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Weiman, Weller, Winnik Increase ECHL Players In NHL To 332

Published on October 5, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - Thursday saw former San Diego goaltender Tyler Weiman's debut with the Colorado Avalanche, while former Charlotte right wing Craig Weller and former Phoenix RoadRunners center Daniel Winnik took the ice for the Phoenix Coyotes, bringing the number of players who have played in the National Hockey League after the ECHL to 332.

Weiman played the final 15:46 of Colorado's 4-0 loss at Nashville and stopped all 10 shots he faced. Selected in the fifth round (164th overall) by the Avalanche in 2002 NHL Entry Draft, he was 14-12-3 with a 2.81 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage in 32 regular season games for San Diego in 2005-06 and was named Rbk Hockey ECHL Goaltender of the Week on Jan. 10, 2006.

Weller, who played 11:04 and had three shots on Thursday, had 14 points (3g-11a) and 84 penalty minutes in 48 games for Charlotte as a rookie in 2002-03 while also playing 13 games in the American Hockey League for Hartford.

Winnik scored the game-winning goal, which was also his first NHL goal, at 7:30 of the third period in Phoenix's 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Selected in the ninth round (265th overall) by the Coyotes in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, he had six assists and nine penalty minutes in five games with the RoadRunners as a rookie last season while also playing in the AHL for San Antonio.

There were 69 former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters and there have been 187 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past six seasons. Twenty-six former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2006-07, including two who played in both the ECHL and the NHL as goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji played for Reading and Los Angeles while defenseman Bryan Young skated for Stockton and Edmonton. Dave McKee played for Augusta and dressed for five games as the backup goaltender for Stanley Cup champion Anaheim.

The Premier 'AA' Hockey League, the ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the NHL, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL, and there are 14 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience.

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.

ECHL
The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league that will have 25 teams playing in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08, including the Mississippi (Biloxi) Sea Wolves, who return after missing two seasons in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the expansion Elmira (New York) Jackals.

The Stockton Thunder and the City of Stockton will host the 16th Annual ECHL All-Star Game at Stockton Arena on Jan. 23, 2008 and the 11th Annual ECHL All-Star Skills Competition on Jan. 22, 2008.

For the fourth straight year and the 10th time in the last 11 years, the ECHL had more than four million fans attend its games in 2006-07 and averaged 4,101 fans per game.

The total attendance for the regular season and the Kelly Cup Playoffs is twice as many fans as the total attendance for the WNBA, Arena Football League and Major League Soccer and four times greater than total attendance for both the National Lacrosse League and af2.

There have been more than 66 million fans who have attended over 15,000 games since the ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in three states.

There have been 332 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 187 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past six seasons and 69 former ECHL players were on the opening-day rosters of NHL teams.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

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 and for the past 17 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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