Sports stats



ECHL ECHL

Five Sellouts Help Bolster ECHL Attendance

January 30, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Bolstered by sellout crowds in Charlotte on Jan. 21 and 28 and sellouts on Jan. 28 in Florida, Idaho and Stockton, the ECHL had 278,991 fans attend games each of the past two weekends to surpass two million in attendance for the 13th consecutive season. The league is averaging 4,179 per game, an increase of 8.13 percent from the first 15 weeks of 2004-05 and almost 13 percent from 2003-04 and more than 19 percent from 2002-03.

Charlotte has had sellout crowds each of the past two Saturdays with 9,852 on Jan. 21 and 9,844 on Jan. 28 giving the Checkers five sellouts an average of 5,746 per game which ranks fourth in the league. The listed capacity for Checkers games at the new Bobcats Arena is 6,800, but additional sections can be opened to accommodate larger crowds.

First-year member Stockton had its second sellout of the season with 10,117 on Jan. 28 and the Thunder continues to lead the league with 6,492 per game, the highest per-game attendance since 2001-02 when Florida averaged 6,619 per game.

The ECHL has had five crowds in excess of 10,000 this season led by San Diego with 13,001 on Nov. 5 and Gwinnett with 11,355 on Nov. 11 while Charlotte had 10,894 on Nov. 25. The crowd in San Diego was the largest in the history of the Gulls while it was the third time in the last three seasons that Gwinnett has had a capacity crowd.

Perennial attendance leader Florida had its first sellout of the season with 7,287 on Jan. 28 and the Everblades have drawn 26,515 the last two weekends to raise their average to 6,104 per game which is second in the league.

Bakersfield drew almost 12,000 for its games on Jan. 20 and 21 and the Condors are third in the league with 5,849 per game, an increase of more than eight percent from last season and almost 30 percent from 2003-04. Bakersfield had 8,815 on Nov. 26 and 8,263 on Oct. 22 which are the largest and third-largest crowds in its ECHL history.

11 Former ECHL Players Skate in AHL All-Star Game

The ECHL will be represented by 11 former players and two former coaches in the 2006 Rbk Hockey American Hockey League All-Star Classic to be played at 8 p.m. ET on Feb. 1 at the MTS Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The PlanetUSA roster has five former ECHL players with forwards Keith Aucoin, Eric Healey and Patrick Rissmiller, defenseman Thomas Pock and goaltenders Tim Thomas and Al Montoya and assistant coach Al Sims.

The Canadian roster has six former ECHL players with forwards Michel Ouellet, Martin St. Pierre and Layne Ulmer, defenseman Lawrence Nycholat and goaltenders Wade Flaherty and Dany Sabourin and assistant coach Kjell Samuelsson.

Sabourin was voted as a starter for the ECHL All-Star Game in 2005, but was unable to play after being called up to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In 2004-05, Sabourin was 19-6-1 and led the league with a goals-against average of 1.67 and a save percentage of .942 in 27 games with Wheeling while tying for second in the ECHL with a team record five shutouts.

Mike Glumac, who played in the ECHL All-Star Game in 2003, was originally named to the roster, but was called up to St. Louis on Jan. 28 after scoring 49 points (23g-26a) in 44 games with Peoria.

Healey, who had two points (1g-1a) in two games with Jackson in 2001-02, is captain of PlanetUSA while fans voted Flaherty to be the starting goaltender for the Canadian team. Flaherty began his professional career in the ECHL in 1989-90 with the Greensboro Monarchs, going 12-9-1 with a goals against average of 4.40 and a save percentage of .890 in 27 regular season games. Flaherty was named MVP of the 1990 Riley Cup Playoffs after going 8-1 with a goals against average of 2.22 and a save percentage of .944 while leading the Monarchs to the ECHL championship.

Nycholat, who also played in the 2005 AHL All-Star Game, began his professional career in the ECHL scoring three points (1g-2a) in five games with Jackson in 2001-02 while Pock had two assists with Charlotte in his first full professional season in 2004-05. Aucoin had two assists in one game with Florida in 2001-02 while Rissmiller had four points (2g-2a) in two games with Cincinnati in 2002-03. Nycholat is third among AHL defensemen with 38 points (10g-28a) in 47 games while Pock ranks fourth with 36 points (8g-28a) in 43 games. Aucoin has 52 points (19g-33a) in 45 games with Lowell and one assist in two games with Florida of the NHL while Rissmiller is second on Cleveland with 38 points (10g-28a) in 52 games.

In his first professional season, Montoya is 1-1-0 with a goals-against average of 3.92 in two games with Charlotte and 16-5-0 with a goals-against average of 2.66 in 24 games with Hartford. Thomas was 4-1-1 with a shutout and a goals-against average of 2.17 in six games with Birmingham as a rookie in 1997-98 while Ulmer had 35 points (18g-17a) in 38 regular season games and four points (2g-2a) in five Kelly Cup Playoff games for Charlotte as a rookie in 2001-02. Thomas is 5-1-2 with a goals-against average of 2.18 in 10 games with Boston and 15-11-0 with a shutout and a goals-against average of 2.26 in 26 games with Providence while Ulmer has 27 points (12g-15a) in 43 games with San Antonio.

Ouellet, who had 46 points (20g-26a) in 55 games with Wheeling as a rookie in 2004-05, has 22 points (12g-10a) in 24 games with Pittsburgh and 30 points (10g-20a) in 19 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Selected to the 2005 ECHL All-Star Game, St. Pierre had 53 points (14g-39a) and 55 penalty minutes in 45 regular season games, ranking third in assists and ninth in scoring among league rookies, and seven points (2g-5a) and six penalty minutes in seven Kelly Cup Playoff games for Greenville. In 2005-06, he has 41 points (14g-27a) in 42 games with Norfolk while also playing in two games with Chicago of the NHL.

Aucoin, OÕBrien Bring NHL Total To 292

Keith Aucoin made his National Hockey League debut with the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 23 and Doug O'Brien played his first NHL game with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 29, bringing the total number of players to play in the NHL after the ECHL to 292.

In the last five NHL seasons, there have been 147 former ECHL players who have played their first NHL game, including 36 in 2005-06 and a record 40 in 2003-04.

Aucoin had an assist in Carolina's 7-3 win against Montreal and he also played for Carolina on Jan. 25 when the Hurricanes visited the Florida Panthers, a game attended by his brother, Phil, who is playing for the Florida Everblades. O'Brien played 17 shifts in Tampa Bay's 2-1 loss at Washington.

Keith Aucoin had two assists in one game with the Everblades in 2001-02 before being called up to Lowell of the American Hockey League where he had 16 points (6g-10a) in 30 games. O'Brien had two penalty minutes in three games with Johnstown in 2004-05 and has 18 points (3g-15a) and 50 penalty minutes in 45 games with Springfield of the AHL in 2005-06.

Keith Aucoin was returned on Jan. 26 to Lowell where he has 52 points (19g-33a) in 45 games. He has played each of the past four seasons in the AHL with Lowell, Providence and Cincinnati scoring 240 points (83g-157a) in 275 regular season games and 22 points (4g-18a) in 30 playoff games.

Did You Know ... The South Division has produced the last three In Glas Co ECHL Players of the Week and three of the last four Reebok Hockey ECHL Goaltenders of the Week.

Feature Games Of The Week

North Division
Reading at Wheeling - Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET
* Wheeling won 6-4 at Reading on Jan. 20 and is 4-2-0 against Royals.
* Yutaka Fukufuji has started 10 games in a row for Royals.

South Division
Greenville at Gwinnett - Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. ET
* Milam Gajic and Jeff Campbell lead Gwinnett against Grrrowl with five assists and six goals.
* Greenville has won the last three meetings to improve to 5-1-0 against Gwinnett.

Pacific Division
San Diego at Long Beach - Saturday at 7:00 p.m. PT
* San Diego won 3-2 in overtime on Jan. 21 to improve to 2-2-0 against Ice Dogs.
* Long Beach is 1-0-1 at home and 2-1-1 overall against Gulls.

West Division

Alaska at Long Beach - Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT
* Aces have won their last five games and Long Beach has won its last four games.
* Alaska is 2-0-0 and has outscored Long Beach 10-2 in 2005-06.

Check out the ECHL Statistics

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from January 30, 2006


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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central