PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced that for the 20th year in a row it is
represented on the American Hockey League champion as 15 of the 26 players
who played for Hershey played in the Premier 'AA' Hockey League. The head
coach of the Bears, who won their league record 10th title, is former ECHL
player and coach Bob Woods and the assistant coach is former ECHL assistant
Mark French.
It is the most former ECHL players on an AHL champion surpassing the 14
players for Chicago in 2008. There have been 41 former ECHL players on the
last three AHL winners and 59 former ECHL players on the last five
champions.
The ECHL has had affiliations with 20 or more teams in the AHL the last
eight years and in the past seven seasons there have been more ECHL players
called up to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined.
Rookie goaltender Michal
Neuvirth was named the Most Valuable Player of the Calder Cup Playoffs
after going 16-6 with four shutouts, a goals-against average of 1.92 and a
save percentage of .932 in the postseason. He began the season with South
Carolina where he is 6-7-0 with two shutouts, a goals-against average of
2.28 and a save percentage of .918 in 13 games. The 21 year old turned
aside 19 of 20 shots in the third period to preserve the win for the
American Conference in the ECHL All-Star Game on Jan. 21 at the Sovereign
Center in Reading, Pa.
Kelly Cup champion South Carolina is the ECHL affiliate for Hershey and
Neuvirth, Kip
Brennan and Steve
Pinizzotto played for the Stingrays this season. Sean
Collins, Andrew
Gordon. Grant
McNeill and Patrick
McNeill played for the Stingrays last year and Kyle
Wilson played for South Carolina in 2006-07. Grant
McNeill also played in the ECHL with Texas (2004-05), Florida (2005-06)
and Wheeling (2006-07) while Brennan played for Long Beach in 2006-07.
The other former ECHL players on the Bears are Greg Amadio (Columbia in
2003-05), Dean Arsene (Charlotte in 2001-02 and Reading in 2003-04), Keith
Aucoin (Florida in 2001-02), Jay
Beagle (Idaho in 2006-07), Quintin Laing (Jackson in 2000-02), Graham
Mink (Richmond in 2001-02) and Tyler Sloan (Dayton in 2002-03 and 2004-05
and Las Vegas in 2005-06).
Beagle, Collins, Gordon, Neuvirth and Sloan were among the record 52 former
ECHL players who made their NHL debut with the Washington Capitals this
year while Aucoin, Laing and Mink also played in the NHL this season.
Thirteen of the 26 players on runner-up Manitoba had ECHL experience with
Alexandre
Bolduc (Bakersfield in 2005-07), Dusty
Collins (Ontario in 2008-09), Guillaume
Desbiens (Gwinnett in 2005-06 and 2007-08), Zack
FitzGerald (Alaska in 2005-07), Maxime Fortunus (Louisiana in 2003-05),
Shaun
Heshka (Victoria in 2006-07), Jason Jaffray (Roanoke in 2002-03 and
Wheeling in 2003-05), Tommy
Maxwell (Phoenix in 2006-07 and South Carolina in 2007-09), Derek
Nesbitt (Gwinnett in 2005-06 and 2007-08 and Idaho in 2006-07), Matt
Pope (Bakersfield in 2008-09), Greg
Rallo (Idaho in 2005-08), Travis
Ramsey (Victoria in 2008-09) and Curtis Sanford (Peoria in 2000-02).
Matt
Zaba, who played for the Charlotte Checkers and the Idaho Steelheads,
and Josh
Tordjman, who played for the Phoenix RoadRunners, were both selected as
recipients of the Reebok X-Pulse/AHL
Goaltender of the Month award in 2008-09.
Seven times in the last nine years the winner of the AHL Coach of the Year
award has been a former ECHL coach including Scott
Gordon, Mike
Haviland and Kevin
Dineen in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Former ECHL coaches won the award four
consecutive years from 2001-04 with Don Granato, Bruce Cassidy, Geoff Ward
and Claude Noel. The first former ECHL coach to win the award was Peter
Laviolette in 1999.
For the second season in a row 10 former ECHL players were named Reebok/AHL
Player of the Week with former Florida Everblades center Keith
Aucoin, former Johnstown Chiefs goaltender Jason
Bacashihua, former Las Vegas Wranglers and Wheeling Nailers goaltender
John
Curry, former Stockton Thunder and 2007 ECHL All-Star goaltender Devan
Dubnyk, former Trenton Devils goaltender Jeff
Frazee, former Las Vegas Wranglers goaltender Kevin
Lalande, former Wheeling Nailers right wing David
Laliberte, former Gwinnett Gladiator and 2006 ECHL All-Star left wing
Pascal
Pelletier, former Phoenix RoadRunners goaltender Josh
Tordjman, former ECHL goaltender Mike
Brodeur and former Gwinnett Gladiators center and AHL All-Star Classic
Most Valuable Player Jared
Ross.
There were eight former ECHL players and three former ECHL coaches in the
2009 AHL All-Star Classic.
Premier 'AA' Hockey League Fast Facts
- The ECHL celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08 and is the
third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National
Hockey League and the American Hockey League.
- ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be
a coast-to-coast league with 20 teams in 15 states and British Columbia in
2009-10.
- The league officially changed its name from East Coast Hockey League to
ECHL on May 19, 2003.
- Affiliations with 24 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League
marking 12th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with
at least 20 teams in the NHL.
- ECHL has been represented on last nine Stanley Cup champions.
- 407 former ECHL
players have played in NHL.
- 151 former ECHL players have played their first NHL game in the last four
seasons.
- Record 52 former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2008-09.
- Eight players played in the ECHL and the NHL in 2008-09 with goaltenders
Matt
Climie (Idaho and Dallas), Riku
Helenius (Mississippi and Tampa Bay), Michal
Neuvirth (South Carolina and Washington) and Marek
Schwarz (Alaska and St. Louis), defensemen Raymond
Macias (Johnstown and Colorado), Wes
O'Neill and Kevin
Quick (Augusta and Tampa Bay) and right wing Joel
Rechlicz (Utah and New York Islanders).
- There were 72
former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters.
- Former ECHL coaches working as head coaches in the NHL are Bruce
Boudreau of the Washington Capitals and Scott
Gordon of the New York Islanders while former ECHL player Dan
Bylsma is the head coach of the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh
Penguins. Boudreau, who coached Mississippi for three seasons winning the
Kelly Cup championship in 1999, was named NHL Coach of the Year in 2007-08
becoming the first former ECHL coach to receive the award. Peter
Laviolette, who began his coaching career with the Wheeling Nailers, led
Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup in 2006.
- There are 15 assistant coaches in the NHL who were players or coaches in
the ECHL.
- There are 18 former ECHL officials scheduled to work as part of the NHL
officiating team in 2008-09 with referees David Banfield, Chris Ciamaga,
Ghislain Hebert, Marc Joannette, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dean Morton, Dan
O'Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Justin
St. Pierre and Ian Walsh and linesmen Steve Barton, Brian Mach, Tim Nowak
and Jay Sharrers.
- Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.
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