AHL champion Charlotte has eight former ECHL players

For the 30th year in a row the ECHL is represented on the American Hockey League champion as eight of the 27 players who played for the Charlotte Checkers in the 2019 Calder Cup Playoffs played in the Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League.

There have been 137 former ECHL players on the last 15 AHL champions.

The ECHL has had affiliations with 20 or more teams in the AHL the last 18 years. The Florida Everblades served as the ECHL affiliate for Charlotte during the 2018-19 season.

Former ECHL players who captured the 2019 Calder Cup title are Clark Bishop (Florida, 2016-17), Josiah Didier (Brampton, 2015-17 and Florida, 2017-18), Steven Lorentz (Florida, 2017-19), Zach Nastasiuk (Toledo, 2015-18 and Florida, 2018-19), Alex Nedeljkovic (Florida, 2016-17), Nick Schilkey (Florida, 2018-19), Derek Sheppard (Florida, 2017-19) and Eric Williams (Manchester, 2018-19). Charlotte Assistant Coach Ryan Warsofsky was head coach of the South Carolina Stingrays from 2016-18 after serving three seasons as the club’s assistant coach while Checkers’ Equipment Manager Donny White has ECHL experience with Charlotte and Mississippi.

Other Checkers’ personnel with ECHL experience include Chief Operating Officer Tera Black, who was Chief Operating Officer for both San Diego and Charlotte in the ECHL; Director of Finance/Controller Jamie Black, who played in the ECHL with Long Beach and San Diego, and was assistant coach of the Gulls from 2004-06; Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Derek Wilkinson, who played for the Checkers in 1999-2000, was an assistant coach in 2002-03 and head coach from 2003-10; and Director of Broadcasting Jason Shaya, who was broadcaster for the Checkers from 2007-10.

Ten of the 26 players on the runner-up Chicago Wolves had ECHL experience with Josh Atkinson (Atlanta, 2015-18 and Allen, 2018-19); Oscar Dansk (Kalamazoo, 2014-15); Alex Gallant (Orlando, 2014-15 and Utah, 2014-16); Keegan Kolesar (Quad City, 2017-18); Maxime Lagace (Missouri, 2014-15; Bakersfield, 2014-15 and Idaho, 2015-16); Zac Leslie (Manchester, 2015-16); Kevin Lough (Adirondack, 2015-18); Gage Quinney (Wheeling, 2016-17), Matthew Weis (Fort Wayne, 2018-19) and Tyler Wong (Quad City, 2017-18).

The Fort Wayne Komets served as the ECHL affiliate for Chicago during the 2018-19 season.

During the 2018-19 season, 354 ECHL players were recalled to the American Hockey League for a total of 627 recalls. The Maine Mariners led the ECHL with 25 players recalled.

Nine times in the last 19 years the winner of the AHL Coach of the Year award has been a former ECHL coach including former Roanoke Valley Rebels’ and Richmond Renegades’ head coach Roy Sommer, who won the award in 2016-17 and former Trenton Devils’ coach Rick Kowalsky, a 2017 inductee into the ECHL Hall of Fame, who won the award in 2015-16. Former ECHL coaches Scott Gordon and Mike Haviland won the award in back-to-back years in 2006 and 2007. 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.

For the 12th season in a row at least six former ECHL players were named CCM/AHL Player of the Week with former Kalamazoo Wings’ goaltender Jordan Binnington, former Idaho Steelheads’ forward Sam Carrick, former Kalamazoo Wings’ goaltender Oscar Dansk, former Adirondack Thunder and Orlando Solar Bears’ goaltender Connor Ingram, former South Carolina Stingrays’ goaltender Vitek Vanecek and former Missouri Mavericks’ forward Carter Verhaeghe.

There were nine former ECHL players who participated in the 2019 AHL All-Star Classic.

Nine of the 30 head coaches in the American Hockey League during the 2018-19 season previously served as coaches in the ECHL with Belleville’s Troy Mann, Bridgeport’s Brent Thompson, Grand Rapids’ Ben Simon, Hartford’s Keith McCambridge, Hershey’s Spencer Carbery, Milwaukee’s Karl Taylor, San Jose’s Roy Sommer, Texas’ Derek Laxdal and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Clark Donatelli.

Former ECHL broadcasters working in the American Hockey League during the 2018-19 season included Ryan Holt of the Bakersfield Condors, Alan Fuehring of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Jason Shaya of the Charlotte Checkers, Jason Shaver of the Chicago Wolves, Tony Brown of the Cleveland Monsters, Zack Fisch of the Hershey Bears, Joe O’Donnell of the Iowa Wild, Bob Rotruck of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Cameron Close of the Ontario Reign, Joseph Zakrzewski of the Rockford IceHogs, Brian McCormack of the San Antonio Rampage, Andy Zilch of the San Diego Gulls, Lukas Favale of the Syracuse Crunch, Brian Tosti of the Texas Stars, Adrian Denny of the Tucson Roadrunners and Joe Roberts of the Utica Comets.

Forty-three of the 63 referees who worked in the American Hockey League in 2018-19, including four of the 10 referees contracted to the NHL, came from the ECHL. One hundred seven of the 185 linesmen in the AHL have worked games in the ECHL, including two of the four linesmen contracted to the NHL.

About the ECHL

Began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 27 teams in 21 states and one Canadian province for its 31st season in 2018-19. There have been 661 players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after starting their careers in the ECHL, including 19 who made their NHL debuts in the 2018-19 season. The ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 31 NHL teams in 2018-19, marking the 22nd consecutive season that the league had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available at ECHL.com as well as on Twitter and Facebook .