Zaba Named Reebok X-Pulse/AHL Goaltender Of The Month
March 13, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The American Hockey League announced that former
Charlotte Checkers and Idaho Steelheads goaltender Matt
Zaba has been named the Reebok X-Pulse/AHL
Goaltender of the Month for February.
Zaba is the second consecutive former ECHL goaltender to win the award,
joining former Phoenix RoadRunners goaltender Josh
Tordjman, who was the recipient for January.
The 25-year-old Zaba was 6-1-0 with two shootout wins, a goals-against
average of 1.35 and a save percentage of .951 in February.
Other former ECHL goaltenders nominated for the award were Jean-Sebastien
Aubin, John
Curry, Sebastien Dahm, John
DeCaro, Jeff
Frazee, Riku
Helenius, Nathan
Lawson, Drew MacIntyre, Justin
Peters, Tyler
Plante, Curtis Sanford, Nolan Schaefer, Danny
Taylor and Josh
Tordjman.
The ECHL had eight former players and three former coaches in the 2009 AHL
All-Star Classic and eight former ECHL players have been named Reebok /AHL
Player of the Week this season: former Florida Everblades center Keith
Aucoin, former Johnstown Chiefs goaltender Jason
Bacashihua, former Las Vegas Wranglers and Wheeling Nailers goaltender
John
Curry, former Stockton Thunder and 2007 ECHL All-Star goaltender Devan
Dubnyk, former Gwinnett Gladiator and 2006 ECHL All-Star left wing Pascal
Pelletier, former Phoenix RoadRunners goaltender Josh
Tordjman, former ECHL goaltender Mike
Brodeur and former Gwinnett Gladiators center and AHL All-Star Classic
Most Valuable Player Jared Ross..
The ECHL has had affiliations with 20 or more teams in the AHL the last
eight years and in the past seven seasons there have been more ECHL players
called up to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined.
For the 19th year in a row the Premier 'AA' Hockey League was represented
on the AHL champion as the Chicago Wolves had a record 14 former ECHL
players on their roster.
Seven times in the last eight years the winner of the AHL Coach of the
Year award has been a former ECHL coach including the last three selections
with Scott
Gordon, Mike
Haviland and Kevin
Dineen. Former ECHL coaches won the award four consecutive years from
2001-04 with Don Granato, Bruce Cassidy, Geoff Ward and Claude Noel. The
first former ECHL coach to win the award was Peter Laviolette in 1999.
Ten former ECHL players won the weekly award in 2007-08 while former ECHL
players were chosen to receive the Rbk X-Pulse/AHL Goaltender of the
Month four times, the CCM/AHL Player of the Month award three times
and the Rbk Edge/AHL Rookie of the Month two times. The ECHL was
represented by three players on both the First Team All-AHL and the Second
Team All-AHL while goaltender John
Curry was named to the All-Rookie Team and Andrew Hutchinson was named
Defenseman
of the Year.
Barry Brust and Nolan Schaefer won the Harry
"Hap" Holmes Memorial Award, presented each season to the goaltender(s)
appearing in at least 25 games for the team allowing the fewest goals, for
2007-08. It is the seventh season in a row and the 12th time in the last 15
years that the award has been won or shared by a former ECHL goaltender.
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Premier 'AA' Hockey League Fast Facts
* The ECHL celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08 and is 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 21 teams in 16 states and British Columbia in
2008-09.
* The league officially changed its name from East Coast Hockey League to
ECHL on May
19, 2003.
* Affiliations with 24 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League
marking 12th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with
at least 20 teams in the NHL.
* 401 former ECHL
players have played in NHL.
* 145 have played their first NHL game in the last four seasons.
* 46 former ECHL players have made their NHL debut this season: former
Idaho Steelheads right wing Jay
Beagle (Washington on Feb. 11), former Wheeling Nailers and ECHL
All-Star defenseman Paul
Bissonnette (Pittsburgh on Oct. 4), former Stockton Thunder and ECHL
All-Star right wing Troy
Bodie (Anaheim on Jan. 16), former Bakersfield Condors center Alexandre
Bolduc (Vancouver on Nov. 27), former Florida Everblades defenseman Brett
Carson (Carolina on Dec. 7), former South Carolina Stingrays defenseman
Sean
Collins (Washington on Dec. 6), former Las Vegas Wranglers and Wheeling
Nailers goaltender John
Curry (Pittsburgh on Nov. 26), former Greenville Grrrowl goaltender
Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (Edmonton on Oct. 17), former Johnstown Chiefs
center Andre
Deveaux (Toronto on Nov. 27), former Dayton Bombers center Philippe
Dupuis (Colorado on Dec. 12), former Gwinnett Gladiators left wing Chris
Durno (Colorado on Jan. 18), former Gwinnett Gladiators right wing Pat
Dwyer (Carolina on Nov. 2), former Columbus Cottonmouths and
Tallahassee Tiger Sharks left wing Mitch
Fritz (New York Islanders on Oct. 30), former South Carolina Stingrays
right wing Andrew
Gordon (Washington on Dec. 23), former Augusta Lynx and Mississippi Sea
Wolves goaltender Riku
Helenius (Tampa Bay on Jan. 30), former Charlotte Checkers center Dwight
Helminen (Carolina on Oct. 28), former Florida Everblades and ECHL
All-Star center Matt
Hendricks (Colorado on Mar. 10), former Las Vegas Wranglers goaltender
Brent
Krahn (Dallas on Feb. 14), former Trenton Devils right wing Pierre-Luc
Letourneau-Leblond (New Jersey on Oct. 22), former Gwinnett Gladiators
defenseman Scott
Lehman (Atlanta on Dec. 18), former Utah Grizzlies defenseman Andrew
MacDonald (New York Islanders on Feb. 28), former Charlotte Checkers
defenseman Steve
MacIntyre (Edmonton on Oct. 15), former Florida Everblades left wing Kenndal
McArdle (Florida on Dec. 2), two-time All-Star and former Las Vegas
Wranglers goaltender Mike
McKenna (Tampa Bay on Feb. 3), former All-Star and Wheeling Nailers
center Kurtis
McLean (New York Islanders on Jan. 19), former South Carolina Stingrays
and ECHL All-Star goaltender Michal
Neuvirth (Washingtons on Feb. 14), former Columbia Inferno defenseman
Phil
Oreskovic (Toronto on Mar. 9), former Phoenix RoadRunners and Wheeling
Nailers center Cam
Paddock (St. Louis on Nov. 14), former Las Vegas Wranglers defenseman
Adam
Pardy (Calgary on Oct. 9), former Idaho Steelheads left wing Warren
Peters (Calgary on Dec. 7), former Charlotte Checkers center Jakub
Petruzalek (Carolina on Feb. 5), former Charlotte Checkers defenseman
Corey
Potter (New York Rangers on Dec. 7), former Augusta Lynx defenseman Kevin
Quick (Tampa Bay on Jan. 13), former Utah Grizzlies right wing Joel
Rechlicz (New York Islanders on Mar. 4), former Charlotte Checkers,
Columbia Inferno and Elmira Jackals defenseman Bryan
Rodney (Carolina on Dec. 11), former Gwinnett Gladiators center Jared
Ross (Philadelphia on Oct. 11), former Alaska Aces goaltender Marek
Schwarz (St. Louis on Oct. 25), former Greenville Grrrowl and Stockton
Thunder center Tim
Sestito (Edmonton on Nov. 26), former Dayton Bombers and Las Vegas
Wranglers defenseman Tyler
Sloan (Washington on Oct. 21), former Utah Grizzlies and ECHL All-Star
center Trevor
Smith (New York Islanders on Dec. 31), former Johnstown Chiefs and
Mississippi Sea Wolves forward Radek
Smolenak (Tampa Bay on Dec. 2), former Augusta Lynx defenseman Brett
Skinner (New York Islanders on Oct. 27), former Las Vegas Wranglers and
ECHL All-Star defenseman Tyson
Strachan (St. Louis on Dec. 18), former Phoenix RoadRunners goaltender
Josh
Tordjman (Phoenix on Mar. 8), former Wheeling Nailers right wing Tim
Wallace (Pittsburgh on Dec. 10) and former Idaho Steelheads center Tom
Wandell (Dallas on Dec. 10).
* There were 72
former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters.
* Twenty-six former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2007-08 including
six who played in both the ECHL and the NHL: Chris
Beckford-Tseu (Alaska and St. Louis), Adam
Berti (Pensacola and Chicago), Joe
Jensen (Wheeling and Carolina), Dan
LaCosta (Elmira and Columbus), Jonathan
Quick (Reading and Los Angeles) and Danny
Taylor (Reading and Los Angeles).
* Record 47 former ECHL players played their first NHL game in 2005-06.
* ECHL is represented for the eighth consecutive year on the National
Hockey League championship team in 2008 by
Aaron Downey of the Detroit Red Wings.
* Former ECHL coaches working as head coaches in the NHL are Bruce
Boudreau of the Washington Capitals and Scott
Gordon of the New York Islanders while former ECHL player Dan
Bylsma is the interim head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Boudreau,
who coached Mississippi for three seasons winning the Kelly Cup
championship in 1999, was named
NHL Coach of the Year in 2007-08 becoming the first former ECHL coach
to receive the award. Peter Laviolette, who began his coaching career with
the Wheeling Nailers, led Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup in
2006.
* There are 18 assistant coaches in the NHL who were players or coaches in
the ECHL.
* There are 18 former ECHL officials scheduled to work as part of the NHL
officiating team in 2008-09 with referees David
Banfield, Chris
Ciamaga, Ghislain
Hebert, Marc Joannette, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dean Morton, Dan
O'Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Justin
St. Pierre and Ian Walsh and linesmen Steve Barton, Brian Mach, Tim
Nowak and Jay Sharrers. Barton, Joannette, Leggo, McCauley, Nowak, Pollock,
Rooney and Sharrers all worked the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
* Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.
• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...
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