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Newbury Becomes 311th Former ECHL Player To Play In NHL

January 2, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - Former Pensacola Ice Pilots center Kris Newbury scored his first National Hockey League goal in Toronto's 5-1 win against Boston on Monday.

Newbury is the 311th player overall and the eighth this season to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, joining former Reading goaltender Barry Brust (Los Angeles on Nov. 30), former Trenton goaltender Martin Houle (Philadelphia on Dec. 13), former Florida center Drew Larman (Florida on Nov. 13), former Toledo goaltender Joey MacDonald (Detroit on Oct. 19), former Columbia right wing Jesse Schultz (Vancouver on Nov. 28), former ECHL All-Star goaltender Mike Smith (Dallas on Oct. 21) and former Augusta goaltender Mike Wall (Anaheim on Nov. 26).

Selected in the fifth round (139th overall) by San Jose in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft and signed as an unrestricted free agent by Toronto on Oct. 2, 2003, the 23-year-old played his first NHL game on Dec. 23 and has one point and four penalty minutes in five games for the Maple Leafs. He opened the season in the American Hockey League with Toronto and had 30 points (10g-20a) and 81 penalty minutes in 32 games for the Marlies before being recalled on Dec. 23.

Newbury began the 2004-05 season with Pensacola and had six points (2g-4a) and 20 penalty minutes in five games for the Ice Pilots before being recalled to the AHL where he had 13 points (4g-9a) and 103 penalty minutes in 55 regular season games and 26 penalty minutes in five playoff games.

The Premier 'AA' Hockey League, the ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League in 2006-07, marking the 10th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. There were a record 47 former ECHL players who made their NHL debut in 2005-06, including five goaltenders who played a game in both leagues. Since 2000-01 there have been 164 players who have played in the NHL after the ECHL and in 2005-06 there were 112 former ECHL players who played in the NHL and all 30 teams had a former ECHL player take the ice for at least one game.

There are two NHL head coaches (Peter Laviolette and Jim Playfair) and nine NHL assistant coaches who have an ECHL background. The ECHL was represented for the sixth consecutive year on the Stanley Cup champion in 2006 by Laviolette, who is the first ECHL coach to hoist the coveted trophy, Chad LaRose, Andrew Hutchinson and assistant athletic trainer Chris Stewart.

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

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 40 sellout crowds and 13 of the 22 returning teams raised their average attendance from a year ago.

The Idaho Steelheads and the City of Boise will host the 15th Annual ECHL All-Star Game presented by Rbk Hockey on Jan. 17 and the 10th Annual ECHL All-Star Skills Competition presented by Rbk Hockey on Jan. 16 at Qwest Arena.

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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