PRINT EMAIL RSS SHARE

Aebischer Signs One-Year Contract With Colorado

July 22, 2004
DENVER, Colo. - The Colorado Avalanche have signed goaltender David Aebischer, who began his professional careers in the ECHL in 1997-98, to a one-year contract.

Selected in the sixth round (161st overall) by Colorado in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, Aebischer was 10-10-3 with one shutout, a goals against average of 3.35 and a save percentage of .897 in 17 regular season games with Chesapeake and 5-3-1 with a goals against average of 3.76 and a save percentage of .858 in 10 regular season games with Wheeling. He also appeared in two games with Hershey of the American Hockey League in 1997-98 going 0-0-1 with a goals against average of 3.76 and a save percentage of .853.

In 2003-04, his first season as the starter after serving as the backup for three seasons in Colorado, Aebischer was 32-19-9 with a career-high four shutouts and a goals against average of 2.09 in the regular season and 6-5 with one shutout and a goals against average of 2.08 in the postseason. He became only the second goaltender in Avalanche history to record 30 wins in a season and his goals against average was the second-lowest in team history by a full-time goaltender. His save percentage ranked sixth in the NHL while his goals against average ranked ninth in the league. Aebischer allowed two or fewer goals in 41 of his 62 games and closed out the season by allowing two or fewer goals in 12 of his final 15 starts.

“David proved to us and the rest of the league last season that he's among the NHL's top goaltenders,” said Avalanche general manager Pierre Lacroix. “We expect David to continue to develop as a leader for this franchise.”

Aebischer and Nolan Pratt, who played for Richmond in the ECHL in 1995-96, became the third and fourth ECHL alumni to hoist the Stanley Cup as members of the Avalanche in 2001. In 2004, Pratt became the first ECHL player to have his name engraved twice on the Stanley Cup. In addition to Pratt, Tampa Bay had ECHL alumni in players Ruslan Fedotenko and Andre Roy as well as radio announcer Dave Mishkin and assistant equipment manager Dana Heinze. On his day with the Stanley Cup, Heinze took hockey's most treasured trophy to visit his hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, home of the Johnstown Chiefs of the ECHL. The ECHL has had a player on the Stanley Cup Champion each of the past five years.

The Premier “AA” Hockey League, the ECHL had affiliations with 21 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League in 2003-04 and every NHL team had an ECHL player play for it in 2003-04. In 2003-04 there were 40 players that played in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, surpassing the high of 27 players in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. Eleven players, including eight goaltenders, appeared in both the ECHL and the NHL in 2003-04, breaking the high of five players in 2001-02, and a total of 116 ECHL players played in the NHL in 2003-04.

TOP