International Hockey League ( 1945 – 2001 ) " For the league of the same name that ran from 2007 to 2010 , please see International Hockey League ( 2007 – 2010 ) . " The International Hockey League ( IHL ) was a minor professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1945 to 2001 . The International Hockey League served as the National Hockey League ' s alternate farm system to the American Hockey League ( AHL ) . After 56 years of operation with financial instability , the International Hockey League ceased operations after the 2000 - 01 season . Six teams from the IHL merged into the rival American Hockey League as expansion teams in 2001 . History . Early years . The IHL was formed in December 1945 and initially consisted of four cross - border teams in Detroit and Windsor , Ontario . In 1947 , a team from Toledo , Ohio joined the league , and the following year the IHL expanded significantly , with teams in four additional U . S . cities . The expansion did not take hold , and for 1949 – 50 , the league was back down to teams in Detroit and Windsor as well as two nearby Canadian cities , Sarnia , Ontario and Chatham , Ontario . Windsor dropped out in 1950 , and expansion into the U . S . began again , with Toledo rejoining the league and new teams in Grand Rapids , Michigan ( 1950 ) , Troy , Ohio , ( 1951 ) , Cincinnati ( 1952 ) , Fort Wayne , Indiana ( 1952 ) , and Milwaukee ( 1952 ) . At the same time , the last Canadian team left the league in 1952 , when the Chatham Maroons pulled out . Three new U . S . cities were added in 1953 . The league would expand and shrink between five and nine teams through the 1950s , with another major expansion in 1959 . In the 1962 – 63 season , the IHL played an interlocking schedule with the NHL - owned Eastern Professional Hockey League , which itself folded in 1963 . After 11 seasons as a strictly U . S . - based league , the IHL admitted two Canadian teams in 1963 , with the Windsor Bulldogs and the return of the Chatham Maroons . Both teams dropped out after one season . The league did not have a Canadian team again until 1996 . Major market expansion . Starting in the late 1960s , the IHL ' s quality of play significantly improved . By the mid - 1970s it was on par with the American Hockey League ( AHL ) , the longtime top feeder league for the National Hockey League . Many IHL teams became the top farm team s of NHL teams . In 1984 , the league absorbed many surviving members of the Central Hockey League , which had ceased operations . Beginning in the late 1980s , the IHL began an expansion into major markets such as Atlanta , Cincinnati , Cleveland , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Kansas City , Las Vegas , Minneapolis - Saint Paul , Orlando , Phoenix , Salt Lake City , San Antonio , San Diego , and San Francisco . Many of these were markets that had been served by the defunct World Hockey Association or abandoned by the NHL , but the IHL also placed teams in markets that already had NHL teams , such as Chicago , Detroit , and Long Beach ( near Los Angeles ) . In the mid - 1990s , the IHL moved its Atlanta and Minneapolis – Saint Paul franchises to Quebec City and Winnipeg respectively , restoring the league ' s Canadian presence and filling the void left by the departure of the NHL ' s Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets . The league ' s expansion into larger markets was rapid , spearheaded by media mogul Ted Turner , and many of the smaller - market teams ( such as Fort Wayne and Kalamazoo ) fell away , joining lower - level leagues such as the United Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League . Decline and collapse . The IHL ' s expansion into NHL markets put a strain on relationships between the leagues . There was some speculation that the IHL was intending to compete directly with the NHL , especially when a lock - out in 1994 threatened to wipe out the NHL season . However , in the 1995 - 96 season , the IHL ' s " soft " salary cap was just $ 1 . 5 million , while the lowest NHL team payroll that season was $ 11 . 4 million . In response , many NHL clubs shifted their affiliations to the AHL , and by 1997 – 98 , only four of 18 IHL teams had NHL affiliations . With the loss of subsidized salaries , high expansion fees ( by the end the league was charging as much as $ 8 million US for new teams ) , exploding travel costs , the NHL itself moving back into some of its markets , and the league ' s rapid expansion proved a critical strain , the 2000 - 01 season ended up being the final season of the IHL . The IHL did not merge into the American Hockey League . Instead , six franchises from the IHL merged into the AHL as expansion franchises and the IHL ceased operations . The six IHL franchises that were admitted into the American Hockey League as expansion teams were the Chicago Wolves , Grand Rapids Griffins , Houston Aeros , Utah Grizzlies , Milwaukee Admirals and Manitoba Moose for the 2001 - 02 season . Among them , the Chicago Wolves ( 2002 , 2008 ) , Houston Aeros ( 2003 ) , and Milwaukee Admirals ( 2004 ) have all won Calder Cup titles since joining the AHL from the IHL . The Cincinnati Cyclones were admitted back to the East Coast Hockey League , which hosted the team from 1990 - 1992 before they moved to the IHL . The Orlando Solar Bears ( the final IHL champions ) and the Kansas City Blades were not admitted into the AHL because their owner , Rich DeVos , also owned the Griffins , and could only own one AHL franchise . The league ' s other two teams ( the Cleveland Lumberjacks & the Detroit Vipers ) ceased operations with the league . Two of the former IHL teams that moved to the AHL have since relocated , as the Utah Grizzlies moved to Cleveland , Ohio to become the Lake Erie Monsters in 2007 , and the Manitoba Moose moved to St . John ' s , Newfoundland and Labrador to become the St . John ' s IceCaps in 2011 . As well , two IHL franchises have been relaunched in the ECHL since the IHL ' s demise , those being the Utah Grizzlies ( formerly the Lexington Men O ' War ) in 2005 and the expansion Orlando Solar Bears in 2012 . Also , the Worcester IceCats moved to Peoria , Illinois in 2005 and took the name of yet another former IHL franchise , the Peoria Rivermen .