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December 14, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Trenton Devils (7-12-3) at Elmira Jackals (11-9-3) 4:05 p.m. ET
- Jackals are 2-0-0 at home and 4-0-0 overall in season series to improve to 11-4-1 all-time against Trenton.
- Eric Castonguay leads the Devils against Elmira with four assists and five points in three games.
- Elmira's Mitch O'Keefe is 3-0-0 with a shutout and a goals-against average of 1.62 against Trenton.
- Devils defenseman Matt Cohen has a three-game point streak (2g-2a) and six points (4g-2a) in his last five games.

Charlotte Checkers (11-11-2) at Dayton Bombers (14-8-3) 5 p.m. ET
- Dayton's Mike McLean had two goals and an assist in 4-3 win against Charlotte on Friday.
- Charlotte's Mike Bayrack has a four-game point streak (0g-4a) and eight points (1g-7a) in his last six games.
- Bombers rookie Paul Drew is 5-0-1 with a goals-against average of 2.63 in his last six starts.
- Checkers' Mike Taylor is tied for second among rookies and tied for fourth overall with three game-winning goals.

Gwinnett Gladiators (10-9-4) at Mississippi Sea Wolves (13-9-2) 5 p.m. CT
- Mississippi's Jeremy Duchesne is 2-0-0 with a shutout and a save percentage of .979 in his last two starts.
- Jordan Fox has a two-game goal streak (2g) and he leads the Gladiators in December with nine points (4g-5a).
- Sea Wolves rookie Ryan Cruthers has a five-game point streak (3g-8a) and a five-game assist streak (8a).
- Gladiators are 7-1-4 when scoring the first goal and 7-0-1 when leading after two periods.

Reading Royals (8-18-1) at Wheeling Nailers (14-3-5) 6:05 p.m. ET
- Wheeling's Rob Sirianni has scored in 13 of his 14 games and he has 24 points (11g-13a).
- Max Taylor has five goals in his first three games with Reading, including his third career hat trick on Friday.
- Nailers' David Brown is 3-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.67 in his last three starts.
- Tyler Doig leads the Royals with 12 assists and is tied for the team lead with 16 points.

Phoenix RoadRunners (11-9-2) at Victoria Salmon Kings (15-9-2) 5:05 p.m. PT
- Salmon Kings' Julien Ellis is 2-0-0 with a shutout and a goals-against average of 0.50 in his last two starts.
- Mitch Carefoot leads the RoadRunners in December with three assists and five points in three games.
- Victoria's Dylan Yeo has five points (1g-4a) in the last three games and 12 points (6g-6a) in his last nine games.
- Phoenix is 7-0-2 in one-goal games including 1-1 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts.

Idaho Steelheads (13-10-2) at Alaska Aces (16-7-1) 5:05 p.m. AT
- Aces have won the last five meetings to improve to 7-2-1 in their last 10 home games against Idaho.
- Rookie Kris Sparre leads the Steelheads in December with four assists and he is tied for team lead with six points.
- Alaska rookie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux is 4-0-1 with a goals-against average of 0.98 against Idaho.
- Steelheads are 8-3-2 when scoring the first goal and 8-0-0 when leading after two periods.

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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 22 teams 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 24 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.
- 382 former ECHL players have played in NHL.
- 126 have played their first NHL game in the last four seasons.
- 27 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 Bakersfield Condors center Alexandre Bolduc (Vancouver on Nov. 27), former Florida Everblades defenseman Brett Carson (Carolina on Dec. 7), former South Carolina Stingrays defenseman Sean Collins (Washington on Dec. 6), former Las Vegas Wranglers and Wheeling Nailers goaltender John Curry (Pittsburgh on Nov. 26), former Greenville Grrrowl goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (Edmonton on Oct. 17), former Johnstown Chiefs center Andre Deveaux (Toronto on Nov. 27), former Dayton Bombers center Philippe Dupuis (Colorado on Dec. 12), former Gwinnett Gladiators right wing Pat Dwyer 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 Florida Everblades left wing Kenndal McArdle (Florida on Dec. 2), 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 Idaho Steelheads left wing Warren Peters (Calgary on Dec. 7), former Charlotte Checkers defenseman Corey Potter (New York Rangers on Dec. 7), former Charlotte Checkers, Columbia Inferno and Elmira Jackals defenseman Bryan Rodney (Carolina on Dec. 11), former Gwinnett Gladiators center Jared Ross (Philadelphia on Oct. 11), former Alaska Aces goaltender Marek Schwarz (St. Louis on Oct. 25), former Greenville Grrrowl and Stockton Thunder center Tim Sestito (Edmonton on Nov. 26), former Dayton Bombers and Las Vegas Wranglers defenseman Tyler Sloan (Washington on Oct. 21), former Johnstown Chiefs and Mississippi Sea Wolves forward Radek Smolenak (Tampa Bay on Dec. 2), former Augusta Lynx defenseman Brett Skinner (New York Islanders on Oct. 27), former Wheeling Nailers right wing Tim Wallace (Pittsburgh on Dec. 10) and former Idaho Steelheads center Tom Wandell (Dallas on Dec. 10).
- 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: 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 and Scott Gordon of the New York Islanders. 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. Peter 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 23 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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