The Central Hockey League enjoyed a lot of success - both on the ice and off - in 2008.

The CHL welcomed a new arena in Tulsa, a new franchise in Rapid City and the rebirth of a team in Corpus Christi. All in all it was a good year for the CHL.

Here are the top 10 headlines in the CHL for 2008.

Pushing it to the Limit: Both conference finals went to seven games marking the first time for this occurrence since 1994. In the South, Arizona defeated the Laredo Bucks in seven games with the finale being a 6-1 Arizona win in Laredo. The Northern Conference Finals saw the Colorado Eagles pushed to the max by the Texas Brahmas with the Eagles winning the series with a classic game seven, a 3-2 Colorado victory.

The Jewel of Tulsa: The Tulsa Oilers changed venue in 2008 opening the BOK Center in Tulsa on Oct. 25. Unfortunately for the home team, the Oilers lost to their in-state rivals, Oklahoma City. The new digs for the Oilers is one of the finest facilities in North America featuring all state-of-the-art features and more than 17,000 seats. On opening night, the Oilers welcomed one of the largest crowds in CHL history when 16,982 fans witnessed the coronation.

Welcome Back: The Corpus Christi IceRays had quite an up-and-down 2008 with a moment of pause for their fans during the off-season when the team ceased operations and appeared to be on ice for the 2008-09 season. Refusing to let this happen, local businessman Tim Lange came to the rescue buying the team and getting them ready to skate under the leadership of Pat Dunn. The team dropped the name Rayz and brought back the club's original name, the IceRays, while ushering in new colors and new logo.

Running of the Bulls: The Texas Brahmas have been one of the top teams in the CHL during 2008. The team entered January with a 14-12-1 having not caught stride under rookie head coach Dan Wildfong but that changed quickly as they went 26-10-1 during the second half of the season qualifying for the playoffs and eventually making it all the way to game seven of the Northern Conference Finals. This season, the Brahmas are 17-9-3 giving them a 43-19-4 record during 2008. Only Colorado with 92 points and Bossier-Shreveport with 91 points are ahead of Texas' 90-point year.

Bes in Show: The heart and soul of the Laredo Bucks, Jeff Bes, had another outstanding season scoring 46 goals with 60 assists en route to his second CHL most valuable player award. He did it in every way for the Southeast Division winners and Southern Conference runner-ups finishing the year as the league leader with a +40 plus/minus rating. This season, he is again among the league leaders ranking third in the CHL with 44 points and again has the Bucks primed for their sixth consecutive Southeast Division crown.

Urqu-Ing the Opposition: The Arizona Sundogs' NHL affiliate - Phoenix - made a trade acquiring forward Cory Urquhart from the Montreal organization. No one could have predicted the impact this move would have as the former second round selection of the Canadiens re-wrote the CHL record book during the month he played in the regular season and during the Sundogs playoff run to the President's Cup. Combining the end of the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs, Urquhart scored goals in a CHL record 18 straight games.

What a Rush: The CHL welcomed the expansion Rapid City Rush for the 2008-09 season and after a 14-game road trip to start the season while their new hone venue was being completed, the team finally showed their colors to a sold out home crowd at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Ice Arena with a shutout victory over Colorado on Nov. 29.

'The Moustache' Sets Coaching Records: In his 14th season as the coach of the Blazers, Sauter had a bittersweet 2008. On the good side, he won his 1,200th game on Jan. 19 and followed that up on Feb. 23 by winning his 500th game with the Blazers. He is the most tenured coach in North American professional hockey and trails just the Utah Jazz's Jerry Sloan and the Atlanta Braves Bobby Cox as the most tenured coaches in all of North American pro sports. The bad from 2008 was the results of the 2007-08 season. The Blazers went 28-30-6 but this season they have turned it around leading the Northeast Division and sitting as one of the top teams in the Northern Conference.

The Commish: After serving as the league's top guy during the 2007-08 season titled the senior vice president of operations, Duane Lewis was officially named the CHL's Commissioner in June. The former minor pro player with Amarillo and New Mexico had been a part of the CHL/WPHL front office for more than decade and under Lewis' watch during an 'eventful' first year at the helm he has dealt with a full plate and looks ahead to two expansion teams in major markets coming in 2009.

It Just Got Hotter: The Arizona Sundogs were the story in 2008 winning the Ray Miron President's Cup Championship in impressive fashion by sweeping the Colorado Eagles in the finals. It was the first sweep in the finals in a decade. The 'Dogs, in just their second season as a franchise, became the third expansion team to win the Championship in their second season joining Laredo and Colorado. The 'sequel' has proven to be more difficult than Arizona might have thought. The Sundogs are just 13-17-1 this season and fighting for a playoff spot and an opportunity to repeat as champs.