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Gordon Named Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week

Published on February 14, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The American Hockey League announced that former South Carolina Stingrays and current Hershey Bears rookie right wing Andrew Gordon has been named the Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Feb. 10.

South Carolina is the ECHL affiliate of Hershey. 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.

The Porters Lake, Nova Scotia native had four goals and seven points in three games to help the Bears remain in third place in the East Division. After scoring his second hat trick of the season in a 4-3 loss to Portland on Feb. 6, the 22 year old had three points (1g-2a) in a 5-3 win at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Feb. 9 and added an assist in a 6-4 win against Worcester on Feb. 10.

Selected in the seventh round (197th overall) by Washington in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and under NHL contract to the Capitals, Gordon leads Hershey rookies with 30 points (11g-19a) in 34 games while his plus-minus rating of +15 is tied for second among league rookies. He has also played in the ECHL where he has 14 points (8g-6a) in 11 games for South Carolina.

Prior to turning professional Gordon played three seasons at St. Cloud State where he had 102 points (51g-51a) and 44 penalty minutes in 120 games and was named West Coast Hockey Association First Team All-Star in 2006-07.

Other former ECHL players nominated for the Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week were Rob Globke, Andrew Hutchinson, Connor James, Dan LaCosta, Bryan Rodney and Jared Ross.

Gordon is the sixth ECHL players to be named the Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week this season, joining Sean Curry (Dec. 16), Jaroslav Halak (Jan. 6), Grant Stevenson (Jan. 20) and Danny Taylor and Miika Wiikman (Jan. 27).

The last three winners of the CCM/AHL Player of the Month award are former ECHL right wing Grant Stevenson, former Gwinnett Gladiator and ECHL All-Star left wing Pascal Pelletier and former ECHL All-Star Martin St. Pierre. Former Las Vegas and Wheeling goaltender John Curry was the Rbk Edge/AHL Rookie of the Month for December and former ECHL All-Star Jeff Glass was the Rbk X-Pulse/AHL Goaltender of the Month for November.

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
The ECHL, celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, 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 348 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including a record 47 in 2005-06 and 26 in 2006-07.

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.

There have been 203 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past seven seasons.

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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