AHL Charlotte Checkers

Checkers Announce 2003-04 Schedule

Published on May 9, 2003 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


(PRINCETON, N.J. - Friday, May 9) The East Coast Hockey League opens its 2003-04 season on Friday, October 17 with 32 teams in 18 states playing a record 1,152 games, making it the largest league in professional hockey.

The 1,152 games will exceed the 1,044 games played in 2001-02 when the ECHL competed with 29 teams in 14 states. Each team will play a 72-game schedule comprised of 36 home games and 36 road games.

The ECHL welcomes nine new markets for 2003-04 with the addition of the Anchorage Aces, the Bakersfield Condors, the Fresno Falcons, the Gwinnett (Georgia) Gladiators, the Idaho (Boise) Steelheads, the Las Vegas Wranglers, the Long Beach Ice Dogs, the San Diego Gulls, and the Texas (Beaumont) Wildcatters.

(CHARLOTTE, NC - Friday, May 9) - The Charlotte Checkers are pleased to announce today their 2003-04 ECHL season schedule. The announcement is made jointly by Checkers President Bob Scheer and Head Coach and General Manager Don MacAdam. The Checkers will play a 72 game schedule, beginning with their home opener on Saturday, October 18, at Cricket Arena against the Gwinnett (Atlanta) Gladiators. Charlotte's season will close on Saturday, April 3 at Columbia. (COMPLETE SCHEDULE LISTED BELOW)

The Checkers will also be a part of the Eastern Conference's Southern Division with the Greensboro Generals, Greenville Grrrowl, Gwinnett (Atlanta) Gladiators, Columbia Inferno, Roanoke Express, Florence Pride, South Carolina Stingrays and Augusta Lynx.

"Fans will be very glad that we're back playing the majority of our games against teams here in the South," quoted Don MacAdam. "We'll be playing our traditional rivals with more games against them, plus developing new rivalries with a few new teams too. As far as our west coast swing goes and playing several teams formerly in the West Coast Hockey League, we're looking forward to it. As a coach you always wonder how you'd compare with teams from other minor leagues, so now we'll get an opportunity to find out."

Bob Scheer also commented on the Checkers play on the west coast this coming season. "The ECHL wanted some teams from big cities to be the first ones to travel out west to play its' new teams to develop a presence there. As one of the largest cities in the ECHL, we were happy to comply."

In 2002-03, the 27 members of the ECHL had affiliations with 24 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League and 22 of the 28 teams in the American Hockey League. There were 90 former ECHL players that played in the NHL in 2002-03, including 20 who made their NHL debut, and there have been 215 former ECHL players that have gone on to play in the NHL.There were more than 80 players in the ECHL on AHL contracts in 2002-03 and the ECHL had 450 call ups to the AHL in 2002-03, more than any other professional league

Some special features about the Checkers 2003-04 schedule include:

* 25 home dates on weekends, (Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays) including 23 on Friday and Saturday nights.

* 56 games (77%) to be played within the Southern Division of the Eastern Conference. Last season Charlotte played only a little more than 50% of their games against division opponents.

* A west coast swing which will see them play six games against three teams from the former West Coast Hockey League that have joined the ECHL, including two games against San Diego, two games against Bakersfield, California, and single games against Long Beach and Fresno.

* The Checkers will play 20 of the 32 ECHL teams at least once.

* The Checkers will play Greensboro eight times, while playing Greenville, Gwinnett and South Carolina seven times each.

* Among existing ECHL teams, the Checkers will play Arkansas for the very first time.

Check out the Charlotte Checkers Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from May 9, 2003


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