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Dubnyk Named Reebok/AHL Player Of The Week

November 20, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The American Hockey League announced that former Stockton Thunder and ECHL All-Star goaltender Devan Dubnyk has been named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Nov. 16.

The 22 year old was 2-1-0 with a shutout, a goals-against average of 1.30 and a save percentage of .968 in three games for Springfield. He posted his first AHL shutout and the first shutout in almost two years for a Falcons goaltender when he made 46 saves in a 2-0 win at Worcester on Tuesday. He made 42 saves and stopped four of five shooters in a 2-1 win against Syracuse on Friday and had 32 stops in a 3-0 loss to Worcester on Sunday.

In his first professional season in 2006-07, Dubnyk was 24-11-7 with two shutouts, a goals-against average of 2.56 and a save percentage of .921 in 43 regular season games for Stockton. He was selected to play in the 2007 Rbk Hockey ECHL All-Star Game and also played in the AHL where he was 2-1-0 with a goals-against average of 2.94 and a save percentage of .855 in four games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Other former ECHL players nominated for the award were Keith Aucoin, Jason Jaffray and Tim Hambly,

The ECHL has had affiliations with 20 or more teams in the AHL the last eight years and in the past seven seasons there have been more ECHL players called up to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined.

Seven times in the last eight years the winner of the AHL Coach of the Year award has been a former ECHL coach including the last three selections with Scott Gordon, Mike Haviland and Kevin Dineen. Former ECHL coaches won the award four consecutive years from 2001-04 with Don Granato, Bruce Cassidy, Geoff Ward and Claude Noel. The first former ECHL coach to win the award was current Carolina Hurricanes head coach Peter Laviolette in 1999.

For the 19th year in a row the Premier 'AA' Hockey League was represented on the AHL champion as the Chicago Wolves had a record 14 former ECHL players on their roster.

Former Florida Everblades center Keith Aucoin won the award for the period ending Oct. 12 and former ECHL players won the award 10 times in 2007-08. Former ECHL players were chosen to receive the Rbk X-Pulse/AHL Goaltender of the Month four times, the CCM/AHL Player of the Month award three times and the Rbk Edge/AHL Rookie of the Month two times.

The ECHL was represented by three players on both the First Team All-AHL and the Second Team All-AHL while goaltender John Curry was named to the All-Rookie Team and Andrew Hutchinson was named Defenseman of the Year.

Barry Brust and Nolan Schaefer won the Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award, presented each season to the goaltender(s) appearing in at least 25 games for the team allowing the fewest goals, for 2007-08. It is the seventh season in a row and the 12th time in the last 15 years that the award has been won or shared by a former ECHL goaltender.

Premier 'AA' Hockey League Fast Facts
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 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 368 players who have played in the NHL after playing in the ECHL including 112 in the last four seasons and a record 47 players in 2005-06. Seventy-two former ECHL players were on NHL opening-day rosters this season and 333 ECHL players attended NHL training camps, including 139 who played in the league last season.

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 18 assistant coaches in the NHL who were players or coaches in the ECHL.

Thirteen former ECHL players have played their first NHL game this season: Wheeling Nailers and ECHL All-Star defenseman Paul Bissonnette (Pittsburgh on Oct. 4) , former Greenville Grrrowl goaltender Jeff Deslauriers (Edmonton on Oct. 17) , former Gwinnett Gladiators right wing Pat Dwyer former Columbus Cottonmouths and Tallahassee Tiger Sharks left wing Mitch Fritz (New York Islanders on Oct. 30), former Charlotte Checkers center Dwight Helminen (Carolina on Oct. 28), former Trenton Devils right wing Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond (New Jersey on Oct. 22), former Charlotte Checkers defenseman Steve MacIntyre (Edmonton on Oct. 15), former Phoenix RoadRunners and Wheeling Nailers center Cam Paddock (St. Louis on Nov. 14), former Las Vegas Wranglers defenseman Adam Pardy (Calgary on Oct. 9), former Gwinnett Gladiators center Jared Ross (Philadelphia on Oct. 11) , former Alaska Aces goaltender Marek Schwarz (St. Louis on Oct. 25), former Dayton Bombers and Las Vegas Wranglers defenseman Tyler Sloan (Washington on Oct. 21) and former Augusta Lynx defenseman Brett Skinner (New York Islanders on Oct. 27).

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

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

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