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Former ECHL Right Wing Stevenson Named CCM/AHL Player Of The Month

February 7, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The American Hockey League announced that former ECHL and current Quad City Flames right wing Grant Stevenson has been named the CCM/AHL Player of the Month for January.

The 26 year old is the third former ECHL player in a row to win the award joining former Gwinnett Gladiator and ECHL All-Star left wing Pascal Pelletier and former ECHL All-Star Martin St. Pierre, who won in December and November, respectively.

Stevenson, who signed with Calgary of the National Hockey League in July 2007, had 20 points (12g-8a) in 12 games including an 11-game scoring streak.

The ECHL affiliate of Quad City is the Las Vegas Wranglers. The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the AHL, marking the seventh consecutive season that it has had affiliations with 20 or more teams in the AHL. The AHL has 10 former ECHL coaches who are head coaches and 14 others who are assistant coaches, and there have been more than 100 players under contract to a team in the AHL who have been on an ECHL roster this year.

In his second professional season in 2004-05, Stevenson had a goal in two games with Johnstown and 39 points (14g-25a) in 77 games with Cleveland of the AHL. He played his first NHL game and scored his first NHL goal with San Jose on Nov. 23, 2005 in a 3-2 loss at Calgary. He finished his rookie season with 22 points (10g-12a) in 47 regular season games and also played in five Stanley Cup Playoff games for the Sharks.

Other former ECHL players nominated for the CCM/AHL Player of the Month were Alexandre Bolduc, Trevor Kell, Charles Linglet, Kurtis McLean, Adam Munro, Brandon Nolan, Lawrence Nycholat and Martin St. Pierre.

Former ECHL goaltender Danny Taylor was the Rbk X-Pulse/AHL Goaltender of the Month for January while former ECHL All-Star Jeff Glass won the award in November and former Las Vegas and Wheeling goaltender John Curry was the Rbk Edge/AHL Rookie of the Month for December.

ECHL players have won the Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week award four times this season with Danny Taylor and Miika Wiikman (Jan. 28), Grant Stevenson (Jan. 20), Jaroslav Halak (Jan. 6) and Sean Curry (Dec. 16).

For the 18th year in a row there is a former ECHL player on the American Hockey League champion as Hamilton had a record 12 players with ECHL experience on its roster.

In both 2005-06 and 2006-07, more than 225 players played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call ups, involving over 500 players, from the ECHL to the AHL. From 2002-03 to 2006-07, the ECHL had over 2,000 call ups, involving more than 1,000 players, which is more than the total call ups for all other professional leagues combined during that time period.

The AHL Player of the Week award was won 14 times by a former ECHL player in 2006-07 while a former ECHL goaltender was named the AHL Goaltender of the Month the last five months of the season. Six former ECHL players were on the All-AHL Teams in 2006-07 including former Charlotte goaltender Jason LaBarbera, who was named Goaltender of the Year, and former Mississippi defenseman Sheldon Brookbank, who was selected as Defenseman of the Year, while former ECHL goaltender Jaroslav Halak was named to the AHL All-Rookie team.

ECHL
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, the ECHL is the Premier 'AA' Hockey League and 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 25 teams playing 900 games in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08.

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

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the NHL in 2007-08, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

There have been 347 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including 18 this season and a record 47 in 2005-06 and 26 in 2006-07.

There have been 202 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past five seasons.

There are 15 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience including former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Mississippi coach Bruce Boudreau, who is head coach of the Washington Capitals.

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.

Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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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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