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ECHL Opening Weekend Approaches

October 13, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


The ECHL opens its 16th season on Friday with 11 games, including Texas visiting Atlantic City, who will hoist its Kelly Cup Championship banner and present its championship rings in a pregame ceremony at Historic Boardwalk Hall.

In other games on Friday, Toledo will raise its Brabham Cup Regular Season Championship banner before hosting Johnstown, and Columbia will lift its Southern Conference Championship banner into the Carolina Coliseum rafters before its game with Florence, who the Inferno eliminated in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. The two meet again on Saturday when Columbia travels to Florence.

Opening night also features Las Vegas playing its first-ever game when it visits Idaho for the first of three games in three days, and Long Beach visiting Roanoke in the inaugural East-West match-up of the season. Friday also has Louisiana at Mississippi in a rematch of the Kelly Cup Playoffs Southwest Division Finals. The IceGators and Sea Wolves meet again on Saturday at Louisiana. Peoria plays at Cincinnati in a repeat of the Kelly Cup Playoffs Northwest Division Semifinals. Augusta will take to the ice under new ownership when it hosts Florida while the remainder of the Friday's schedule has Fresno at Bakersfield, South Carolina at Greensboro, and Reading at Trenton.

On Saturday, Atlantic City will host Trenton in a rematch of the Kelly Cup Playoffs Northeast Division Semifinals and the first game of the 2003-04 Garden State Cup Series. The Gwinnett Gladiators will take the ice for the first time at Charlotte, and Pensacola hosts Columbus in its first game under new ownership. San Diego, which won five championships in the West Coast Hockey League, plays its first ECHL game on Saturday when it visits Bakersfield while Cincinnati and Dayton renew their in-state rivalry when the Bombers host the Cyclones.

In a match-up of the top two point finishers from 2002-03, Toledo will visit Peoria, who the Storm beat by a single point to win the Brabham Cup Championship. Texas continues its season-opening Eastern road trip when it visits Reading, which ranked second in ECHL attendance in 2002-03 averaging 5,789 fans per game, while South Carolina, which ranked third in ECHL attendance averaging 5,706 fans per game, will host in-state rival Greenville. Long Beach will travel to Johnstown to face the Chiefs in the renovated historical Cambria County War Memorial, where the famous movie "Slapshot" was filmed, and Roanoke visits Wheeling in its first game under new ownership.

Opening weekend concludes with seven games on Sunday, including the home opener for Columbus, which hosts Gwinnett. Trenton hosts Texas while Pensacola visits Mississippi in a repeat of the Kelly Cup Playoffs Southwest Division Semifinals and Long Beach travels to Wheeling.

Friday, October 17
Texas at Atlantic City 7:05
Florida at Augusta 7:35
Fresno at Bakersfield 7:00
Peoria at Cincinnati 7:30
Florence at Columbia 7:30
S. Carolina at Greensboro 7:30
Las Vegas at Idaho 7:05
Louisiana at Mississippi 7:35
Long Beach at Roanoke 7:30
Johnstown at Toledo 8:00
Reading at Trenton 7:30

Saturday, October 18
Trenton at Atlantic City 7:05
Florida at Augusta 7:35
San Diego at Bakersfield 7:00
Gwinnett at Charlotte 7:30
Cincinnati at Dayton 7:00
Columbia at Florence 7:30
Las Vegas at Idaho 7:05
Long Beach at Johnstown 7:00
Mississippi at Louisiana 7:05
Columbus at Pensacola 7:05
Toledo at Peoria 7:05
Texas at Reading 7:05
Greenville at S. Carolina 7:30
Roanoke at Wheeling 7:30

Sunday, October 19
Gwinnett at Columbus 4:00
Florida at Florence 2:30
Las Vegas at Idaho 7:05
Cincinnati at Johnstown 2:30
Pensacola at Mississippi 4:05
Texas at Trenton 3:00
Long Beach at Wheeling 6:00
- All Times Local -

Bench Bosses Are Mixture Of Veterans, Rookies

There will be 20 veterans and 11 rookies behind ECHL benches when the league opens its 16th season on Friday.

The dean of the returning coaches is John Marks, who is in his sixth season with Greenville and 11th season overall in the ECHL. Marks, who coached five seasons in Charlotte, ranks second among ECHL coaches in career wins (340), games (630) and years coached (10), trailing only the legendary John Brophy. Marks and Brophy, for whom the ECHL has renamed its Coach of the Trophy, are the only coaches in ECHL history to win both the Jack C. Riley Cup, awarded to the postseason champion from 1988-96, and the Patrick J. Kelly Cup. Marks led Charlotte to the 1996 Riley Cup Championship and led Greenville to the 2002 Kelly Cup Championship, making him the only coach in ECHL history to lead two different teams to ECHL titles. Brophy won three ECHL titles while Marks and Chris McSorley, who led Toledo to the ECHL championship in 1993 and 1994, each won two titles.

Mike Haviland returns for his third season with Atlantic City, whom he led to the 2003 Kelly Cup Championship and the Northern Conference Finals in 2002. Scott White has led Columbia to the Kelly Cup Playoffs in each of his first two seasons, and in 2002-03 the Inferno won both the regular season and postseason Southern Conference Championships. Louisiana's Dave Farrish, who was named the 2002 ECHL Coach of the Year, has more wins than any other ECHL coach the past three seasons while leading the IceGators to the 2002 regular season title and three straight Kelly Cup Playoffs appearances.

Rick Adduono returns for his second season in Greensboro after leading the Generals to their first-ever appearance in the Kelly Cup Playoffs while setting team records for wins (42) and points (93). Jason Christie has led Peoria to the postseason in each of his first three seasons, and ranks fourth among ECHL coaches in career winning percentage (.678). Don MacAdam is in his fourth season as head coach of Charlotte, which narrowly missed a third consecutive trip to the Kelly Cup Playoffs in 2002-03.

In his third season, Bob Woods has led Mississippi to the Southern Conference Finals in each of his first two seasons while Gerry Fleming has led Florida to the Kelly Cup Playoffs in each of his first two seasons as well. Todd Gordon has led Pensacola to the postseason in each of his first two years and in 2001-02 the Ice Pilots set team records for wins (38) and home wins (23) while tying the team record for most points (82).

Steve Martinson is in his ninth season behind the bench with San Diego, having led the Gulls to a 385-115-33 regular season record and five championships in eight seasons in the West Coast Hockey League. Blaine Moore is in his fifth season behind the bench with Fresno, having led the Falcons to the WCHL title in 2002, while John Olver is in his fourth season behind the bench with Idaho leading the Steelheads to a 146-54-16 regular season record. Paul Kelly is in his third season with Bakersfield, and led the Condors to their best season in history in 2002-03, setting more than 30 individual and team records.

Davis Payne is in his first season with Alaska after leading the Pee Dee Pride, now the Florence Pride, to the Kelly Cup Playoffs three straight seasons. Stan Drulia is in his first season with Augusta after leading Orlando to both the regular season and postseason championship for the Atlantic Coast Hockey League in 2002-03. Drulia played for Knoxville in 1990-91, leading the ECHL with 63 goals and 140 points while being voted the ECHL Most Valuable Player and All-ECHL. Perry Florio is the new head coach in Florence after finishing 2002-03 behind the bench with the Anchorage Aces of the WCHL, now the Alaska Aces. Florio was 100-73-17 and advanced to the Kelly Cup Playoffs twice with Roanoke.

Bill Armstrong, who coached four years in the AHL with Providence, led Trenton to the postseason in his first season in 2002-03 while Roanoke's Tony MacAulay took over as head coach in January and helped the Express reach the postseason for the 10th time in the team's 10-year history. Jason Fitzsimmons, who won an ECHL title as a player in 1997 and as an assistant coach in 2001, is in his second season with South Carolina, having led the Stingrays to the postseason in 2002-03.

Chris Cichocki returns to Cincinnati where he played and coached when the Cyclones competed in the International Hockey League. Cichocki spent the last three seasons in the ECHL, helping Arkansas to the third-best turnaround in ECHL history, improving 43 points from 1999-2000 to 2000-01. Brian Curran steps behind the bench in Columbus after earning Coach of the Year honors in the ACHL after leading Macon to the postseason in 2002-03. Curran began his professional coaching career in the ECHL, leading Jacksonville to a 35-33-2 record and a berth in the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Jeff Pyle is behind the bench of Gwinnett, which played seven seasons in Mobile, Alabama before moving to the Atlanta suburb. Pyle coached the Mysticks for four seasons, going 137-113-34 and leading the team to the Kelly Cup Playoffs three times. Toby O'Brien returns for his second season with Johnstown, after going 28-33-11 in his first season, while Kevin Kaminski returns for his second season with Long Beach, after going 22-46-4 in 2002-03.

Jamie Ling begins his coaching career with Dayton, a team for whom he was both a player/assistant coach and Captain from 1998-2003 setting team career records for goals (132), shorthand goals (17) and game-winning goals. Ling received the ECHL Sportsmanship Award three straight years from 1998-2001, making him the only multiple winner of the award. Also in his first year as a head coach is Las Vegas' Glen Gulutzan, who spent the past four seasons as a player-assistant coach for Fresno. Texas' Robert Dirk returns behind the bench after spending the 2002-03 season as Vice President of Hockey Operations for the WCHL.

Steve Harrison comes to Toledo from Sault Ste. Marie in the Ontario Hockey League where he was assistant coach, associate coach and head coach. Pat Bingham returns to Wheeling where he was an assistant coach in 2001-02. Bingham, who played four seasons in the ECHL and won an ECHL title with Hampton Roads in 1991, was head coach of Adirondack and Asheville in the United Hockey League the past two seasons. Derek Clancey is in his first season with Reading after leading Jackson to the Kelly Cup Playoffs each of the past three seasons. Reading relocated from Columbus, Ohio in 2001, and Clancey, who played for Columbus from 1993-97, holds the team season records for points (109) and assists (77), set in 1995-96.

2002-03 Record Performances

Cincinnati tied the ECHL Record for most power-play goals in one game (7) on December 27, 2002 at Reading.

Mississippi's Kent Davyduke set the ECHL record for the fastest overtime goal (5 seconds) on December 8, 2002 at Louisiana.

Augusta and Pee Dee tied the ECHL record for fewest penalty minutes by both teams in one game (0) while also tying the ECHL record for fewest penalty minutes by one team in one game (0) on March 30.

Rod Taylor scored his 686th point on January 29, breaking Darryl Noren's ECHL record of 685 points. Taylor played for South Carolina, Peoria and Toledo in 2002-03 and is the ECHL all-time career leader in goals (368), points (689) and games (678).

Reading's Ray DiLauro scored the fastest two goals by a defenseman (7 seconds) and the fastest three goals by a defenseman (40 seconds) on March 5 against Trenton.

Greensboro's Jay Murphy scored his 50th career playoff goal, tying the ECHL record held by Phil Berger, on April 16 against Atlantic City.

Arkansas and Louisiana combined to set an ECHL record for fewest goals scored by both teams in a three-game playoff series (9).

Arkansas and Lexington each scored two goals in the playoffs, tying the ECHL record for fewest goals scored by one team in a three-game playoff series.

Brian Goudie had 177 penalty minutes in 2002-03, giving him 2,253 career penalty minutes to break the ECHL record of 2,246 held by Jason Clarke.

Northern Conference defeated the Southern Conference 8-2 in the 2003 ECHL All-Star Game, setting ECHL records for the largest margin of victory in an All-Star Game (6), the fewest goals by both teams (10), and the fewest goals by one team (2).

Scott Stirling tied the ECHL record for most All-Star games played by a goaltender (2).

Twenty-year-old Mike Smith became the youngest goaltender in professional hockey history and the sixth goaltender in ECHL history to score a goal when he scored in Lexington's 2-0 win against Dayton on October 26, 2002. Smith also earned his first professional win and his first professional shutout.

Baton Rouge set ECHL records for most home losses in a season (23), most consecutive games shut out (4) from March 9 through March 22 and the longest streak without scoring a goal (320:09) from March 8 through March 25.

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