ECHL ECHL

Bakersfield, Gwinnett Named Web Sites Of The Year

June 12, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced that the web sites of the Bakersfield Condors (BakersfieldCondors.com) and the Gwinnett Gladiators (GwinnettGladiators.com) have been named as the ECHL Web Sites of the Year for 2007-08.

Bakersfield, which becomes the first two-time winner having won the inaugural award in 2004-05, finished ahead of the Victoria Salmon Kings (SalmonKings.com) in the National Conference while Gwinnett finished ahead of the Reading Royals (RoyalsHockey.com) in the American Conference.

The web sites were reviewed by Rich Libero and the staff of NHL.com, the official web site of the National Hockey League.

"This season presented the biggest challenge yet," said Libero, who is in his ninth year as Vice President of Editorial & Production for NHL.com. "Across the board ECHL club sites took a big step in the right direction, particularly in the video space."

Bakersfield's web site is designed and hosted by iSportsMedia, an IWS/D Company and is updated by vice president of communications Kevin Bartl and media relations manager Andrew Buchbinder.

"Bakersfield's design is simply professional and well organized," said Libero. "Content modules are nicely balanced with marketing and advertising."

Gwinnett's web site is designed and supported by Andrew Cortez and Gary Nichols of Interdev with hosting provided by GoDaddy.com. The site is updated by director of broadcasting and media relations Dustin Bixby and director of merchandise Christi Johnson.

"Gwinnett represented another cleanly-packaged site with simple navigation, easy-to-track scheduling and easy e-commerce," said Libero.

ECHL Web Site Award Winners
Year Team
2007-08 Bakersfield Condors and Gwinnett Gladiators
2006-07 Idaho Steelheads and Wheeling Nailers
2005-06 Phoenix RoadRunners
2004-05 Bakersfield Condors

ECHL
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, the ECHL is the Premier 'AA' Hockey League and 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 that will play with 24 teams in 16 states and British Columbia in 2008-09.

The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the NHL in 2007-08, marking the 11th 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 99 in the last three seasons. There have been 210 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past seven seasons.

There are 15 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience including former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Mississippi coach Bruce Boudreau, who is head coach of the Washington Capitals.

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

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 and for the past 18 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion.

In each of the last two seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call-ups involving more than 500 players. In the last five 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.

Check out the ECHL Statistics



ECHL Stories from June 12, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central