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Linesburgh Receives ECHL Outstanding Media Award

July 19, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced that Scott Linesburgh of The Stockton Record is the 2006-07 recipient of the ECHL Outstanding Media Award.

The award is determined in a vote of league media members, media relations directors and broadcasters.

Linesburgh, who grew up in Wantagh, Long Island, N.Y. rooting for the New York Islanders, has been the beat writer for the Thunder since the team moved to Stockton from Atlantic City in 2005. The 44 year old has been a member of The Stockton Record writing staff for 19 years and has covered a variety of high school, college and professional sports.

"It's a nice honor to be chosen for this award by my journalistic peers and the league's media relation directors, and I want to thank the staff at The Record for their support," said Linesburgh, who lives in Stockton with his wife, Julie, and their 11-year-old son, Steven. "The arrival of the Thunder has been a significant local story for our publication and we've tried our best to serve the community."

"The support for the Stockton Thunder by fans, the business community and the local media has been outstanding during the ECHL's first two seasons in Stockton," said ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna. "This has happened through the hard work and dedication of many people, including Scott Linesburgh. He has taken the time to research the team and the league to do an in-depth job for the fans of Stockton and the surrounding area. He is a very worthy winner of this award."

ECHL Outstanding Media Award Winners

Year Recipient Media Outlet
2006-07 Scott Linesburgh The Stockton Record
2005-06 Matt Nevala The Anchorage Daily News
2004-05 Mike Mastovich The Tribune-Democrat
2003-04 Len Bardsley The Times of Trenton
2002-03 Dave Eminian Peoria Journal Star

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

ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in three states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league that will have 25 teams playing in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08, including the Mississippi (Biloxi) Sea Wolves, who return after missing two seasons in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Opening Day for the 20th Anniversary Season will be Oct. 18 when the Johnstown Chiefs host the Wheeling Nailers at Cambria County War Memorial. The game is a rematch of Game 7 from the first-ever ECHL Finals played in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Cambria County War Memorial. The two teams will wear throwback jerseys for the Opening Day game that begins at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast worldwide on B2 Networks, the "Official Broadband Broadcast Provider of the ECHL". The remaining teams will open their seasons the weekend of Oct. 19-21.

The Stockton Thunder and the City of Stockton will host the 16th Annual ECHL All-Star Game at Stockton Arena on Jan. 23, 2008 and the 11th Annual ECHL All-Star Skills Competition on Jan. 22, 2008.

There have been 329 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 have been 184 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past five seasons and 107 former ECHL players have skated in the NHL this season. More than 100 players under contract to NHL teams have played in the ECHL this season. The ECHL has affiliations with 23 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

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.

The ECHL has affiliations with 22 of the 29 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.

In each of the last two seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call-ups involving more than 500 players.

In the last five seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,000 call-ups involving more than 1,000 players since 2002-03.

The ECHL and its member teams donated more than $2.8 million to charitable organizations and relief funds in 2006-07, including over $1.2 million in monetary donations.

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

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