to the rink motivated and excited and portray what we want the league to be: fun, exciting and competitive.”
This year’s CHL playoffs were extremely competitive. Of the 11 post-season games, eight were decided by one goal. The remaining three games were two-goal games. All three best-of-three series (semifinals and championship) needed to go the distance.
What was behind all the close games?
“Every player in the league wants to win in the playoffs. They take it very seriously,” Garmo said. “Plus, each team had a stellar goalie this season.”
Team Green beat Team Red 1-0 on March 13 in the playoff championship game, played in front of about 300 fans at the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Township.
Danou, who allowed only eight goals in seven playoff games, shut out Team Red and Stephen Wardia scored the lone goal of the game. Danou’s brother and Team Green teammate Brendan Danou, who missed most of the regular season with a broken thumb, returned for the playoffs and was the league’s leading scorer in the post-season.
This is the second consecutive league playoff title for Team Green, who gets to keep the coveted Telga Cup, the CHL’s version of the NHL’s Stanley Cup. Team Green beat Team Red in two games last season in the playoff championship series. Drake Danou also was Team Green’s goalie last year.
This was the second straight season the league played its games at the Detroit Skating Club. It appears it will be back next season. “They’ve been good to us,” Garmo said. The league began in 2006 and played its games at the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Ice Arena before switching to the Detroit Skating Club.
Each team has 10 to 13 players, with players paying $450 per person to compete. Players ages 16 (the minimum age to play) through 35 competed in the league this season.
Before the playoffs, each team played 16 regular-season games. Regular-season league games were played Sunday mornings, and playoff games were played Sunday nights.
League games consist of three 15-minute running time periods. If the difference between the teams is two goals or less, the final two minutes of a game has stoppages. There’s a shootout if the teams are tied after regulation time during the regular season. A tie after regulation time in the playoffs results in 4-on-4 play for five minutes, then 3-on-3 play until there’s a winner.
There’s normally a league draft after three seasons, with one scheduled before next season. But because the league had to shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic before the 2019-20 playoff championship series between Team Gold and Team Black, there may not be a draft before next season.