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Surma Becomes 253rd ECHL Player To Play In NHL

April 5, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. – Florida Everblades left wing Damian Surma became the 253rd ECHL player overall to advance and play in the National Hockey League when he played 9:26 and finished with an assist and a plus-minus rating of +1 in Carolina's 6-6 tie at Florida on Sunday.

Surma had an assist in the Everblades' playoff-clinching 4-2 win against Augusta on Saturday.

Surma is the 38th player to appear in the NHL after playing in the NHL. The previous high for ECHL players making their first NHL appearance was 27 players in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. Surma becomes the 11th player, including eight goaltenders, to appear in both the ECHL and the NHL in 2003-04, breaking the previous high of five players in 2001-02.

Selected in the sixth round (174th overall) by Carolina in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, Surma has scored 15 points (6g-9a) in 18 games with Florida and eight points (3g-5a) in 48 games with Lowell of the American Hockey League in 2003-04.

In his first full professional season in 2002-03, Surma scored 22 points (11g-11a) in 68 regular season games with Lowell and one point (1g-0a) in one game with Carolina. The 23-year-old Surma made his NHL debut and scored his first NHL goal on March 18, 2003 against Ottawa.

There have been 105 ECHL players that have played in the NHL in 2003-04 including 31 goaltenders. There were 53 former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters surpassing the record of 50 players set in 2002-03.

There are nine ECHL coaches in the NHL, including Carolina Hurricanes Head Coach Peter Laviolette and Florida Panthers Interim Head Coach John Torchetti, and there are 13 referees and three linesmen with ECHL experience on the 2003-04 NHL officiating staff. The ECHL has affiliations with 21 of the 30 teams in the NHL in 2003-04 and there has been an ECHL player on each of the 30 NHL teams in 2003-04.

There have been 36 players in 2003-04 that have made their first NHL appearance since playing in the ECHL. Stroshein becomes the 35th ECHL player to make his NHL debut in 2003-04 joining Johnathan Aitken (Chicago on November 26), Ryan Barnes (Detroit on December 15), Mike Bishai (Edmonton on January 29), Darryl Bootland (Detroit on November 8), Garrett Burnett (Anaheim on October 8), Andy Chiodo (Pittsburgh on February 18), Mathieu Chouinard (Los Angeles on February 29), Carl Corazzini (Boston on January 15), Benoit Dusablon (New York Rangers on March 4), Dan Ellis (Dallas on February 18), Mike Green (Florida on February 3), Andrew Hutchinson (Nashville on October 18), Boyd Kane (Philadelphia on October 16), Quintin Laing (Chicago on February 29), Cory Larose (New York Rangers on February 16), Patrick Leahy (Boston on December 6), Brett Lysak (Carolina on March 19), Steve McLaren (St. Louis on December 16), Jason MacDonald (New York Rangers on December 12), Graham Mink (Washington on February 3), Adam Munro (Chicago on March 1), Lawrence Nycholat (New York Rangers on January 20), Josh Olson (Florida on March 11), Pat Rissmiller (San Jose on November 13), Nathan Robinson (Detroit on November 28), Michael Ryder (Montreal on October 9), Dany Sabourin (Calgary on October 29), Rob Skrlac (New Jersey on December 13), Rastislav Stana (Washington on November 14), Mike Stuart (St. Louis on October 24), Matt Underhill (Chicago on March 7), Darcy Verot (Washington on January 1), Jeremy Yablonski (St. Louis on December 30) and Matthew Yeats (Washington on March 23). Travis Brigley, who played for Macon of the ECHL in 2001-02, played for Colorado on October 26.

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