There is a group of people putting together a professional 3-on-3 hockey league and it is starting to look like they're fairly serious about it.
The league is supposed to kick off next summer. It's going to be an 8 team league, with no city affiliations. They are going to play in a bracket style tournament over 9 weekends. Each team will have 7 players dressed for each game, 6 skaters and a goalie.
The league announced Wednesday that the teams will be coached by Guy Carbonneau, Grant Fuhr, Joe Mullen, Larry Murphy, Angela Ruggiero, Bryan Trottier, Ed Johnston and John LeClair. That's some serious name power.
What do you think? Will they make it past a single season? Could this gain traction? Or will it wind up as a side-show like American Gladiators or Wipeout?
Personally, I think the toughest part to wrap my brain around is the no geographic representation part. I cheer for my home teams. Canucks, Lions, Royals, etc. With 3ICE, do I cheer for the Grant Fuhr team? Or based on the players? Or who has the best jersey? Still, I would really like to see this happen, if nothing else, just to see how it plays out.
https://www.3ice.com/
https://www.tsn.ca/carbonneau-among-hof-coaches-for-3ice-1.1477355
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/hockey/2020/05/20/3-ice-new-3-on-3-hockey-league-coming/5209480002/