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Fukufuji Becomes 313th Player To Play In NHL After ECHL

January 13, 2007

PRINCETON, N.J. – Former Bakersfield and Reading goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji became the first Japanese player to play in an NHL game on Saturday when he made his debut with the Los Angeles Kings, stopping four of five shots after entering the game in the third period in relief of former Reading goaltender Barry Brust.

Fukufuji is the 313th player overall and the 10th this season to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, joining Brust (Los Angeles on Nov. 30), former Trenton goaltender Martin Houle (Philadelphia on Dec. 13), former Alaska left wing D.J. King (St. Louis on Oct. 5), former Florida center Drew Larman (Florida on Nov. 13), former Toledo goaltender Joey MacDonald (Detroit on Oct. 19), former Pensacola center Kris Newbury (Dec. 23), former Columbia right wing Jesse Schultz (Vancouver on Nov. 28), former ECHL All-Star goaltender Mike Smith (Dallas on Oct. 21) and former Augusta goaltender Mike Wall (Anaheim on Nov. 26).

Los Angeles assigned Fukufuji to Long Beach on Dec. 17, but he did not appear in a game for the Ice Dogs before being recalled to the Kings on Dec. 19.

Selected in the eighth round (238th overall) by Los Angeles in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and under NHL contract to the Kings, Fukufuji is 3-3-0 with a goals-against average of 3.19 and a save percentage of .898 in 10 games for Reading and 2-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.30 and a save percentage of .954 in three games with Manchester of the American Hockey League.

Born in Tokyo, he became the first Japanese-born goaltender to start an ECHL game with Cincinnati, winning his North American debut, 3-2 in a shootout at Johnstown on Feb. 7, 2003. He finished the season with a 4-3-0 record, a goal-against average of 3.13 and a save percentage of .915.

In 2005-06 he was 15-9-4 with a shutout, a goals-against average of 2.91 and a save percentage of .917 in 29 regular season games and 1-2 with a goals-against average of 3.37 and a save percentage of .888 in four Kelly Cup Playoff games for the Royals while also playing for Manchester where he was 1-1-0 with a goals-against average of 3.00 and a save percentage of .923 in two games.

In 2004-05 with Bakersfield, Fukufuji was 27-9-5 with three shutouts, a goals-against average of 2.48 and a save percentage of .919 in 44 games with Bakersfield.

The Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League, the ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League in 2006-07, marking the 10th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. There were a record 47 former ECHL players who made their NHL debut in 2005-06, including five goaltenders who played a game in both leagues. Since 2000-01 there have been 168 players who have played in the NHL after the ECHL and in 2005-06 there were 112 former ECHL players who played in the NHL and all 30 teams had a former ECHL player take the ice for at least one game.

There are two NHL head coaches (Peter Laviolette and Jim Playfair) and nine NHL assistant coaches who have an ECHL background. The ECHL was represented for the sixth consecutive year on the Stanley Cup champion in 2006 by Laviolette, who is the first ECHL coach to hoist the coveted trophy, Chad LaRose, Andrew Hutchinson and assistant athletic trainer Chris Stewart.

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

The ECHL has affiliations with 24 of the 27 teams in the American Hockey League in 2006-07 and for the past 17 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion. The ECHL has had more players called up to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined each of the past four seasons with 1,646 call ups involving almost 1,000 players.

The ECHL raised its average attendance for the third straight year in 2005-06 drawing 3,934,794 for 900 games which is an average of 4,372 per game, an increase of more than nine percent from 2004-05 and the largest per-game average since 1999-2000. Six teams surpassed 200,000 and nine teams averaged 5,000 per game for the first time since 1999-2000 as the league welcomed 40 sellout crowds and 13 of the 22 returning teams raised their average attendance from a year ago.

In 2005-06 the ECHL and its member teams contributed more than $2.3 million for charity and relief funds, including those benefiting victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, while also making thousands of appearances by players, coaches, team personnel and mascots at schools, hospitals, libraries and charity functions.

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

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