LEAGUE SHOWS ITS NET GROWTH WSHL LOOKING TO EXPAND TO NINE TEAMS BY NEXT SEASON.

Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - The Valencia Flyers might seem new, but they're no longer the newest team in the fast-growing Western States Hockey League. By this time next year they could be spoken of as a franchise ``steeped in tradition.''

The WSHL added one new team this year - the Roseville Capital Thunder - and will add two new teams next season, one based in South Lake Tahoe and another in San Jose.

The WSHL exhibition tournament - which began Thursday night - is being played at a newly constructed facility in South Lake Tahoe that will house a team next season. The Flyers open tournament play tonight.

With the loss of the league's Salt Lake City franchise, the WSHL has seven teams and expects to have nine next season.

The San Jose ownership group had hoped to field a team this season. However, renovations of the San Jose Ice Center, where the city's NHL team trains, was not completed in time.

``I still think this league is in its pioneer stage even though it's been around for a while,'' said Larry Bruyere, Flyers general manager and Ice Station director of hockey operations.

``Hockey has grown exponentially on the West Coast and this league is following suit.''

The WSHL, which formed in the early 1990s, features the most advanced level of amateur hockey on the West Coast, where the construction of new facilities such as the Ice Station is barely keeping pace with the booming interest in the sport.

The WSHL has emerged as one of the most competitive Junior-B level leagues in recent years. The league has been represented in the Junior-B national championship finals in three of the past four years. The now-defunct Ventura Mariners won the national title in 1998 and were finalists the next season. The Phoenix Polar Bears were finalists last season.

--League meeting: The team's respective general managers will finalize the league schedule in a meeting today. The Flyers' regular season opener will be Oct. 4, when they play host to the Thunder at 7:30 p.m.

--Roster moves: Forward Gary Crombie, who spent the entire 2001-02 season in Valencia, has returned to the Flyers after trying out for a Junior-A team.

The Flyers signed forward Matt Salinsky and tried out forward Nick Comitas this week.

Valencia coach Ryan Rockabrand said he expects to bring at least 17 players to South Lake Tahoe. The Flyers might call up several players from Ice Station's Midget Double-A team, if necessary.