I am pleased and delighted to welcome you to another exciting season in the ECHL, the Premier �AA� Hockey League.
The past two years have seen the ECHL leave its footprint across the nation. This season there will be 28 teams playing in 16 states and one Canadian province as we welcome the Salmon Kings in Victoria, British Columbia, the first ECHL team outside of the United States.
The ECHL congratulates the 2004 Kelly Cup Champion Idaho Steelheads, who defeated the Florida Everblades in the first-ever coast-to-coast �AA� national hockey championship. The Steelheads become only the second team ever to win the championship in their first year in the league. The Kelly Cup Finals had five consecutive sellout crowds and there were 11 sellouts overall in the 2004 Kelly Cup Playoffs, one of the most successful in league history.
Congratulations also to the San Diego Gulls, who became only the second first-year team in the 16-year history of the ECHL to win the Brabham Cup, the trophy presented annually to the regular season point champion. The Gulls set a league record for wins by a first-year team with 49 and tied the second-highest point total in league history with 108 points. San Diego finished two points ahead of Wheeling and for the second season in a row the Brabham Cup was determined on the final day of the regular season.
We hope that you will be able to join us for the 13th Annual ECHL All-Star Game as the National Conference All-Stars host the American Conference All-Stars at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. Hosted by the Reading Royals and presented by Coors Light, the 2005 Coors Light ECHL All-Star Game and Skills Competition will be held January 25-26, 2005.
The ECHL continues its evolution as a developmental league and in 2003-04 there were a record 40 players, surpassing the high of 27 players in 1999-2000 and 2000-01, who played in the National Hockey League after playing in the ECHL. There were 11 players who played in both the ECHL and the NHL in 2003-04, doubling the previous high of five players in 2001-02. In its first 16 seasons, the ECHL has had 256 players who have gone on to play in the NHL. There were a record 115 ECHL players who played in the NHL last season and, I am proud to note here that every NHL team had at least one ECHL player take the ice in 2003-04.
For the fifth consecutive year, the oldest and most revered trophy in professional sports, the Stanley Cup, was won by a former ECHL player as Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay had three players and five individuals with ECHL ties. The players were Ruslan Fedotenko, Andre Roy and Nolan Pratt, who becomes the first ECHL player to have his name engraved twice on the Stanley Cup. The Lightning also had radio play-by-play announcer Dave Mishkin and assistant equipment manager Dana Heinze, who both began their professional careers with the storied Johnstown Chiefs, proving again that the ECHL is a stepping stone to both the AHL and the NHL for on-ice officials, front office personnel and coaches, including current Carolina Hurricanes head coach Peter Laviolette and several NHL assistant coaches.
Former ECHL coaches were behind the benches of 14 of the 28 teams in the American Hockey League, including Claude Noel, named ECHL Coach of the Year with Toledo in 2002-03, and selected as outstanding coach of the American Hockey League with Milwaukee in 2003-04. Noel is the fourth ECHL coach in a row and the fifth in six years to be named an outstanding coach in the AHL, but the first to win the coach of the year award in both the ECHL and the AHL. For the 15th season in a row, an ECHL player is a member of the AHL champion team. In addition to eight players, including the Calder Cup Playoffs� Most Valuable Player Wade Flaherty, the ECHL was represented in Milwaukee by Noel and radio announcer Kyle Schultz.
Former Charlotte goaltender Jason LaBarbera was named as the AHL MVP in 2003-04, the fourth ECHL player to earn the honor, joining Eric Boguniecki in 2001-02, Martin Brochu in 1999-2000, and Brad Smyth in 1995-96. The ECHL had affiliation agreements with 21 of the 28 teams in the AHL and there were over 90 players on AHL contracts in the ECHL in 2003-04. There were more than 220 players who played in both the ECHL and the AHL in 2003-04 and the ECHL had 425 call-ups, involving 234 players, to the AHL during the regular season.
The ECHL remains committed to providing its fans with affordable quality entertainment in a family environment as we continue to �Focus on the Fan�.
On behalf of the ECHL and its members, I thank you for your continued support and hope that you and your family enjoy the upcoming season. We are sure it will be the best ever.
Sincerely,
Brian McKenna
ECHL Commissioner
