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1997–98 ECHL Season
The 1997–98 ECHL season was the tenth season of the ECHL. Before the start of the season, the league saw the Knoxville Cherokees move to Florence, SC and welcomed expansion teams in New Orleans, LA and Upper Marlboro, MD. The Louisiana IceGators finished the regular season first overall and the Hampton Roads Admirals won their record setting third overall ECHL championship (1st Kelly Cup), defeating the Pensacola Ice Pilots 4 games to 2. League realignment With the league expanding to 25 teams, the Board of Governors decided to divide the league into two conference (Northern and Southern), with two divisions each. With the realignment the Board of Governors also created two new trophies, one each for the playoff champion of each conference. Northern Conference Northeast Division |
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's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Nilan
Christopher John Nilan (born February 9, 1958) is an American former professional ice hockey player and former radio host. Nilan played 688 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season games as a right-wing for the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Boston Bruins between 1980 and 1992. He won the Stanley Cup in 1986 with Montreal. Known as "Knuckles" or "Knux", he was famous for his propensity to fight. He holds a record for most penalty minutes by an American-born player. Nilan's life and career are prominently featured in Alex Gibney's 2011 documentary film ''The Last Gladiators''. Playing career Nilan grew up in Massachusetts where he idolized Bobby Orr and dreamed of playing for the Boston Bruins. He played his youth hockey with the Parkway (West Roxbury, Massachusetts) team of the Greater Boston Youth Hockey League (GBYHL), sponsored by the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC). He later played college hockey for the Northeastern University Huskies, from 1976 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brabham Cup
The Henry Brabham Cup is the trophy awarded annually by the ECHL to the team that finishes with the most points in the league during the regular season. The Brabham Cup has been awarded 34 times to 16 different franchises since its debut in 1989. History Unlike the playoff championship, which was originally awarded with the Riley Cup and now the Kelly Cup, the trophy was introduced during the league's inaugural season in 1988 by the league's board of governors and was named after in recognition of Henry Brabham, who co-founded the ECHL in 1988–89 with five teams in four states. Brabham, who was the first inductee into the ECHL Hall of Fame in 2008, owned three of the original five teams. The Virginia businessman was crucial to the league surviving its earliest seasons. Only five Brabham Cup winners have gone on to win the ECHL Kelly Cup playoff championship, with the Alaska Aces doing so three times, despite the guaranteed home-ice advantage in all rounds of the playoffs. N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mobile Mysticks
The Mobile Mysticks were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Mobile, Alabama that played in the ECHL. They played their home games at the Mobile Civic Center. The team was founded in 1995 as an expansion franchise, joining the ECHL alongside the Louisville RiverFrogs and the Louisiana IceGators. The Mysticks owed their name to the prevalence of mystic societies—social organizations responsible for throwing parades and balls during the Carnival season—that existed in Mobile since the early 18th century. The Mysticks qualified for the Kelly Cup playoffs for five out of their seven seasons, but never advanced past the second round. In 2002, the franchise suspended operations and moved to Duluth, Georgia for the 2003–04 season. Originally the Gwinnett Gladiators, the team changed its name to the Atlanta Gladiators in 2015. Franchise history The Mobile Mysticks began play in the ECHL as an expansion franchise for the 1995–96 season unde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mississippi Sea Wolves
The Mississippi Sea Wolves were a professional hockey team based in Biloxi, Mississippi, and played in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The Sea Wolves were members of the ECHL. The Sea Wolves were founded in 1996 and had considerable success over their 10 seasons in the ECHL. They reached the playoffs in five of their first seven years and a league championship in 1999, when they defeated the Richmond Renegades in a best-of-seven series to claim the Kelly Cup. Damages from Hurricane Katrina to the Mississippi Coast Coliseum forced the team to suspend operations for the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons under the ECHL's hardship provisions. Hurricane Katrina resulted in extensive damage to the team’s home arena, including flood damage to team offices, locker rooms, ice-making equipment, and two Zambonis. During the 2006–07 ECHL All-Star Game, the league officially confirmed the Sea Wolves would return in 2007–08. On March 30, 2009, the Sea Wolves announced that the organizat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birmingham Bulls (ECHL)
The Birmingham Bulls were a minor professional ice hockey team in the East Coast Hockey League from 1992 to 2001. Their home arena was the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center. The team moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey and was renamed the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies in 2001. After the 2005 season, the franchise was sold to a California investor group and became the Stockton Thunder, affiliated with the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL. On February 20, 2017, former Bulls' owner Art Clarkson was approved by the Pelham City Council to bring another Bulls team back to play in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) for the 2017–18 season and were approved by the SPHL on April 25, 2017. History In the early part of 1991, Art Clarkson flirted with the idea of bringing professional hockey back to Birmingham. Clarkson, who owned the Birmingham Barons, knew of the popularity of the Bulls from the World Hockey Association days. In the summer of 1992, the first Cincinnati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baton Rouge Kingfish
The Baton Rouge Kingfish were a minor professional ice hockey team in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as a member of the East Coast Hockey League. The franchise arrived in Baton Rouge in 1996 after relocating from Erie, Pennsylvania, where they had played as the Erie Panthers since 1988 as one of the ECHL's charter teams. After a team-naming contest, they were renamed the Kingfish in honor of legendary Louisiana governor and U.S. Senator Huey P. Long who shared the nickname. They played as the Baton Rouge Kingfish from 1996 to 2003 before moving to Victoria, British Columbia, as the Victoria Salmon Kings. They played their home games at the Riverside Centroplex (since renamed Raising Cane's River Center) and maintained a parent club affiliation with the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League. Former coaches included Pierre McGuire, currently a commentator for NHL on NBC, Dave Schultz, the NHL's all-time record holder for penalty minutes in a single season (472), and Cam Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Carolina Stingrays
The South Carolina Stingrays are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in North Charleston, South Carolina. The Stingrays play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Carolina Ice Palace, also located in North Charleston, serves as a practice facility and backup arena. Established in 1993, the team has been owned by a group of local businesses since 1995. The team was affiliated with the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League and the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League from 2004 to July 2012, when the Capitals announced their affiliation with the ECHL's Reading Royals. On June 26, 2014, the Washington Capitals announced an affiliation agreement with the Stingrays for the 2014–15 season. The Stingrays are the first professional ice hockey team in South Carolina. With the relocation of the Johnstown Chiefs to Greenville Road Warriors, Greenville, South Carolina in 2010� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raleigh Icecaps
The Raleigh IceCaps were a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1991 and playing at Dorton Arena, located at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds, the IceCaps were members of the ECHL. The club was forced to move to Augusta, Georgia as the Augusta Lynx after the 1997–98 season due to the arrival of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Con ..., who had begun play in Greensboro in 1997–98 in anticipation of the 1999–2000 completion of the Entertainment and Sports Arena and a shift to Raleigh. References Defunct ECHL teams Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States Defunct ice hockey teams in North Carolina Ice hockey clubs established in 1991 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1998 T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacksonville Lizard Kings
The Jacksonville Lizard Kings were a professional ice hockey team based in Jacksonville, Florida. Formerly known as the Louisville Icehawks, they played in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) from 1995–2000. They played their home games in the Jacksonville Coliseum. History The Lizard Kings began play in the East Coast Hockey League as the Louisville Icehawks, based in Louisville, Kentucky. They played in Louisville from 1990 until 1994, but suspended operations after the 1993–94 season, and the organization decided to relocate to Jacksonville, Florida. The team, now rebranded as the Jacksonville Lizard Kings, promoted themselves in their new city with a substantial marketing campaign, including television ads featuring a goalie catching a puck with a lizard tongue. They faced some competition from another local hockey team, the Jacksonville Bullets, but were able to secure a lease to the Jacksonville Coliseum, and became Jacksonville's only professional hockey team whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
