from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

The brand new 3ICE league, the brainchild of onetime Reading kid E.J. Johnston, was set to open play Saturday in the Orleans Arena, just a short skate off the Vegas Strip.

Some four years in the creation-and-development stage, 3ICE is a six-team touring (i.e. barnstorming) league that will stage its games the next two months across eight North American sites, including the NHL-abandoned outpost of Quebec City.

The tempo is fast. Take a seat, and don’t take your eyes off the ice, despite the fact that it’s highly unlikely you’ll know a single name out there, other than the high-profile coaches: Guy Carbonneau, Grant Fuhr, John LeClair, Larry Murphy, Joe Mullen, and Bryan Trottier.

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