Everblades Release 2008-09 Schedule
April 30, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades officially announced today their 2008-09 schedule. As in the past, the Everblades will play a 72-game schedule with 36 home and road dates. The '08-'09 campaign begins on Friday, October 17 and concludes on Saturday, April 4.
For the fifth straight year the Everblades open their season at home, beginning their 11th year of ECHL competition with a pair of games vs. the Charlotte Checkers on Friday & Saturday, October 17 & 18. The Everblades conclude the '08-'09 season at home with a pair of games vs. the Mississippi Sea Wolves on April 3 & 4.
Highlighting the 2008-09 schedule is the first-ever visit to Southwest Florida by a pair of North Division teams as the Cincinnati Cyclones and Johnstown Chiefs visit Germain Arena. The Everblades will host the Cyclones for three games on February 11, 13 & 14, and the Chiefs will travel to Southwest Florida for a trio of games on February 25, 27 & 28.
The Everblades, as in the past, will play the majority of their games within the division with 60 of 72 games coming against division foes, and 59 of the 72 will come against teams who qualified for the 2008 Kelly Cup Playoffs.
The Everblades enjoy three five-game home stands as their longest stints at Germain Arena during the year. The first is December 31 - January 10, when the Charlotte and Mississippi come to town. The second runs from February 25 - March 7, when Johnstown and Mississippi visit Germain Arena, and the final five-game home stand ends the regular season from March 27 - April 4 when the Everblades host Augusta, Gwinnett, and Mississippi.
Florida's longest road trip comes early in the campaign when the team departs Southwest Florida for an 18-day, 9-game trip from November 20 - December 6. During the trek, the Everblades will visit South Division foes Augusta, Charlotte and Gwinnett, then head north to take on Reading (twice), Trenton (twice), Johnstown and Elmira
In 2008-09 the Everblades will face four opponents for the first time during the regular season in team history. The historic meetings will come at Reading (Nov. 28), at Trenton (Nov. 29), at Johnstown (Nov. 30) and at Elmira (Dec. 3).
The overall breakdown of opponents & games against for the Everblades is as follows:
Augusta Lynx 9 - (4 home, 5 away)
Charlotte Checkers 10 - (5 home, 5 away)
Cincinnati Cyclones 3 - (3 home, 0 away)
Elmira Jackals 1 - (0 home, 1 away)
Gwinnett Gladiators 10 - (5 home, 5 away)
Johnstown Chiefs 4 - (3 home, 1 away)
Mississippi Sea Wolves 11 - (6 home, 5 away)
Pensacola Ice Pilots 11 - (6 home, 5 away)
Reading Royals 2 - (0 home, 2 away)
South Carolina Stingrays 9 - (4 home, 5 away)
Trenton Devils 2 - (0 home, 2 away)
The Everblades will play 14 of their home games on Friday nights, 14 on Saturday nights, 5 on Wednesday nights, 3 on Tuesday nights. All Everblades home games begin at 7:30 p.m.
Began in 1988-89 with five teams playing in four states, the Premier 'AA' Hockey League has grown into a coast-to-coast league that will have 24 teams in 16 states and British Columbia playing 864 games from Oct. 17, 2008 to Apr. 4, 2009. Nineteen of the 24 teams have played at least five years in their current city.
The third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League, the ECHL averaged 4,174 per game last season, marking the fourth year in row and the 16th time in the last 18 years that the league has averaged over 4,000 fans.
The Premier 'AA' Hockey League welcomed 3,756,191 fans, marking the fifth straight season and the 11th time in the last 12 years that it has exceeded 3.75 million fans. The 51 sold out crowds are the most in the last five seasons and mark the fourth time in the last five years that the ECHL has had at least 40 sellouts.
The conference and division alignments and the format for the 2009 Kelly Cup Playoffs will be determined and approved at a later date by the ECHL Board of Governors.
BEWARE OF THE BITE! Action you can sink your teeth into! Deposits are being taken now for 2008-09 Florida Everblades season tickets! For just $50 per/seat you can reserve your piece of the action for next season! Call the Everblades at 239-948-7825 or visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.
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