The ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL).
The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which operated the league from 2000 to 2013, at which point it was purchased by the individual franchise owners. As of the end of its final season in 2014, three of the 30 National Hockey League teams had affiliations with the CHL: the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the United States and Canada. The league was headquartered in Rochester, Michigan, and, in its last year, consisted of seven teams. It folded in 2010, with most of its teams joining the Central Hockey League. The Central Hockey League teams still operating in 2014 were then added to ECHL. The only former CoHL/UHL/IHL teams still active as of 2020 are the Fort Wayne Komets and Kalamazoo Wings.
The West Coast Hockey League was a professional minor ice hockey league active in the western United States from 1995 to 2003. The number of teams ranged from six to nine. The teams were located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Washington.
The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indiana in the midwestern United States.
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.
Dwayne Zinger is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played briefly in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Washington Capitals.
Edward Emmett Courtenay is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger and head coach.
Michael Henrich is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. An NHL first-round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 1998, Henrich played several years of professional hockey in North America before moving to professional hockey in Europe. Henrich is the first Jewish player to be selected in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft, and the only player taken in the first round of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft who did not play a regular season game in the National Hockey League.
The 2007–08 ECHL season was the 20th season of the ECHL.
Richard Norman Adduono is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and retired professional ice hockey player in the World Hockey Association and National Hockey League.
Cory Pecker is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey right winger. He was drafted in the sixth round, 166th overall, by the Calgary Flames in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft.
Jonathan Weaver is a British professional ice hockey defenceman for the Telford Tigers of the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL). Weaver also played for the Great Britain men's national ice hockey team.
Brent Bobyck is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey left winger. He was selected 78th overall in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens. Although he never played in the National Hockey League, he has played fourteen professional seasons for various teams in North America and the United Kingdom. He has also played for both the Canadian and the Great Britain national ice hockey teams.
Kent Andrew Simpson is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger and current broadcaster, who most recently played for Rødovre Mighty Bulls in the Danish Oddset Ligaen. Simpson currently serves as a hockey commentator for BBC during Winter Olympic ice hockey coverage.
Mark Bultje is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player.
Nick Vitucci is a former professional ice hockey goaltender. He was the head coach of the ECHL's Toledo Walleye from 2009 to 2014. In 2008, Vitucci was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame.
The United States ice hockey structure includes elements from traditional American scholastic high school and college athletics, affiliated and independent minor leagues, the unique "major junior" leagues, as well as other various amateur junior and youth hockey leagues. The hierarchy of the ice hockey league system forms a pyramid with many regional minor and development leagues making up the base of the pyramid and a linear progression through the professional minor leagues leading to the National Hockey League at the top of the pyramid.
Andrew Penner is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who last played for the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL.
Chris Blight is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who currently plays for the Dundee Stars of Elite Ice Hockey League.
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