Blades set to make history on Friday
November 1, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
PRINCETON, N.J. - It will be a historic game on Friday when the Alaska Aces host the Florida Everblades in the first of three games at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
The distance from Estero to Anchorage is 4,926 miles which is the greatest distance between two North America professional opponents. The longest NHL road trip occurred in 1905, when the Dawson City (Yukon) Klondikers traveled 4,400 miles to play the Ottawa (Ontario) Silver Seven in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Everblades played the Texas Wildcatters in Beaumont last weekend and then flew from Houston to Anchorage, traveling 18 1/2 hours, on Monday. Florida's trip was a lot easier than that of the Klondikers, who traveled the first 400 miles by dogsled and on foot in temperatures as low as minus-20. After 23 days of travel, Dawson City was swept in two games by a combined score of 31-5.
History will repeat itself in a manner of speaking when Alaska travels to Florida for games on Nov. 28, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
Travel isn't anything new to the Aces, who begin each road trip with a 3 1/2-hour flight to Seattle and average around 70,000 miles on the road each season. The Everblades also spend their fair share of time on the road and will travel 26,206 miles this season, primarily by bus.
The previous longest trip for ECHL opponents was 4,444 miles, the distance from Anchorage to Trenton, N.J., home of the then Titans now Devils who beat the Aces in the conference finals on their way to the Kelly Cup title in 2005. Alaska set the record for longest trip between opponents in the Kelly Cup Finals in 2006 with 4,396 miles, the distance from Gwinnett, Ga., home of the Gladiators, to Anchorage.
Alaska has reached the Kelly Cup Playoffs each of its first four seasons since joining the league as an expansion team in 2003-04 and the Aces have advanced to the conference finals each of the last three seasons, winning the Kelly Cup in 2006. Florida has reached the Kelly Cup Playoffs each of its first nine seasons and has advanced to the conference finals three times in the last four years while reaching the Kelly Cup Finals in 2004 and 2005.
Friday's game will be the season opener for the Aces, who had 12,113 fans for two preseason games against Texas, raising more than $103,000 for the Alaska Chapter of the American Cancer Society and Breast Cancer Focus, Inc. Alaska, which had a standing-room-only crowd of 6,451 for their home opener last season, have raised their average attendance by 18.8 percent since joining the league. Since 2003-04, the Aces have had 36 sellouts at Sullivan Arena and 15 of those have been crowds of 6,451, including six in the regular season.
Florida is averaging 7,283 at the 7,080-seat Germain Arena after opening its 10th Anniversary season with 7,462 on Oct. 19 and 7,104 on Oct. 20. The Everblades have never averaged less than 6,200 and they led the league in attendance for a record five straight years from 2000-05 while finishing second each of the last two seasons.
Experience the excitement of the Everblades 10th Anniversary season! The Everblades return to action on Friday, November 2 when they travel to Alaska to take on the Aces at 11:15 p.m. from Sullivan Arena! The Everblades return home on Friday, November 9 to take on the Columbia Inferno at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Individual tickets to all Everblades home games are on sale now! Stop by the Germain Arena box office to reserve your seat for all the exciting action! Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.
ECHL Stories from November 1, 2007
- Falcons Fall to RoadRunners in Road Trip Opener - Fresno Falcons
- Gladiators Slay Sea Wolves 6-2 - Mississippi Sea Wolves
- Gladiators Beat Sea Wolves, 6-2 - Atlanta Gladiators
- ECHL Transactions - ECHL
- Defenseman Ren Fauci Retires - Columbia Inferno
- Vote for the Condors All-10th Anniversary Dream Team - Bakersfield Condors
- Blades set to make history on Friday - Florida Everblades
- Goaltender Wiikman Assigned To Checkers - Charlotte Checkers
- Jackals Add To Blue Line In Trade With Charlotte - Elmira Jackals
- Royals Fans Encouraged To Vote Early and Often For Mini-Bobblehead - Reading Royals
- Scout Night and Teddy Bear Toss Set for November 30 - Fresno Falcons
- RoadRunners To Host "Pink In The Rink" November 10 & 11 - Phoenix RoadRunners
- Ice Pilots Suspend Hecimovic - Pensacola Ice Pilots
- Aces, Everblades Make History Friday - ECHL
- Checkers Trade Hartwick To Jackals - Charlotte Checkers
- ECHL Today - ECHL
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