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332 Former ECHL Players On NHL Training Camp Rosters

September 19, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL has 332 players on National Hockey League training camp rosters including 139 who played in the league last season.

The ECHL is represented on all 30 teams and 20 teams have at least 10 former ECHL players led by the Edmonton Oilers with 27 players and the Washington Capitals with 19 players. The total does not include Bates Battaglia and Scott Gomez who played in the ECHL for the first time during the NHL lockout in 2004-05.

The Premier 'AA' Hockey League has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the NHL, marking the 12th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. There have been 355 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including a record 47 in 2005-06 and 26 in 2006-07 and 2007-08.

There were a record 69 former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters in 2007, marking the fifth season in a row that there were more than 50 former ECHL players.

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, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dean Morton, Dan O'Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Justin St. Pierre, Ian Walsh and Dean Warren and linesmen Steve Barton, Brian Mach, Tim Nowak and Jay Sharrers. Barton, Leggo, McCauley, Nowak, Pollock, Rooney and Sharrers all worked the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The ECHL is represented for the eighth consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2008 by Aaron Downey of the Detroit Red Wings.

Former ECHL Players On NHL Training Camp Rosters:

Anaheim Ducks (Bakersfield Condors) - Ajay Baines, Francois Beauchemin, Troy Bodie, Eric Boguniecki, Bobby Bolt, Ryan Dingle, Ryan Donally, J.P. Levasseur, George Parros and T.J. Trevelyan.

Atlanta Thrashers (Gwinnett Gladiators) - Eric Boulton, Chad Denny, Johan Hedberg, Mike Hoffman, Scott Lehman, Scott Marchesi, Chad Painchaud, Tomas Pospisil, Grant Stevenson, Myles Stoesz, Colin Stuart and Dan Turple.

Boston Bruins - Mike Egener, Shane Hnidy, Kevin Nastiuk, Michael Ryder, Martin St. Pierre, Ryan Stokes and Tim Thomas.

Buffalo Sabres - Jimmy Bonneau, Jonathan Boutin, Mike Card, Colton Fretter, Patrick Lalime and Ryan Scott.

Calgary Flames (Las Vegas Wranglers) - Gord Baldwin, Brad Cole, Adam Cracknell, Kevin Lalande, Adam Pardy, Warren Peters, Andre Roy and Aki Seitsonen.

Carolina Hurricanes (Florida Everblades) - Mike Angelidis, Brett Carson, Joe Corvo, Patrick Dwyer, Mark Flood, Trevor Gillies, Dwight Helminen, Joe Jensen, Chad LaRose, Daniel Manzato, Justin Peters, Jakub Petruzalek and Bryan Rodney.

Chicago Blackhawks (Fresno Falcons) - Adam Berti, Tim Hambly, Adam Hobson, Pascal Pelletier, Jean-Claude Sawyer and Matt Walker.

Colorado Avalanche (Johnstown Chiefs) - Jason Bacashihua, Codey Burki, J.D. Corbin, Rob Drummond, Philippe Dupuis, Chris Durno, Ben Guite, Matt Hendricks, Per Ledin, Cody McLeod, Raymond Macias, Wes O'Neill and Tyler Weiman.

Columbus Blue Jackets (Johnstown Chiefs) - Erik Felde, Trevor Frischmon, Trevor Hendrikx, Dan LaCosta, Jon Landry, Jon Mirasty, Andrey Plekhanov, Petr Pohl, Kirill Starkov, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and Kyle Wharton.

Dallas Stars (Idaho Steelheads) - Krys Barch, B.J. Crombeen, Maxime Fortunus, Aaron Gagnon, John Lammers, Alexander Naurov and Francis Wathier.

Detroit Red Wings - Aaron Downey, Evan McGrath and Jamie Tardif.

Edmonton Oilers (Stockton Thunder) - Hans Benson, Marc-Andre Bernier, Sebastien Bisaillon, Justin Chwedoruk, Carl Corazzini, Kelly Czuy, Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, Devan Dubnyk, Glenn Fisher, Mike Gabinet, Stephane Goulet, Adam Huxley, Cleve Kinley, Toby LaFrance, Ryan MacMurchy, Ryan O'Marra, Kyle Paige, Geoff Paukovich, Les Reaney, Liam Reddox, David Rohlfs, Mathieu Roy, Kalvin Sagert, Tim Sestito, Tyler Spurgeon, Jake Taylor and Bryan Young.

Florida Panthers (Florida Everblades) - Peter Aston, Chris Beckford-Tseu, David Brine, Dan Collins, Jordan Henry, Kamil Kreps, Drew Larman, Franklin MacDonald, Steve MacIntyre, Kenndal McArdle, Brett McLean, Tyler Plante, David Shantz and Tomas Vokoun.

Los Angeles Kings (Ontario Reign) - Drew Bagnall, Richard Clune, Paul Crosty, Vladimir Dravecky, Matt Ellis, Raitis Ivanans, Jason LaBarbera, Scott Parse, Jonathan Quick, Danny Taylor and Eric Werner.

Minnesota Wild - Paul Albers, Derek Boogaard, Andrew Brunette, Barry Brust, Matt Kassian, Anton Khudobin, Morten Madsen, Maxim Noreau, Marco Rosa, Jesse Schultz, Nolan Schaefer and Craig Weller.

Montreal Canadiens (Cincinnati Cyclones) - Chad Anderson, Mathieu Aubin, Francis Bouillon, Cedrick Desjardins, Ryan Flinn, Mike Glumac, Jaroslav Halak, Olivier Latendresse, Ryan Russell and Gregory Stewart.

Nashville Predators (Cincinnati Cyclones) - Dan Ellis, Vernon Fiddler, Scott Ford, Josh Gratton, Drew MacIntyre, Ryan Maki, Mark Matheson, Geoff Peters, Rich Peverley and Jerred Smithson.

New Jersey Devils (Trenton Devils) - Sheldon Brookbank, Fedor Fedorov, Jay Leach, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, Olivier Magnan-Grenier, Ryan Murphy.

New York Islanders (Utah Grizzlies) - Jamie Fraser, Mitchell Fritz, Jordan Hart, Micheal Haley, Tyler Haskins, Nathan Lawson, Chris Lee, Andrew MacDonald, Joey MacDonald, Kurtis McLean, Jason Pitton, Brett Skinner, Trevor Smith, Mark Streit and Brandon Sugden.

New York Rangers (Charlotte Checkers) - Joe Barnes, Michael Busto, Vladimir Denisov, Brian Fahey, Daniel Girardi, Scott Gomez, Hugh Jessiman, Pierre Parenteau, Thomas Pock, Corey Potter, Tom Pyatt, Patrick Rissmiller, Stephane Valiquette, Miika Wiikman and Matt Zaba.

Ottawa Senators (Elmira Jackals) - Alex Auld, Jeff Glass, Chaz Johnson, Tomas Kudelka, Chris Neil, Brandon Roach, Derek Smith, Chris St. Croix, Geoff Waugh, Shawn Weller and Jeremy Yablonski.

Philadelphia Flyers (Wheeling Nailers) - Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Tim Branham, Martin Biron, Brad Brown, Riley Cote, Sean Curry, Jeremy Duchesne, Patrik Hersley, Boyd Kane, David Laliberte, Ned Lukacevic, Glen Metropolit, Maxime Ouellet, Denis Packard and Jared Ross.

Phoenix Coyotes - Daniel Carcillo, Drew Fata, Todd Fedoruk, Simon Ferguson, Steven Goertzen, Adam Keefe, Al Montoya, Derek Nesbitt, Joel Perrault, David Spina, Josh Tordjman, Daniel Winnik and Sean Zimmerman.

Pittsburgh Penguins (Wheeling Nailers) - Paul Bissonnette, Aaron Boogaard, David Brown, John Curry, Jon D'Aversa, Deryk Engelland, Ruslan Fedotenko, David Gove, Adam Henrich, Connor James, T.J. Kemp, Mark Letestu, Christopher Minard, Dany Sabourin and Tim Wallace.

St. Louis Blues (Alaska Aces) - Tomas Kana, D.J. King, Manny Legace, Charles Linglet Cam Paddock, Ryan Reaves, Marek Schwarz, Julian Talbot and Trent Whitfield.

San Jose Sharks (Phoenix RoadRunners) - Taylor Dakers, Thomas Greiss, Matt Kinch, Cory Larose and Jody Shelley.

Tampa Bay Lightning (Augusta Lynx) - Evgeny Artyukhin, Ryan Craig, David Koci, Olaf Kolzig, Zenon Konopka, Michel Ouellet, Andy Rogers, Mike Smith and Radek Smolenak.

Toronto Maple Leafs (Reading Royals) - Bates Battaglia, Joe Cooper, Andre Deveaux, Jeff Finger, Alex Foster, Adam Munro, Kris Newbury, Phil Oreskovic, Todd Perry, Andy Schneider and Max Taylor.

Vancouver Canucks (Victoria Salmon Kings) - Alexandre Bolduc, Alex Burrows, Jeff Cowan, Zach FitzGerald, Karl Goehring, Shaun Heshka, Jason Jaffray, Lawrence Nycholat, Daniel Rahimi, Curtis Sanford and James Sharrow.

Washington Capitals (South Carolina Stingrays) - Greg Amadio, Dean Arsene, Keith Aucoin, Jay Beagle, Sean Collins, Viktor Dovgan, Andrew Gordon, Quintin Laing, Grant McNeill, Patrick McNeill, Daren Machesney, Tom Maxwell, Graham Mink, Travis Morin, Steve Pinizzotto, Sasha Pokulok, Tyler Sloan, David Steckel and Kyle Wilson.

ECHL
Watch games live on B2 Networks, the "Official Broadband Broadcast Provider" of the ECHL.

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 to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 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 2,300 call ups involving more than 1,200 players. In each of the last three seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL in the same season.

Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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