ECHL ECHL

Pensacola s Two Penalty-Shot Goals Set ECHL Record

December 27, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - Bryan Esner and Mike Sgroi of Pensacola each converted a penalty shot in the third period of a 5-2 win against Mississippi on Thursday, setting an ECHL record for most penalty shots converted in a period while tying the league mark for most penalty shots attempted in a period.

League records for penalty shots not include the first seven seasons from 1988-95.

Sgroi scored against Mississippi goaltender Morgan Cey at 3:44 of the third to give Pensacola a 4-1 lead and Esner converted his opportunity at 12:20 for the 5-2 win.

Pensacola is only the second team in ECHL history to attempt two penalty shots in a period, tying the mark set by Columbia at South Carolina on Mar. 19, 2006.

The Ice Pilots are the fifth team in league history to attempt two penalty shots in a game. The last team to attempt two penalty shots in a game was the Alaska Aces on Dec. 7 against Bakersfield.

The ECHL record for most penalty shots in a game by both teams is three on Mar. 19, 2006 when Columbia had two attempts and South Carolina had one.

ECHL
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, the ECHL 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 338 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 193 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past five seasons.

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.

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 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 and for the past 18 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.

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

Check out the ECHL Statistics



ECHL Stories from December 27, 2007


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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central