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ECHL This Week

Published on October 16, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - Eighteen of the 25 coaches in the ECHL return to their same team from 2006-07 while seven teams have new leaders, including three first-year head coaches.

Returning to the ECHL for a record 14th season is John Marks, who takes over behind the bench in Pensacola after leading Fayetteville to the Southern Professional Hockey League championship a year ago. Marks, who coached Charlotte from 1993-98 and Greenville from 1998-2006, has led his teams to the postseason an ECHL record 10 times and he was the first coach to lead two different teams to the ECHL title, coaching Charlotte to the Riley Cup in 1996 and Greenville to the Kelly Cup in 2002. He holds the league record for most regular season games coached (918) and is second with 466 regular season wins, needing 14 to tie the record held by John Brophy.

After three seasons as team captain and player/assistant coach during which he helped Alaska win the Kelly Cup championship in 2006, Keith McCambridge takes over as head coach of the Aces, replacing Davis Payne, who the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League named as an assistant coach for Peoria of the American Hockey League. Returning in Victoria is Mark Morrison, who after taking over at midseason led the Salmon Kings to their first-ever Kelly Cup Playoffs appearance.

Derek Wilkinson returns to Charlotte for his fifth season having led the Checkers to the Kelly Cup Playoffs each of the last three years which is the most postseason appearances and consecutive postseason appearances by a Charlotte coach since Marks. Chuck Weber enters his second season in Cincinnati after leading the Cyclones to their first postseason appearance since 2003.

Steve Martinson is the head coach for the expansion Elmira Jackals, returning to the ECHL after winning the last title in the United Hockey League, which ceased operations at the conclusion of the 2006-07 season. In his only season in the ECHL in 2003-04, he led San Diego to the Brabham Cup championship with a 49-13-10 record, setting the league record for most wins by a first-year team as the Gulls became only the second expansion team to win the regular-season points title. Martinson won five championships in the West Coast Hockey League, which ended operations following the 2002-03 season. After coaching the last eight regular season games and helping Phoenix make its first Kelly Cup Playoffs appearance, Brad Church enters his first full season with the RoadRunners.

Three National Conference coaches return for their third season led by Idaho's Derek Laxdal, who led the Steelheads to the Kelly Cup championship in 2006-07 while posting his second consecutive 40-win season. Fresno's Matt Thomas returns for his third season after leading the Falcons to the postseason each of the last two years. Jason Christie, who is 275-173-56 in seven ECHL seasons with five postseason appearances, returns to Utah for his third season.

In Malcolm Cameron's first season in Texas, the Wildcatters improved by 46 points and reached the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the first time in their three-year history. Stockton's Chris Cichocki enters his third season as head coach after leading the Thunder to a 36-point turnaround and their first postseason berth, losing to Kelly Cup champion Idaho.

Bill McDonald is in his first season as Dayton's head coach yet is a 15-year veteran having coached in the Central Hockey League, the Colonial Hockey League, the International Hockey League and the Western Professional Hockey League. He was named coach of the year in the Colonial Hockey League in 1992-93, in the Central Hockey League in 1996-97 and in the Western Professional Hockey League in 1997-98.

Glen Gulutzan is in his fifth season as head coach of Las Vegas which won the Brabham Cup championship in 2006-07. The Wranglers won their last 13 regular season games to finish with a 46-12-14 record and 106 points, becoming only the second team in ECHL history to score 100 points in back-to-back seasons, and won their first five games in the Kelly Cup Playoffs to tie the professional hockey league record with 18 consecutive wins. Marty Raymond also enters his fifth season after leading Bakersfield to the Kelly Cup Playoffs and 40 wins for each of the last three years, including a team record 94 points in 2006-07.

Florida's Gerry Fleming enters his seventh season making him the longest-tenured coach in team history. He has led the Everblades to the Kelly Cup Playoffs in each of his first six seasons, including the conference finals three times in the last four years and back-to-back trips to the Kelly Cup Finals in 2004 and 2005. In his fifth season as head coach for Gwinnett, Jeff Pyle has led the Gladiators to 40 wins and a berth in the Kelly Cup Playoffs in each of their first four seasons, including the Kelly Cup Finals in 2006.

Ian Herbers is entering in his first season with the Johnstown Chiefs after coaching Saginaw in the Ontario Hockey League from 2005-07. Named head coach of Mississippi on July 27, 2005, Steffon Walby will finally step behind the bench as the Sea Wolves return to the ice after being forced to miss the last two seasons because of Hurricane Katrina. Walby is in his fifth season with the organization, having served one season as associate coach and three seasons as a player/assistant coach, and is the Mississippi career regular season leader in goals (117), points (270), power-play goals (43), shorthand goals (11) and plus-minus rating (+72) and the team career postseason leader in assists (17) and points (27).

Karl Taylor is in his third season as head coach of Reading having led the Royals to a 74-56-14 record. Bob Ferguson enters his third season with Augusta, having led the Lynx to their first back-to-back Kelly Cup Playoffs appearances since 2001 and 2000. Wheeling's Glenn Patrick is entering his third season with the Nailers with a 77-55-12 record.

Two coaches in the American Conference enter their sophomore seasons, Rick Kowalsky in Trenton and Troy Mann in Columbia. Trenton was 36-31-5 in Kowalsky's first season reaching the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the third straight season and the seventh time in eight years.

The new head coach of South Carolina, Jared Bednar has been a member of the Stingrays organization for the last 11 years beginning in 1995-96 as a player and continuing the last five seasons as assistant coach. He was a member of the Stingrays Kelly Cup championship teams in 1997 and 2001 when he was team captain.

ECHL Opens 20th Season On Thursday

The Premier 'AA' Hockey League will drop the puck for its 20th season on Oct. 18 with a special Opening Day game between the Johnstown Chiefs and the Wheeling Nailers, the ECHL will have 12 games on Oct. 19 including the expansion Elmira Jackals hosting Wheeling.

The ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in three states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league that will have 25 teams playing in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08, including the Mississippi (Biloxi) Sea Wolves, who return after missing two seasons in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The ECHL will play 900 games beginning Oct. 18 and concluding Apr. 5.

After being forced by Hurricane Katrina to wait two seasons, Mississippi will finally be able to celebrate its "Decade in the Den" on Oct. 27 when it hosts Reading. The Sea Wolves have sold the most season tickets in team history as fans eagerly anticipate their return to the ice at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum for the first time since Apr. 15, 2005. Located in Biloxi, the Sea Wolves had a Voluntary Suspension each of the last two seasons under the ECHL's hardship provisions after the arena and the team office housed within suffered extensive and irreparable damage.

The newest ECHL member is Elmira, which will play its home games at First Arena, a 4,000-seat multi-purpose facility in Downtown Elmira, N.Y. The Jackals have played the last seven seasons as a member of the United Hockey League where they averaged 3,308 per game and had 31 sellouts, including a team record standing-room-only crowd of 4,126 on Oct. 13, 2006.

For the first time since 1998-99 the ECHL had 10 teams that averaged more than 5,000 fans per game in 2006-07 led by Stockton and Florida, who had the two highest average attendances since 2000-01. Thirteen of the 22 returning teams raised their attendance from 2005-06 as the league had 35 sellouts for the fourth year in a row.

Florida will open its 10th season on Oct. 19 when it hosts the Mississippi Sea Wolves. The Everblades have not averaged less than 6,200 per game in each of their first nine seasons, including leading the league a record five straight years from 2000-05. Florida has not missed the Kelly Cup Playoffs since joining the ECHL in 1998-99 and their nine consecutive appearances is the longest active streak.

Stockton, which will open its third season on Oct. 27 when it hosts the Alaska Aces, reached the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the first time in their second season and became the first team other than Florida to lead the league in attendance two years in a row since Louisiana from 1995-99. The Thunder raised their average attendance by 6.5 percent to 6,780 per game and had three sellouts at Stockton Arena, which will host the ECHL All-Star Game on Jan. 23, 2008.

Bakersfield will open its fifth season in the ECHL on Oct. 19 when it hosts Stockton. The Condors have raised their attendance the last four seasons and have seen their average grow 29.6 percent from 2003-04 when they joined the league as an expansion team.

It will be a rematch of the North Division Finals on Oct. 19 when Dayton visits Cincinnati and Oct. 20 when the Bombers host the Cyclones. In the Kelly Cup Finals for the second time since 2002, Dayton beat Cincinnati in seven games to become only the third team in history to come back from a 3-1 deficit. Dayton beat Florida in seven games to win the American Conference and is the only team to win two Game 7s in a single postseason. The Bombers had a sellout crowd of 9,989 for their season opener, which is the largest crowd at the Nutter Center since a team record 10,057 on Jan. 23, 2004. Dayton raised its attendance by 5.2 percent in 2006-07, which was the seventh-largest increase, and it has raised attendance each of the last two seasons.

Idaho, which has reached the Kelly Cup Finals for the second time in four seasons, will open its fifth season in the ECHL on Oct. 19 when it hosts Victoria. The Steelheads were second in the league in 2006-07 with six sellouts including 5,533 on Jan. 20, which is the largest crowd since the team joined as an expansion team in 2003-04. Idaho has had 29 sellouts since joining the league, including a league-leading 10 in the regular season and five in the Kelly Cup Playoffs their first season.

Fresno will host Las Vegas in its season opener on Oct. 19 while Gwinnett will host Pensacola on Oct. 20. The Falcons had the largest attendance increase of any team in 2006-07 with 12.7 percent while Gwinnett raised its attendance after having its fourth sellout crowd of 11,355 and two other crowds of more than 10,000.

Phoenix and its new coach Brad Church will host Utah in its season opener for the second year in a row on Oct. 19. Trenton will play its first game as the Devils as it hosts longtime rival Reading on Oct. 19 marking the second season in a row that the two have opened the season against each other.

Augusta, which has made back-to-back trips to the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2000 and 2001, opens its 16th season on Oct. 19 when it hosts Texas which will open its season on Oct. 27 when it hosts Florida in a rematch of the South Division Finals. Returning from a one-year hiatus forced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Wildcatters raised their average attendance by 7.5 percent from 2004-05, which was the third-largest attendance increase in 2006-07.

Charlotte and South Carolina are both celebrating their 15th anniversary in the ECHL and each will host Columbia in their home opener with the Inferno visiting the Checkers on Oct. 19 and the Stingrays on Oct. 20. Charlotte has led the league each of the last two years in sellouts with 11 in 2006-07 and 10 in 2005-06. Charlotte Bobcats Arena has a listed capacity of 6,800 for hockey but can accommodate larger crowds as evidenced by the Checkers having three crowds over 10,000 last year, including a team record 11,237 on Feb. 10 and eight other crowds of more than 9,000. South Carolina had 10,112 for their season opener in 2006-07 and 10,496 on Jan. 20 for their first sellout since 1998.

John Marks, who is the first coach to lead two different teams to the ECHL title, takes over behind the bench in Pensacola, which will open its season on Oct. 19 against Gwinnett. Marks, who led Charlotte to the Riley Cup in 1996 and Greenville to the Kelly Cup in 2002, is 466-368-84 in 13 seasons in the league and is the all-time leader in games and second in wins.

Las Vegas will raise its Brabham Cup Championship banner at its season opener on Oct. 21 when it hosts Stockton. The Wranglers will play at midnight for the fifth consecutive year when they host Phoenix on Dec. 17 and remain the only professional hockey team to play at midnight, a tradition the team began on Dec. 22, 2003.

Coming off a season that saw the first-ever sellout at Save-On-Foods-Centre and the first trip to the Kelly Cup Playoffs, Victoria will host Las Vegas on Oct. 26. After having the second-largest attendance increase in the ECHL in 2006-07 with almost nine percent, Utah will host Idaho for its season opener at The E-Center on Oct. 26. Wheeling will host South Carolina at WesBanco Arena on Oct. 26, the same day that Augusta will visit Columbia for the Inferno's home opener.

Reading will be trying for its second home-opening sellout in a row on Nov. 3 when it hosts Cincinnati. The Royals have not averaged less than 5,000 per game in each of their first six seasons. In addition to the sellout on opening night, Reading had another crowd of more than 7,000 in 2006-07.

Alaska will be the last team to play its home opener when Florida visits on Nov. 2. The Aces, who had a standing-room-only crowd of 6,451 for their home opener a year ago, have raised their average attendance by 18.8 percent since joining the ECHL as an expansion team in 2003-04. In the last four years, Alaska has had 36 sellouts at Sullivan Arena and 15 of those have been crowds of 6,451, including six in the regular season.

2007-08 ECHL Critical Dates

Oct. 17
Opening-Day Rosters due at 3 p.m. ET

Oct. 19
Regular Season Begins

Dec. 21-27
For all players on ECHL roster as of 5 p.m. ET on Dec. 21, a roster freeze shall apply through 9 a.m. ET on Dec. 27 with respect to waivers, trades and any other player assignments.

Jan. 22-24
All-Star Break

Jan. 22
11th-Annual Skills Competition at Stockton Arena in Stockton, Calif.

Jan. 23
16th-Annual All-Star Game at Stockton Arena in Stockton, Calif.

Jan. 25
Regular season resumes

Home teams begin wearing road jerseys from first half of season

Road teams begin wearing home jerseys from first half of season

Feb. 4
Overseas Deadline at 5 p.m. ET

Feb. 28
American Hockey League Clear Day List

Mar. 5
Trade Deadline at 3 p.m. ET

Recall/Assignment Deadline

Apr. 2
Amateur Playoff Eligibility Deadline at 5 p.m. ET

Apr. 7
Kelly Cup Playoff Rosters due at 3 p.m. ET

Apr. 8
Kelly Cup Playoffs Begin

Jun. 1
Protected Lists Due

Jun. 13
Future Consideration Trades must be completed

Jun. 15
Season-Ending Rosters Due

Fast Facts About The Premier 'AA' Hockey League

The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league that will have 25 teams playing in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08, including the Mississippi (Biloxi) Sea Wolves, who return after missing two seasons in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the expansion Elmira (New York) Jackals.

The Stockton Thunder and the City of Stockton will host the 16th Annual ECHL All-Star Game at Stockton Arena on Jan. 23, 2008 and the 11th Annual ECHL All-Star Skills Competition on Jan. 22, 2008.

For the fourth straight year and the 10th time in the last 11 years, the ECHL had more than four million fans attend its games in 2006-07 and averaged 4,101 fans per game.

The total attendance for the regular season and the Kelly Cup Playoffs is twice as many fans as the total attendance for the WNBA, Arena Football League and Major League Soccer and four times greater than total attendance for both the National Lacrosse League and af2.

There have been more than 66 million fans who have attended over 15,000 games since the ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in three states.

There have been 333 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including a record 47 in 2005-06 and 26 in 2006-07.

There have been 188 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past six seasons and 69 former ECHL players were on the opening-day rosters of NHL teams.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

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 and for the past 17 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.

2007-08 New Rules

Upon the recommendation of the Rules Committee, the Board approved the adoption of the following new rules for 2007-08:

* Rule 24 -- Gross Misconduct. The term "Gross Misconduct" was eliminated from the rule book. Any act that would have been assessed a Gross Misconduct penalty will receive a Game Misconduct penalty.

* Rule 25 -- Penalty Shot. A player may be awarded a penalty shot if he is fouled on a clear breakaway outside his defensive zone (i.e., anywhere in the neutral zone or in the attacking zone). Previously, a penalty shot was awarded only when the player on a clear breakaway was fouled on the attacking side of the center line.

* Rule 56 -- Interference. Referees were given discretion to assess a major penalty and a game misconduct when an injury results from an act of interference. Previously, only a minor penalty could be assessed for interference.

* Rule 76 -- Face-offs. All face-offs must be conducted at one of the nine face-off dots painted on the rink. Previously, there had been instances, such as when a puck left the playing surface, which caused the face-off to occur on unmarked ice, parallel to the dot nearest the place where the puck departed.

Hall Of Fame

Part of the 20th Anniversary celebration in 2007-08 is the introduction of the ECHL Hall of Fame.

Fans are encouraged to contact their team to propose names for nomination.

The first induction class will be announced in October and will be honored during the festivities at the 2008 ECHL All-Star Game hosted by the Stockton Thunder and the City of Stockton at Stockton Arena on Jan. 23, 2008.

ECHL fans will be able to visit the Hall of Fame around the clock as it will be housed online, opening as part of the ECHL Network in conjunction with the ceremonies in January. The inductees will also be recognized at both the ECHL office in Princeton, N.J. and in the ECHL section at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario.

Hall of Fame members will be selected in four categories: Player, Developmental Player, Builder, and Referee/Linesman. Players must have concluded their career as an active player for a minimum of five playing seasons, though not continuous or full seasons. Development Players must have began their career in the ECHL and went on to a distinguished career in the NHL, playing a minimum of 260 regular season games in the NHL, AHL and ECHL. Builders may be active or inactive whereas Referee/Linesman must have concluded their active officiating career for a minimum of three playing seasons.

ECHL Scores Available For Wireless Devices

ECHL fans can access game scores, game summaries and league standings on their cellular telephone and wireless devices at http://wap.echl.leaguestat.com/.

The "Wireless Application Protocol" site is a plain text miniature version of the statistics information available on the official web site at www.ECHL.com, which is formatted to fit on a smaller screen.

In addition to the current day's games, fans have the ability to see scores from the previous day as well as the schedule for the upcoming day and there is a link to the league standings.

The ECHL and the American Hockey League are the only two minor professional hockey leagues that are recognized in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association.

The CBA states that any player on an NHL entry-level contract designated for assignment to a minor league must report if assigned to a team in the ECHL or the AHL. A player on an NHL entry-level contract assigned to a minor professional league other than the ECHL or the AHL is not required to report and can request reassignment to a team in the ECHL or the AHL.

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ECHL Stories from October 16, 2007


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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