ECHL Anounces Changes For 2004-05

June 15, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


Princeton, NJ — The ECHL, which held its annual Board of Governors meeting last week in Atlanta, announced several changes to take place for the 2004-05 season. Among the changes is the re-alignment and re-naming of the divisions and conferences as well as a new playoff format.

The Board of Governors approved the following items:

NEW ALIGNMENT, NAMES FOR CONFERENCES: To reflect its national presence, the ECHL renamed its conferences the American Conference and the National Conference and named its divisions North, South, East and West.

National Conference (16 teams)

West Division (8 teams) - Alaska Aces, Bakersfield Condors, Fresno Falcons, Idaho Steelheads, Las Vegas Wranglers, Long Beach Ice Dogs, San Diego Gulls and Victoria Salmon Kings.

North Division (8 teams) - Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies, Dayton Bombers, Johnstown Chiefs, Peoria Rivermen, Reading Royals, Toledo Storm, Trenton Titans and Wheeling Nailers.

American Conference (14 teams)

East Division (7 teams) - Charlotte Checkers, Columbia Inferno, Greensboro Generals, Greenville Grrrowl, Pee Dee Pride, Roanoke Express and South Carolina Stingrays.

South Division (7 teams) - Augusta Lynx, Florida Everblades, Gwinnett Gladiators, Louisiana IceGators, Mississippi Sea Wolves, Pensacola Ice Pilots and Texas Wildcatters.

2005 KELLY CUP PLAYOFFS FORMAT: The playoff qualifiers in the National Conference will be the top four teams with the highest regular-season point total from the North Division and the top four teams with the highest regular-season point total from the West Division. The Division Semifinals will be a best-of-five series with the first-place finisher meeting the fourth-place finisher and the second-place finisher meeting the third-place finisher. The winners of the Division Semifinals will advance to the Division Finals, which is also a best-of-five series. The winners of the Division Finals will meet in the best-of-seven Conference Finals to determine the National Conference Champion and representative in the best-of-seven Kelly Cup Finals.

Because of the geographical proximity in the American Conference, first-round playoff berths will be awarded to the top eight (8) teams - the first-place team in each division (based on regular-season point totals in each conference), as well as the next six-best teams (based on regular-season point totals in each conference). The two division winners will be seeded first and second (in order of points) and the next six-best teams (in order of points) will be seeded third through eighth.

In the Conference Quarterfinals, the first-place team will meet the eighth-place team, the second-place team will meet the seventh-place team, the third-place team will meet the sixth-place team, and the fourth-place team will meet the fifth-place team. Home ice in the Conference Quarterfinals is granted to those teams seeded first through fourth.

In the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals, teams will be reseeded according to the same criteria as the Conference Quarterfinals (division leaders will be seeded first and granted home-ice advantage while the remaining teams will be seeded in order of regular-season points).

The winners of the best-of-five Conference Semifinals advance to the best-of-seven Conference Finals to determine the American Conference Champion and representative in the best-of-seven Kelly Cup Finals.



ECHL Stories from June 15, 2004


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