1996–97 ECHL Season
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1996–97 ECHL Season
The 1996–97 ECHL season was the ninth season of the ECHL. Before the start of the season, two franchises relocated, one was renamed, and two expansion franchises were founded. Founding member Erie Panthers moved to Baton Rouge, LA and the Nashville Knights moved to Pensacola, FL, the Wheeling Thunderbirds changed their name to the Wheeling Nailers following a lawsuit with WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds, and the ECHL welcomed franchises in Peoria, IL and Biloxi, MS. In 1996, the ECHL Board of Governors decided to retire the Jack Riley Cup and create a new trophy, the Patrick J. Kelly Cup, named after founding father and former ECHL commissioner, Patrick J. Kelly. The league also created a new individual award, the Sportsmanship Award, to be awarded to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability as voted by the coaches of each of the ECHL teams. The South Carolina Stingrays finished ...
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Season (sports)
In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of September. In other team sports, like association football or basketball, it is generally from August or September to May although in some countries - such as Northern Europe or East Asia - the season starts in the spring and finishes in autumn, mainly due to weather conditions encountered during the winter. A year can often be broken up into several distinct sections (sometimes themselves called seasons). These are: a preseason, a series of exhibition games played for training purposes; a regular season, the main period of the league's competition; the postseason, a playoff tournament played against the league's top teams to determine the league's champion; and the offseason, the time when there is no official competition. Preseason In ...
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Louisiana IceGators (ECHL)
The Louisiana IceGators were an ECHL team based in Lafayette, Louisiana, from 1995 until the end of the 2004–05 season. The team played its home games at the Cajundome and were last an affiliate of the NHL Minnesota Wild and the AHL Houston Aeros. History The team holds the top four regular-season average attendance numbers in ECHL history: 11,433 in 1996-97, 11,196 in 1997-98, 9,857 in 1998-99 and 9,776 in 1995-96. The IceGators also hosted the eighth-largest and nine of the 10 largest postseason crowds in ECHL history, including four capacity crowds of 11,800 in 1997. The team won division titles in eight of its ten seasons. The team never won an ECHL championship, and toward the end of its existence attendance dropped. The 2004–05 season was plagued with team financial issues; drops in attendance led the Cajundome to no longer allow seating in the 300 level seats. The final game only had an attendance of only 4,228. In January 2006, Cajundome officials announced that n ...
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Tallahassee Tiger Sharks
The Tallahassee Tiger Sharks were a minor league professional ice hockey team that played in Tallahassee, Florida, from 1994 to 2001 as members of the East Coast Hockey League. The Tiger Sharks home rink was the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center. While in Tallahassee, the franchise was affiliated with the NHL's New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, and Montreal Canadiens. Since the loss of the Tiger Sharks franchise, several attempts have been made by local residents to bring ice hockey back to Tallahassee. Thus far, none of these efforts have been successful. Franchise history The franchise started in 1981 as the Nashville South Stars in Nashville, Tennessee, in the Central Hockey League. Henry Brabham then took over the team in 1983 and relocated it mid-season to Vinton, Virginia, to become the Virginia Lancers. Brabham and the Lancers were then one of the founding members of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) in 1988. The franchise remained in Vinton until 1993 when it relo ...
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Johnstown Chiefs
The Johnstown Chiefs were a minor league ice hockey team located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, that played in the ECHL. The team was founded in 1987 in the All-American Hockey League, and moved to the East Coast Hockey League (now "ECHL") when that league was formed. The Chiefs lasted for 22 years in Johnstown, and was the last of the founding ECHL teams playing under its original name and in its original city. The Chiefs relocated to Greenville, South Carolina, following the completion of the 2010 season. Franchise history The owners originally wanted to name the team the Jets in honor of a team that had played in Johnstown from 1950 to 1977, mostly in the Eastern Hockey League. However, the old Jets' former owners still held the trademark for the name and refused to allow the new team to use it. A contest was held by the owners, allowing the people of Johnstown to vote for the new team name. The cult hockey movie '' Slap Shot'' had been filmed in Johnstown, and featured a min ...
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Louisville RiverFrogs
The Louisville RiverFrogs were a professional ice hockey team competing in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), which was a mid-level professional American hockey league with teams from all over the United States as well as one franchise from Canada. The team was based in Louisville, Kentucky and played from 1995 to 1998. Their home venue was Broadbent Arena (nicknamed "The Swamp" for their duration; capacity 6,600) at the Kentucky Exposition Center. At the conclusion of the 1997–1998 season, the franchise was sold and moved to Florida to become the Miami Matadors for a year before moving to Ohio as the Cincinnati Cyclones in 2001. The Cyclones are still currently playing in the ECHL. They started out playing their games in Cincinnati Gardens, but they now play at the Heritage Bank Center. The Cyclones are also the minor league affiliate to the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL), as well as the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team' ...
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Huntington Blizzard
Huntington may refer to: Places Canada * Huntington, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Huntington, New Zealand a suburb in Hamilton, New Zealand United Kingdom * Huntington, Cheshire, England * Huntington, East Lothian, Scotland * Huntington, Herefordshire, England * Huntington, North Yorkshire, England * Huntington, Shropshire, England * Huntington, Staffordshire, England United States * Huntington, Arkansas * Huntington, Connecticut * Huntington, Marion County, Florida * Huntington, Putnam County, Florida * Huntington, Georgia (other), four places * Huntington County, Indiana * Huntington, Indiana, seat of Huntington County, Indiana * Huntington, Iowa * Huntington, Maryland (other), two places * Huntington, Massachusetts, a New England town ** Huntington (CDP), Massachusetts, the main village in the town * Huntington, Missouri * Huntington, Nevada, ghost town * Huntington, New York, the most populous settlement named Huntington ** Huntington (CDP), New Yo ...
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Toledo Storm
The Toledo Storm were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the ECHL from 1991 to 2007. The Storm played their home games at the venerable Toledo Sports Arena along the eastern banks of the Maumee River in Toledo, Ohio. The team colors were red and white, similar to the Detroit Red Wings, their NHL affiliate for fourteen of their sixteen seasons. The Storm would win six division titles, two Henry Brabham Cups and two Jack Riley Cups as champion of the East Coast Hockey League. The franchise suspended operations following the 2006–07 season after they were sold to Toledo Arena Sports, Inc. The Storm returned to the ECHL for the 2009–10 season as the Toledo Walleye. The Storm's logo was notorious for poor appearance, and was voted "Worst Logo" in ''The Hockey News'' annual survey of minor league hockey logos several times. History McSorley era (1991–94) The Toledo Storm were founded in 1991, joining the East Coast Hockey League for the 1991& ...
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Dayton Bombers
The Dayton Bombers were an ECHL ice hockey team located in Dayton, Ohio. The team most recently was in the North Division of the ECHL's American Conference. The Bombers originally played at Hara Arena from 1991 to 1996. The team moved to the Ervin J. Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio, in 1996. On March 30, 2009, it was announced that the Bombers would not be playing during the 2009–10 season. Despite the arrival of the International Hockey League's Dayton Gems, the Bombers had not folded nor planned to relocate at that time, and continued to aim towards securing additional investors and season ticket holders to play in Dayton again for 2010–11. However, on June 25 of that year, the Bombers' owner turned the team's membership back to the ECHL, citing lack of a suitable business partner or re-entry plan. Season records ''Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals again ...
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Columbus Chill
The Columbus Chill were a professional ice hockey team that played in the East Coast Hockey League from October 1991 through the 1998–99 season. They played at the Ohio Expo Center Coliseum in Columbus, Ohio. The Chill left Columbus in 1999 and relocated to Reading, Pennsylvania, with the impending arrival of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the National Hockey League. The Columbus Chill are now known as the Reading Royals. History The Chill The Columbus Chill started as an expansion team in the East Coast Hockey League (now ECHL) in 1991. The Chill followed a previous minor league hockey franchise in the International Hockey League (IHL) that had transferred ownership twice and operated under three different names in Ohio's capital city: the Columbus Checkers (1966–70), Columbus Golden Seals (1971–73), and Columbus Owls (1973–77). Chicago businessman and sports entrepreneur Horn Chen, purchased the rights to an expansion franchise in the early 1991, with the intent of placi ...
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Knoxville Cherokees
The Knoxville Cherokees were an East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) team based in Knoxville, Tennessee. History The franchise was formed in 1988 along with the ECHL. The team moved to Florence, South Carolina in 1997 and was renamed the Pee Dee Pride. :Market previously served by: Knoxville Knights of the EHL (1961-68) :Franchise replaced by: Knoxville Speed of the UHL (1999-02) Season-by-Season record Note: ''GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses/Shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes'' Playoffs *1988–89: Lost to Johnstown 4-0 in semifinals. *1989–90: Did not qualify. *1990–91: Lost to Louisville 3-1 in quarterfinals. *1991–92: Did not qualify. *1992–93: Did not qualify. *1993–94: Lost to Louisville 3-1 in first round. *1994–95: Lost to Roanoke 3-1 in first round. *1995–96: Defeated Nashville 3-2 in first round; lost to Toledo 3-0 in quarterfinals. Team records :Goals: ...
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Charlotte Checkers (ECHL)
The Charlotte Checkers are a minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the top minor league affiliate of the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Checkers play their home games at Bojangles' Coliseum. The current organization is the third team by this name; it succeeded a Checkers franchise that played in the ECHL from 1993 until the end of the 2009–10 ECHL season. The original Checkers team played in the city from 1956 to 1977, originally in the Eastern Hockey League and then in the Southern Hockey League. The franchise is one of six teams to replace and share a name with a predecessor franchise from a lower-tier league; the others are the Bakersfield Condors, Colorado Eagles, Ontario Reign, Rockford IceHogs, and San Diego Gulls. History The franchise was originally based in Troy, New York, as the Capital D ...
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