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November 21, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Mississippi Sea Wolves (5-5-2) at South Carolina Stingrays (9-2-0) 7:05 p.m. ET
- Stingrays have won the last two meetings to improve to 11-5-5 all-time against Mississippi.
- Mississippi rookie Alexandre Parent had career highs with two goals and two points at Charlotte on Saturday.
- South Carolina rookie Maxime Lacroix has a three-game goal streak (4g) and a five-game point streak (5g-1a).
- Sea Wolves rookie Ryan Cruthers has four points (1g-3a) in his last two games.

Reading Royals (5-9-0) at Johnstown Chiefs (10-4-0) 7:05 p.m. ET
- Chiefs have won the last seven meetings to improve to 35-24-6 all-time against Reading.
- Shawn Snider leads the Royals against Johnstown with four assists and five points in three games.
- Petr Pohl leads the Chiefs against Reading with five assists and six points in three games.
- Reading's Kevin Harvey has four points (1g-3a) in the last five games.

Florida Everblades (8-2-1) at Augusta Lynx (5-5-2) 7:30 p.m. ET
- Everblades are 4-0-1 in the last five meetings to improve to 52-16-7 all-time against Augusta.
- Lynx's Dallas Steward has five points (1g-4a) in his last four games.
- Florida's Anton Khudobin is 5-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.60 in his last five starts.
- Augusta is 3-0-2 in one-goal games including 1-1 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts.

Wheeling Nailers (8-1-4) at Cincinnati Cyclones (4-6-3) 7:30 p.m. ET
- Nailers have won the first two meetings this season to improve to 29-19-4 all-time against Cincinnati.
- Cyclones are second in ECHL with 4.15 goals per game and Nailers are first with 4.54 goals per game.
- Thomas Beauregard leads the Cyclones against Wheeling with four goals and seven points in two games.
- Jordan Morrison leads the Nailers against Cincinnati with three goals and six points in two games.

Elmira Jackals (7-5-1) at Trenton Devils (3-9-1) 7:30 p.m. ET
- Jackals are 4-2-1 at Trenton, including a 3-2 win on Oct. 19, and 9-4-1 overall against the Devils.
- Brett Pilkington has three points (0g-3a) in one game against Elmira which traded him to Trenton on Oct. 29.
- Elmira's Steve Yetman has a two-game goal streak (4g) and a three-game point streak (4g-1a).
- Trenton's Tyler Burton has three points (2g-1a) in his last three games.

Dayton Bombers (8-3-2) at Gwinnett Gladiators (4-4-3) 7:35 p.m. ET
- Bombers' Jarret Lukin has a six-game point streak (5g-2a).
- Gwinnett's Pat Bateman has a three-game goal streak (3g) and a three-game point streak (3g-3a)..
- Dayton rookie Nino Musitelli has nine points (5g-4a) in his last six games.
- Gladiators' defenseman Josh Engel has a three-game assist streak (3a) and a three-game point streak (0g-3a).

Las Vegas Wranglers (5-6-2) at Utah Grizzlies (6-6-0) 7:05 p.m. MT
- Wranglers have won the last 10 meetings to improve to 16-5-4 all-time against the Grizzlies.
- Grizzlies are tied for fourth in the league on the power play with 20.6 percent (13-for-63).
- Las Vegas' Chris Neiszner had career highs with three goals and four points on Wednesday at Phoenix.
- Utah is 2-0 in shootouts and 5-2-0 in one-goal games.

Bakersfield Condors (6-7-1) at Phoenix RoadRunners (7-6-2) 7:05 p.m. MT
- Condors won 5-3 on Wednesday to improve to 14-7-1 all-time against Phoenix.
- RoadRunners' Ashton Rome has five points (3g-2a) in his last two games.
- Bakersfield's Dave Bonk had two goals on Wednesday to extend his goal streak to three games (4g).
- Phoenix is fourth in the ECHL on the penalty kill with 87.0 percent (87-for-100).

Stockton Thunder (5-6-3) at Idaho Steelheads (7-6-2) 7:10 p.m. MT
- Steelheads have won their last two home games in overtime to improve to 9-8 all-time in overtime at Qwest Arena.
- Stockton's Mike Lalonde has a two-game goal streak (2g) and a two-game point streak (2g-1a).
- Idaho's Marty Flichel scored the game winner and had three points (2g-1a) in 3-2 overtime win on Wednesday.
- Thunder's Ryan MacMurchy has two points (1g-1a) in his last two games.

Alaska Aces (11-2-1) at Victoria Salmon Kings (7-7-1) 7:05 p.m. PT
- Aces have won their last five games, including 6-3 at Victoria on Wednesday, and are 8-0-1 in the last nine games.
- Salmon Kings' Olivier Filion has a five-game point streak (5g-5a) and a three-game assist streak (3a).
- Alaska's Alexandre Imbeault tied career highs with three assists and four points in 6-3 win on Wednesday.
- Victoria's Jonathan Boutin is 3-0-1 with two shutouts and a goals-against average of 0.73 in his last four games.

Ontario Reign (7-4-2) at Fresno Falcons (8-4-1) 7:35 p.m. PT
- Falcons are 3-0 in shootouts this season to improve to 25-24 all-time in shootouts.
- Reign lead the league on the power play with 24.4 percent (21-for-86).
- Fresno rookie Joe Fallon has won his last two starts to improve to 5-2-0 with a save percentage of .909.
- Ontario rookie Jeff Zatkoff is 2-0-1 with a goals-against average of 2.26 in his last three starts.

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Premier 'AA' Hockey League Fast Facts
- 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 from East Coast Hockey League to ECHL on May 19, 2003.
- Affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League marking 12th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.
- 368 former ECHL players have played in NHL.
- 112 have played their first NHL game in the last four seasons.
- 13 former ECHL players have made their NHL debut this season: former Wheeling Nailers and ECHL All-Star defenseman Paul Bissonnette (Pittsburgh on Oct. 4), former Greenville Grrrowl goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (Edmonton on Oct. 17), former Gwinnett Gladiators right wing Pat Dwyer (Carolina on Nov. 2), 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).
- There were 72 former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters.
- Twenty-six former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2007-08, including six who played in both the ECHL and the NHL as goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu (Alaska and St. Louis), Adam Berti (Pensacola and Chicago), Joe Jensen (Wheeling and Carolina), Dan LaCosta (Elmira and Columbus), Jonathan Quick (Reading and Los Angeles) and Danny Taylor (Reading and Los Angeles).
- Record 47 former ECHL players played their first NHL game in 2005-06.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League and for the past 19 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup Champion.
- In the last six 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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