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Dheensaw, Woody Receive
ECHL Outstanding Media Award

June 26, 2008

PRINCETON, N.J. – The ECHL announced that Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times-Colonist and Doyle Woody of The Anchorage Daily News have been selected as co-recipients of the ECHL Outstanding Media Award for 2007-08.

The award is determined in a vote of league media members, media relations directors and broadcasters.

“Cleve and Doyle are two of the most knowledgeable and dedicated writers to cover the ECHL and their respective teams,” said ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna. “Fans in Victoria and Anchorage benefit from their in-depth coverage and professional approach on a daily basis. Congratulations to both gentlemen on this well-deserved award.”

Dheensaw, who is a native of Victoria, has covered the Victoria Salmon Kings since the team joined the ECHL in 2004-05. He also covers amateur sports and Olympic sports as many of Canada’s athletes live and train in Victoria. Dheensaw will be in Beijing, China to cover the 2008 Summer Games for both the Times-Colonist and CanWest, which is the largest newspaper chain in Canada and owner of the Times-Colonist. He has written five books: “Island of Champions – A History of Sport in Victoria”; “Lacrosse 100: A History of Lacrosse in British Columbia”; “The Commonwealth Games: The First 60 Years”; “Olympics 100: Canada at the Summer Games” and “Celebrate the Spirit: The Olympic Games Book for Children”.

“It is a tremendous honor and truly humbling to be cited for this award, especially among so many talented and proficient peers such as Doyle who cover the ECHL beat for newspapers in league cities scattered all over North America,” said Dheensaw, who has worked for the Times-Colonist since being hired 1981 following his graduation from the University of Victoria. “I have found the evolving ECHL to be a compelling beat.”

Woody moved to Anchorage when he was 11 years old and returned in 1983 after attending Gonzaga University. He has been the beat writer for the Aces each of the last two seasons after spending 21 years covering the University of Alaska Anchorage hockey team.

“It’s very cool, and especially humbling, to be on any list that includes Cleve Dheensaw, whose work is top shelf,” said Woody, who has worked for the Anchorage Daily News since 1983. “Any small insight or entertainment I’ve been able to furnish readers of the Anchorage Daily News in our coverage of the Alaska Aces and the ECHL owes a measure of gratitude to Aces players, coaches and staff. They have been very generous with time and access, in good times and lousy ones, and nice enough to forgive me my frequent bouts of awful alliteration. Plus it doesn’t hurt that my girlfriend’s patience apparently knows no bounds … yet.”

ECHL Outstanding Media Award Winners

Year Recipient Media Outlet
2007-08 Cleve Dheensaw Victoria Times-Colonist
Doyle Woody The Anchorage Daily News
2006-07 Scott Linesburgh The Stockton Record
2005-06 Matt Nevala The Anchorage Daily News
2004-05 Mike Mastovich The Tribune-Democrat
2003-04 Len Bardsley The Times of Trenton
2002-03 Dave Eminian Peoria Journal Star

ECHL
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.

The Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league that will play with 23 teams in 16 states and British Columbia in 2008-09.

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 Mississippi and current Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, who is the 2007-08 winner of the NHL Coach of the Year award, and former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The ECHL is represented for the eighth consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2008 with Detroit Red Wings forward Aaron Downey.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 and for the past 19 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion.

In the last six seasons the ECHL has had more call ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,300 call ups involving more than 1,200 players. In each of the last three seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL in the same season.

Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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