ECHL Today
October 23, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release
Ontario Reign (1-0-0) at Las Vegas Wranglers (0-1-1) 7:30
p.m. PT
- Wranglers have won their last three home openers and are 4-1-0 all time
in home openers.
- Ontario is tied for the ECHL lead on the power play on the road with 33.3
percent (2-for-6).
- Rookie Geoff
Walker leads the Reign with two points (1g-1a).
- Tim
Spencer and rookie Mick
Lawrence are tied for the Las Vegas team lead with two goals and two
points.
Watch Games Live on B2 Networks, the "Official Broadband Broadcast Provider" of the ECHL
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 23 teams playing 828 games in 16 states and
British Columbia in 2008-09.
- The Reading Royals, the City of Reading and the Sovereign Center will
host the 17th
Annual ECHL All-Star Game on Jan. 21, 2009 and the 12th Annual All-Star
Skills Competition on Jan. 20, 2009.
- The league officially changed its name from East Coast Hockey League to
ECHL on May
19, 2003.
- Affiliations with 26 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.
- 360 former ECHL
players have played in NHL.
- 104 have played their first NHL game in the last four seasons.
- Five former ECHL players have made their NHL debut this season: former
Wheeling Nailers and ECHL All-Star defenseman Paul
Bissonnette (Pittsburgh on Oct. 4), former Charlotte Checkers
defenseman
Steve MacIntyre (Edmonton on Oct. 15), former Las Vegas Wranglers
defenseman Adam
Pardy (Calgary on Oct. 9), former Gwinnett Gladiators center Jared
Ross (Philadelphia on Oct. 11) and former Dayton Bombers and Las Vegas
Wranglers defenseman Tyler
Sloan (Washington on Oct. 21).
- There were 72
former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters.
- Twenty-six former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2007-08, including
six who played in both the ECHL and the NHL as goaltender Chris
Beckford-Tseu (Alaska and St. Louis), Adam
Berti (Pensacola and Chicago), Joe
Jensen (Wheeling and Carolina), Dan
LaCosta (Elmira and Columbus), Jonathan
Quick (Reading and Los Angeles) and Danny
Taylor (Reading and Los Angeles).
- Record 51 former ECHL players played their first NHL game in 2005-06.
- ECHL has been represented on last eight Stanley Cup champions.
- Former ECHL coaches working as head coaches in the NHL are
Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals, Scott
Gordon of the New York Islanders and Peter Laviolette of the Carolina
Hurricanes. 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. 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. Barton, Joannette, Leggo, McCauley, Nowak, Pollock,
Rooney and Sharrers all worked the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
- ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey
League and for the past 19 years there has been an ECHL player on the
Calder Cup Champion.
- In the last six seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than
all other professional leagues combined with over 2,000 call-ups involving
more than 1,000 players since 2002-03.
- Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.
• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...
ECHL Stories from October 23, 2008
- Chiefs Announce Roster Moves - Johnstown Chiefs
- ECHL Transactions - ECHL
- Frederik Cabana Reassigned From Phantoms To Sea Wolves - Mississippi Sea Wolves
- Letourneau-Leblond Becomes 361st Player To Play In NHL After ECHL - ECHL
- Nailers Power Hour Debuts Tonight - Wheeling Nailers
- Stockton Ports to Host Halloween Weekend Battle of the Bands - Stockton Thunder
- Salmon Kings See Tickets Flying Out Of The Box Office For Opening Weekend - Victoria Salmon Kings
- Lang reassigned to Blades from AHL - Florida Everblades
- Steelheads Acquire Bourne - Idaho Steelheads
- Stoesz Assigned to Gwinnett - Atlanta Gladiators
- Royals Trade Justin Bourne To Idaho - Reading Royals
- Nailers Set To Go Pink For Breast Cancer - Wheeling Nailers
- ECHL Today - ECHL
- Pope's hat trick sends Thunder to second straight loss - Stockton Thunder
- Pope and Condors smash Stockton, 7-4 - Bakersfield Condors
- Steelheads Topple RoadRunners 3-1 - Phoenix RoadRunners
- Idaho picks up first win of the season - Idaho Steelheads
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