
Pardy Becomes 357th Player To Play In NHL After ECHL
October 10, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release
PRINCETON, N.J. - Former Las Vegas Wranglers defenseman Adam
Pardy became the 357th player to play in the National
Hockey League after playing in the ECHL when he made his NHL debut with the
Calgary Flames in a 6-0 loss at Vancouver on Thursday.
Selected in the sixth round (173rd overall) by Calgary in the 2004 NHL
Entry Draft, the 24 year old played for the Wranglers as a rookie in
2005-06 and had 12 points (1g-11a) and 55 penalty minutes in 41 regular
season games and three points (2g-1a) and 12 penalty minutes in 10 games in
the Kelly Cup Playoffs. The Bonavista, Newfoundland native also played in
the American Hockey League where he had 26 points (7g-19a) and 145 penalty
minutes in 159 regular season games and two points (1g-1a) in six playoff
games for Omaha and Quad City.
Las Vegas is the ECHL affiliate of Calgary. Former Dayton Bombers coach
Jim Playfair is associate coach for Calgary while former ECHL player Jamie
McLennan is the director of goaltender development for the Flames. The
Premier 'AA' Hockey League, the ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 30
teams in the NHL, marking the 12th consecutive season that the league has
had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.
The have been 101 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL
in the last four seasons, including a record 47 in 2005-06. Seventy-two
former ECHL players were on NHL opening-day rosters and there were 333
former ECHL players who attended NHL training camps, including 139 who
played in the league last season.
Former Wheeling Nailers defenseman and ECHL All-Star Paul
Bissonnette was the first former ECHL player to make his NHL debut this
season, playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their 4-3 overtime win
against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday in Stockholm, Sweden.
Former ECHL coaches working as head coaches in the NHL are
Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals, Scott
Gordon of the New York Islanders and Peter Laviolette of the Carolina
Hurricanes. Boudreau, who coached Mississippi for three seasons winning the
Kelly Cup championship in 1999, was named
NHL Coach of the Year in 2007-08 becoming the first former ECHL coach
to receive the award. Laviolette, who began his coaching career with the
Wheeling Nailers, led Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup in 2006. There
are 15 assistant coaches in the NHL who were players or coaches in the
ECHL.
The ECHL is represented for the eighth consecutive year on the National
Hockey League championship team in 2008 by Aaron
Downey of the Detroit Red Wings.
There are 18 former ECHL officials scheduled to work as part of the NHL
officiating team in 2008-09 with referees David
Banfield, Chris
Ciamaga, Ghislain
Hebert, Marc Joannette, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dean Morton, Dan
O'Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Justin
St. Pierre and Ian Walsh and linesmen Steve Barton, Brian Mach, Tim
Nowak and Jay Sharrers. Barton, Joannette, Leggo, McCauley, Nowak, Pollock,
Rooney and Sharrers all worked the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
ECHL
Watch games live on B2 Networks, the "Official
Broadband Broadcast Provider" of the ECHL.
The ECHL celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08 and is 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 23 teams playing 828 games in 16 states and
British Columbia in 2008-09.
The Reading Royals, the City of Reading and the Sovereign Center will host
the 17th Annual
ECHL All-Star Game on Jan. 21, 2009 and the 12th Annual All-Star Skills
Competition on Jan. 20, 2009.
The league officially changed its name from East Coast Hockey League to
ECHL on May
19, 2003.
The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey
League in 2007-08 and for the past 19 years there has been an ECHL player
on the Calder Cup champion.
In the last six seasons the ECHL has had more call ups to the AHL than all
other professional leagues combined with over 2,300 call ups involving more
than 1,200 players. In each of the last three seasons there have been more
than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL in the same
season.
Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.
ECHL Stories from October 10, 2008
- Salmon Kings Top Steelheads - Victoria Salmon Kings
- Everblades Blank RoadRunners 7-0 - Phoenix RoadRunners
- Bombers Open Preseason With 3-2 Victory Over Cincinnati - Dayton Bombers
- Henkel's Shootout Goal Gives T-Devils 5-4 Win Over Jackals - Trenton Devils
- Lynx Drop Preseason Contest 5-2 - Augusta Lynx
- Blades blank Road Runners 7-0 in pre-season contest - Florida Everblades
- Chiefs Drop Preseason Opener - Johnstown Chiefs
- Gladiators Beat Lynx 5-2 in Preseason Game - Atlanta Gladiators
- Cyclones Fall to Dayton in Preseason Friday - Cincinnati Cyclones
- Checkers King Sea Wolves 9-1 In Preseason Action - Mississippi Sea Wolves
- Gladiators Add Five to Training Camp - Atlanta Gladiators
- ECHL Transactions - ECHL
- Pardy becomes first Wranglers skater to play in NHL - Las Vegas Wranglers
- Marlies Assign Defenseman Scott Langdon to Reading - Reading Royals
- Nailers Open 2008 Preseason Tonight - Wheeling Nailers
- RoadRunners To Broadcast Saturday Pre-Season Game - Phoenix RoadRunners
- Cyclones Receive Stephen Werner From Milwaukee - Cincinnati Cyclones
- Lynx Add Four to Camp - Augusta Lynx
- Salmon Kings Kick Off Preseason Games - Victoria Salmon Kings
- Bombers Preseason Game Tomorrow Afternoon - Dayton Bombers
- Pardy Becomes 357th Player To Play In NHL After ECHL - ECHL
- Aces Stung By South Carolina - Alaska Aces
- Wranglers Edge Condors In Preseason Tilt, 5-4 Shootout Win - Las Vegas Wranglers
- Thunder sinks Fresno in preseason opener, Urquhart scores twice - Stockton Thunder
- Wranglers edge Condors in the shootout, 5-4 - Bakersfield Condors
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.
