Ice Pilots Season Opener vs Greenville Friday, October 21

October 7, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Pensacola Ice Pilots News Release


Pensacola, FL - The 2004-2005 Brabham Cup Champions Pensacola Ice Pilots announced their revised schedule for the 2005-2006 season. The Ice Pilots will begin their tenth anniversary season at home vs. the Greenville Grrrowl on Friday, October 21 at 7:05 p.m. The game will be a rematch of last year's opening round Kelly Cup Playoff series.

The Ice Pilots will also play home to the Gwinnett Gladiators the following night on Saturday, October 22 at 7:05 p.m. The Ice Pilots will be wearing their new colors and logo for the first time on opening weekend.

The league was forced to revise the schedule in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita which forced the Mississippi Sea Wolves and Texas Wildcatters to suspend operations for the 2005-2006 season.

The Ice Pilots will play the American Conference Champions Florida Everblades 12 times (6 home and 6 away) and the Gwinnett Gladiators 12 times (6 home and 6 away). The Ice Pilots will also play division opponents Greenville, Augusta and Columbia 9 times each and will play Charlotte and South Carolina 8 times each.

Bakersfield will make their first ever appearance at "The Hangar" with the first of three straight games on Friday, December 2 and Phoenix will also be making their first trip to Pensacola with back to back games on February 2 and February 3.

"We are excited about our new schedule for the upcoming season. It is a competitive schedule which has a lot of good match ups of entertaining hockey for our fans," said Ice Pilots President Mario Forgione. "I know that our organization and everyone else is anxious for opening weekend to drop the puck on the Ice Pilots tenth anniversary season."

The Ice Pilots will play their first home game ever on New Year's Eve vs. the Charlotte Checkers at 7:05 p.m. The Ice Pilots will play a total of 13 home games on Saturday, 12 home games on Friday, 3 home games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday and 2 home games on Thursday.

The Ice Pilots longest home stand of the season is five games twice during the season beginning December 28 through January 6 and January 21 through February 3. The Ice Pilots longest road trip of the season is 8 games twice during the season beginning January 7 through January 20 and March 4 through March 14.

The Ice Pilots will end the regular season at home on Saturday, April 8 vs. Florida at 7:05 p.m. All home games begin at 7:05 p.m. except on Sunday which will begin at a new Sunday time this year at 4:05 p.m.

The Ice Pilots will compete in the South Division of the American Conference with Augusta, Charlotte, Columbia, Florida, Greenville, Gwinnett and South Carolina. The top eight teams with the most points in the division will qualify for the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

The Ice Pilots will begin training camp tomorrow with physicals at the Pensacola Civic Center beginning at 8:00 a.m. and the first on-ice workout is Sunday from 10 a.m. Noon. All practices are at the Pensacola Civic Center and open to the public.

The Ice Pilots will play two preseason games on Friday, October 14 and Saturday, October 15 vs. Gwinnett at 7:05 p.m. Cost of tickets to the Ice Pilots preseason home games are $11 for lower level tickets and $6 for upper level tickets. Fans can purchase individual tickets for the Ice Pilots preseason games in person at the Civic Center box office, at any Ticketmaster location, charge by phone at 434-7444 or through the Ice Pilots website at www.icepilots.com.

Season ticket holders who purchased preseason tickets to the Ice Pilots preseason games on Friday, October 14 and Saturday, October 15 vs. Gwinnett at 7:05 p.m. can pick up their preseason tickets on the day of the game at the will call box office in front of the Pensacola Civic Center.

Season tickets for the Ice Pilots 2005-06 season are on sale. Ticket plans start as low as $85.84. Fans can call the Ice Pilots o ffice at 432-PUCK (7825) for season ticket and corporate partnership information.

The following is a break down of the Ice Pilots 2005-2006 Opponents:

Florida Everblades 12 games 6 home 6 away
Gwinnett Gladiators 12 games 6 home 6 away
Greenville Grrrowl 9 games 4 home 5 away
Augusta Lynx 9 games 4 home 5 away
Columbia Inferno 9 games 4 home 5 away
Charlotte Checkers 8 games 4 home 4 away
South Carolina Stingrays 8 games 3 home 5 away
Charlotte Checkers 8 games 4 home 4 away
Bakersfield Condors 3 games 3 home
Phoenix Roadrunners 2 games 2 home

2005-2006 ICE PILOTS SCHEDULE

DATE DAY OPPONENT TIME
10/14/05 Friday GWINNETT (preseason) 7:05 PM
10/15/05 Saturday GWINNETT (preseason) 7:05 PM
10/21/05 Friday GREENVILLE 7:05 PM
10/22/05 Saturday GWINNETT 7:05 PM
10/28/05 Friday at Greenville 6:05 PM
10/29/05 Saturday AUGUSTA 7:05 PM
11/4/05 Friday COLUMBIA 7:05 PM
11/5/05 Saturday COLUMBIA 7:05 PM
11/11/05 Friday CHARLOTTE 7:05 PM
11/13/05 Sunday at Columbia 4:05 PM
11/15/05 Tuesday at Gwinnett 6:05 PM
11/20/05 Sunday AUGUSTA 4:05 PM
11/23/05 Wednesday GREENVILLE 7:05 PM
11/25/05 Friday at Columbia 6:05 PM
11/26/05 Saturday at Gwinnett 6:35 PM
11/27/05 Sunday at Greenville 5:05 PM
11/29/05 Tuesday at Columbia 6:05 PM
11/30/05 Wednesday at Augusta 6:05 PM
12/2/05 Friday BAKERSFIELD 7:05 PM
12/3/05 Saturday BAKERSFIELD 7:05 PM
12/4/05 Sunday BAKERSFIELD 4:05 PM
12/6/05 Tuesday at South Carolina 6:05 PM
12/7/05 Wednesday at Augusta 6:05 PM
12/9/05 Friday at Florida 6:30 PM
12/10/05 Saturday CHARLOTTE 7:05 PM
12/14/05 Wednesday GWINNETT 7:05 PM
12/21/05 Wednesday at Florida 6:30 PM
12/22/05 Thursday at Florida 6:30 PM
12/28/05 Wednesday FLORIDA 7:05 PM
12/30/05 Friday CHARLOTTE 7:05 PM
12/31/05 Saturday CHARLOTTE 7:05 PM
1/3/06 Tuesday FLORIDA 7:05 PM
1/6/06 Friday GWINNETT 7:05 PM
1/7/06 Saturday at Florida 6:35 PM
1/10/06 Tuesday at South Carolina 6:05 PM
1/11/06 Wednesday at Charlotte 6:00 PM
1/13/06 Friday at Columbia 6:05 PM
1/14/06 Saturday at Columbia 6:05 PM
1/16/06 Monday a t Greenville 6:05 PM
1/17/06 Tuesday at Charlotte 6:00 PM
1/20/06 Friday at Florida 6:30 PM
1/21/06 Saturday GWINNETT 7:05 PM
1/27/06 Friday GREENVILLE 7:05 PM
1/28/06 Saturday GREENVILLE 7:05 PM
2/2/06 Thursday PHOENIX 7:05 PM
2/3/06 Friday PHOENIX 7:05 PM
2/4/06 Saturday at Gwinnett 6:35 PM
2/10/06 Friday FLORIDA 7:05 PM
2/11/06 Saturday FLORIDA 7:05 PM
2/14/06 Tuesday at Charlotte 6:00 PM
2/17/06 Friday at Augusta 6:05 PM
2/18/06 Saturday at Charlotte 6:00 PM
2/19/06 Sunday at Greenville 5:05 PM
2/21/06 Tuesday AUGUSTA 7:05 PM
2/23/06 Thursday AUGUSTA 7:05 PM
2/28/06 Tuesday GWINNETT 7:05 PM
3/3/06 Friday SOUTH CAROLINA 7:05 PM
3/4/06 Saturday at Gwinnett 6:35 PM
3/5/06 Sunday at Gwinnett 3:05 PM
3/7/05 Tuesday at South Carolina 6:05 PM
3/8/05 Wednesday at Augusta 6:05 PM
3/10/06 Friday at South Carolina 6:05 PM
3/11/06 Saturday at South Carolina 6:05 PM
3/12/06 Sunday at Augusta 3:05 PM
3/14/06 Tuesday at Greenville 6:05 PM
3/17/06 Friday SOUTH CAROLINA 7:05 PM
3/18/06 Saturday SOUTH CAROLINA 7:05 PM
3/24/06 Friday at Gwinnett 6:35 PM
3/25/06 Saturday GWINNETT 7:05 PM
3/31/06 Friday at Florida 6:35 PM
4/1/06 Saturday COLUMBIA 7:05 PM
4/2/06 Sunday COLUMBIA 4:05 PM
4/7/06 Friday FLORIDA 7:05 PM
4/8/06 Saturday FLORIDA 7:05 PM

All Times are Central Standard Time




ECHL Stories from October 7, 2005


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.

OurSports Central