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USA Hockey Names Former ECHL Referee Britt Coordinator Of Officiating Education

April 18, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release




PRINCETON, N.J. - Former ECHL referee Patrick Britt has been named coordinator of officiating education for USA Hockey.

The Richboro, Pa. native, worked four seasons and approximately 300 games in the ECHL from 2001-05, was the director of officiating development for the National Ice Hockey Board of Holland in 2007-08. He worked seven seasons as a referee in the USHL and officiated the USA Hockey's Junior A National Championship in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

The ECHL has a close working relationship with USA Hockey which helps recruit and provide the top officials in the United States.

Seventeen former ECHL officials worked in the National Hockey League in 2007-08 with referees David Banfield, Chris Ciamaga, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dean Morton, Dan O'Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Justin St. Pierre, Ian Walsh and Dean Warren and linesmen Steve Barton, Brian Mach, Tim Nowak and Jay Sharrers.

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 355 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including 99 in the last three seasons. There have been 210 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past seven 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.

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