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ECHL Teams Raise $575,000 For Cancer Charities

April 2, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced that its teams have combined to raise more than $575,000 for cancer awareness and prevention in 2007-08.

Twenty two of the 25 teams hosted a "Pink" event this season, up from eight teams in 2006-07 when almost $200,000 was raised. The promotions ranged from donations from ticket sales to recognition of cancer survivors to special jerseys, sticks and pucks and more.

"The ECHL and our member teams are proud to be involved in such a worthwhile cause," said ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna. "It is our intention to continue our efforts to raise awareness and funds for cancer charities. I applaud the efforts of our teams in this regard."

The Alaska Aces generated more than $103,000 with a two-day preseason "Paint the Rink Pink" promotion while the Texas Wildcatters generated a record $82,388 in a single day with their "Pink in the Rink" event.

Idaho raised a team record $27,641 with its jersey auction this season to bring its two-year total to almost $50,000 while Gwinnett set a team high with $56,625 this season.

Stockton has generated more than $70,000 and welcomed nearly 33,000 to the games for its two "Thunder Goes Pink" events while Fresno has raised more than $60,000 and had more than 25,000 attend their "Pink at the Rink" games the last two years. The Falcons were recognized and featured on the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation web site as well as being featured in the February 2008 issue of Fresno Magazine.

Charlotte has hosted "Pink" events each of the last two years and raised over $50,000 while Reading raised $35,000 with its inaugural event this season and Wheeling generated almost $10,000.

The Condors Fighting Cancer Hockey-Thon raised more than $56,000 to bring the four-year total for the event to more than $162,000 while the Phoenix RoadRunners have raised over $30,000 the last two years for Face-Off Against Kids Cancer.

The Cincinnati Cyclones were featured in USA Today when they became the first professional team to employ an all-female off-ice officiating crew for their "Pink in the Rink" game.

ECHL teams in 2006-07 donated over $2.8 million to charitable organizations and relief funds including more than $1.2 million in monetary donations.

The financial contributions are in addition to the thousands of appearances by players, coaches, team personnel and mascots at schools, hospitals, libraries and charity functions throughout the year. In 2005-06 and 2006-07 the Premier 'AA' Hockey League and its teams raised more than $5 million for charitable organizations.

ECHL
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, the ECHL is the Premier 'AA' Hockey League and 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 25 teams playing 900 games in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08.

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 in 2007-08, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

There have been 353 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including 97 in the last three seasons. There have been 208 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past seven seasons.

There are 15 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience including former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Mississippi coach Bruce Boudreau, who is head coach of the Washington Capitals.

The ECHL is represented for the seventh consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2007 with Anaheim assistant coach Dave Farrish, players Francois Beauchemin and George Parros and broadcasters John Ahlers and Steve Carroll.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 and for the past 18 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion.

In each of the last two seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call-ups involving more than 500 players. In the last five seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,000 call-ups involving more than 1,000 players since 2002-03.

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

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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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