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Gajic, MacDonald, Schwartz Added To National Roster

January 10, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced that Victoria forward Milan Gajic, Fresno rookie goaltender Ryan MacDonald and Long Beach rookie forward Brandon Schwartz have been added to the National Conference roster for the 2007 Rbk Hockey ECHL All-Star Game.

Gajic replaces Idaho forward Francis Wathier, who is playing with the Iowa Stars of the American Hockey League, while MacDonald replaces Victoria goaltender Julien Ellis, who is playing in the AHL with Manitoba and Schwartz replaces teammate T.J. Trevelyan, who is playing in the AHL with Providence.

Sponsored by Rbk Hockey and hosted by the Idaho Steelheads at Qwest Arena in Boise, Idaho, the 15th Annual ECHL All-Star Game will be at 7:05 p.m. MT on Jan. 17 and the 10th Annual ECHL All-Star Skills Competition will be at 7:05 p.m. MT on Jan. 16.

In his first professional season, the 21-year-old MacDonald is 12-3-2 and leads the ECHL with a save percentage of .930 while he is second in the league with a goals-against average of 2.31.

In his first full professional season, the 25-year-old Schwartz is second on the Ice Dogs with 10 goals and tied for second with 21 points in 32 games.

Selected in the fourth round (112th overall) by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft and in his second professional season, the 25-year-old Gajic is third on the Salmon Kings with 11 goals, 18 assists and 29 points in 26 games while also playing in the AHL with Manitoba where he has five points (2g-3a) in six games.



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

The Premier 'AA' Hockey League, the ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League in 2006-07. There have been 312 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including a record 47 in 2005-06. There have been 167 players who have played in the NHL after the ECHL in the past five seasons.

The ECHL was represented for the sixth consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team, including Carolina Hurricanes head coach Peter Laviolette, who is the first ECHL coach to win the Stanley Cup.

The ECHL has affiliations with 24 of the 27 teams in the American Hockey League in 2006-07 and for the past 17 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion. The ECHL has had more players called up to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined each of the past four seasons with 1,646 call ups involving almost 1,000 players.

The ECHL raised its average attendance for the third straight year in 2005-06 drawing 3,934,794 for 900 games which is an average of 4,372 per game, an increase of more than nine percent from 2004-05 and the largest per-game average since 1999-2000. Six teams surpassed 200,000 and nine teams averaged 5,000 per game for the first time since 1999-2000 as the league welcomed 39 sellout crowds and 13 of the 22 returning teams raised their average attendance from a year ago.

In 2005-06 the ECHL and its member teams contributed more than $2.3 million for charity and relief funds, including those benefiting victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, while also making thousands of appearances by players, coaches, team personnel and mascots at schools, hospitals, libraries and charity functions.

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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