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Taylor, Wiikman Named Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week

February 4, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The American Hockey League announced that former ECHL and current Manchester Monarchs goaltender Danny Taylor and former Charlotte and current Hartford Wolf Pack goaltender Miika Wiikman have been named co-winners of the Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Jan. 27.

The ECHL affiliate of Manchester is the Reading Royals while the ECHL affiliate for Hartford is Charlotte. The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the AHL, marking the seventh consecutive season that it has had affiliations with 20 or more teams in the AHL. The AHL has 10 former ECHL coaches who are head coaches and 14 others who are assistant coaches, and there have been more than 100 players under contract to a team in the AHL who have been on an ECHL roster this year.

In his second professional season, the 21-year-old Taylor was 2-0-0 with two shutouts, stopping 67 shots while extending his personal shutout streak to 185:36. Selected in the seventh round (221st overall) by Los Angeles in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and under NHL contract to the Kings, he began the season in Reading where he was 3-0-0 with a goals-against average of 2.64 and a save percentage of .917 in three games before being reassigned to Manchester where he is 7-2-0 with three shutouts, a goals-against average of 1.90 and a save percentage of .939 in 11 games for the Monarchs. In his rookie season in 2006-07, Taylor was 3-1-0 with a goals-against average of 2.51 in six Kelly Cup Playoff games and 0-1-0 with a goals-against average of 1.62 in two regular season games for Texas. He also played for Wheeling where he was 0-0-1 with a goals-against average of 3.87 in one game and for Bakersfield where he was 7-7-1 with a goals-against average of 4.33 in 17 games.

In his first professional season in North America, the 23-year-old Wiikman was 3-0-0 with two shutouts, a goals-against average of 0.33 and a save percentage of .989 in three games. He is 1-1-2 with a goals-against average of 2.36 and a save percentage of .922 in four games with Charlotte and 12-4-1 with two shutouts, a goals-against average of 2.16 and a save percentage of .924 in 19 games with Hartford.

Other former ECHL players nominated for the Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week were Frank Doyle, Charles Linglet, Drew MacIntyre, Jakub Petruzalek, Martin St. Pierre and Grant Stevenson.

Taylor and Wiikman are the fourth and fifth ECHL players to be named the Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week this season, joining Sean Curry (Dec. 16), Jaroslav Halak (Jan. 6) and Grant Stevenson (Jan. 20).

Former Gwinnett Gladiator and ECHL All-Star left wing Pascal Pelletier was the CCM/AHL Player of the Month for the month of December and former Las Vegas and Wheeling goaltender John Curry was the Rbk Edge/AHL Rookie of the Month for December. Former ECHL All-Star Martin St. Pierre was the CCM/AHL Player of the Month for November and former ECHL All-Star Jeff Glass was the Rbk X-Pulse/AHL Goaltender of the Month for November.

For the 18th year in a row there is a former ECHL player on the American Hockey League champion as Hamilton had a record 12 players with ECHL experience on its roster.

In both 2005-06 and 2006-07, more than 225 players played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call ups, involving over 500 players, from the ECHL to the AHL. From 2002-03 to 2006-07, the ECHL had over 2,000 call ups, involving more than 1,000 players, which is more than the total call ups for all other professional leagues combined during that time period.

The AHL Player of the Week award was won 14 times by a former ECHL player in 2006-07 while a former ECHL goaltender was named the AHL Goaltender of the Month the last five months of the season. Six former ECHL players were on the All-AHL Teams in 2006-07 including former Charlotte goaltender Jason LaBarbera, who was named Goaltender of the Year, and former Mississippi defenseman Sheldon Brookbank, who was selected as Defenseman of the Year, while former ECHL goaltender Jaroslav Halak was named to the AHL All-Rookie team.

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 345 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 195 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.

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

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