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Carnefix Promoted To Senior VP Communications/New Media

September 24, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - Commissioner Brian McKenna announced that Jack Carnefix has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Communications/New Media. Carnefix joined the ECHL in 2000 as director of communications and was named vice president of communications in 2005.

Overseeing the ECHL communications department, Carnefix is responsible for all media relations, including press releases and the dissemination of information for the league. He is responsible for the editorial content of league publications including but not limited to ECHL This Week and ECHL Today. He coordinates and assists the media relations contacts for each of the member clubs including acting as the liaison with LeagueStat for statistical information.

"Jack has been an integral part of the management team for many years and has been a driving force in assisting our teams in spreading the message of the ECHL and in the growth of our web site activity," said ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna. "This promotion is well deserved."

Carnefix is responsible for the creation and implementation of content on the official league web site, ECHL.com, which has seen a 444 percent traffic increase since 2003. Carnefix helped create and handles maintenance and implementation of content on the ECHL.com Network.

He works in conjunction with the host team on press releases, press conferences and other avenues to increase media and public awareness for the annual ECHL All-Star Game while also coordinating the online audio and video productions. He oversees the media requirements for the Kelly Cup Playoffs and also facilitates the communications tract at the annual league meetings, including agenda creation and speaker selection.

He received the inaugural West Coast Hockey League Public Relations Director of the Year award in 1999 and won the award again the following season. He was named the recipient of the League Media Relations Director of the Year award by MLN Sports in 2003 and 2006, becoming the first two-time winner, while finishing as a runner-up in 2001.

Carnefix came to the ECHL after six years as the director of communications for Diamond Sports & Entertainment in Boise, Idaho. Diamond Sports entities included the Idaho Steelheads hockey team, the Boise Hawks baseball team, the Idaho Sneakers World TeamTennis franchise, professional boxing events, and the Bank of America Centre, a 5,000-seat multipurpose facility in downtown Boise. Carnefix spent seven years as the director of operations for the Oklahoma State University baseball team and three years as the assistant sports information director at Oklahoma State.

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.

The Premier 'AA' Hockey League began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league that will play with 23 teams in 16 states and British Columbia in 2008-09.

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

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 NHL teams.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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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.


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