Tampa Bay Assigns Soucy, Craig & Eklund
October 6, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Pensacola Ice Pilots News Release
Pensacola, FL - The Pensacola Ice Pilots, under the new ownership group of Hockey Enterprises of Pensacola L.L.C. with the sole owner Tim Kerr, announced that forward Jean-Francois Soucy, forward Ryan Craig and goalie Brian Eklund have been assigned to the Ice Pilots from the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL. The Ice Pilots also acquired forward Joe Goodenow from the Reading Royals for future considerations.
Soucy, who stands 6'3" and weighs 180 pounds, played in 65 games last season with Montreal of the QMHL scoring 24 goals, 31 assists for 55 points and picked up 168 penalty minutes. During his four seasons playing for Montreal and Val-d'Or of the QMJHL, Soucy played in 234 games scoring 39 goals, 60 assists for 99 points and picked up 355 penalty minutes.
Soucy is 20 years old from Riviere Du Loup, Quebec and shoots right. He was selected in the eighth round and the 252nd overall selection by Tampa Bay in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.
Craig, who stands 6'1" and weighs 200 pounds, played in 60 games last season for Brandon in the WHL scoring 42 goals, 32 assists for 74 points and picked up 69 penalty minutes. He played in a total of 302 games from 1997-2003 for Brandon scoring 137 goals, 131 assists for 268 points and picked up 256 penalty minutes.
Craig is 21 years old from Abbotsford, British Columbia and shoots left. He was selected in the eighth round and the 255th overall selection by Tampa Bay in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
Eklund, who stands 6'5" and weighs 205 pounds, played in 19 games with the Ice Pilots last season posting a record of 10-6 with a 3.66 goals against average and .896 save percentage. Eklund also was 1-0 with a 1.00 goals against average and .974 save percentage with Springfield of the AHL. He played college hockey at Brown University from 1998-2003.
Eklund is 23 years old from Braintree, Massachusetts and catches left. He was selected in the seventh round and the 226th overall player selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.
Goodenow, who stands 5'10" and weighs 180 pounds, played in 23 games for Hershey of the AHL last season picking up two assists and 18 penalty minutes, played in 12 games for Reading of the ECHL scoring one goal, three assists for four points and picked up 10 penalty minutes and played in 4 games with Quad City of the UHL.
Goodenow played his college hockey at Michigan State from 1998-2002 and also played for the U.S. Jr. National Team. He is 23 years old from Toronto, Ontario.
The Ice Pilots also announced that forward Tyler Beechey will be arriving in Pensacola tonight and will be added to the training camp roster. Beechey was participating in Springfield's training camp of the AHL.
The Ice Pilots will play two preseason home games vs. Louisiana this Friday and Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. Cost for tickets for the preseason games are $10 for floor and glass, sides and behind the goals and $5 for lower upper and upper level tickets.
The Ice Pilots begin the regular season in their home opener on Saturday, October 18th vs. Columbus at 7:05 p.m. Individual regular season game tickets cost $22 for floor and glass, $15 for sides, $13 for behind the goal and lower upper level and $10 for upper level tickets.
Fans can purchase individual tickets for the preseason and regular season in person at the Civic Center box office, at any Ticketmaster location, Charge by Phone at 850-434-7444 or through the Ice Pilots website at www.icepilots.com.
Season tickets are on sale for all 36 home games. The cost of season tickets are 4599.88 for floor and glass, $431.88 for sides, $395.88 for behind the goal and lower upper level seats and $299.88 for upper level seats.
Fans can also choose to buy the 16 game plan, 8 game plan and flex pack. Year round monthly payments for full season tickets are as low as $24.99 and year round monthly payments on the 16 game plan are as low as $12.50 per month. Season tickets
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