ECHL 15th Anniversary 2002-2003 Preview - MLN Sports Zone

Ready To Rumble
ECHL’s 15th Anniversary Season Set To Open

The East Coast Hockey League opens its 15th Anniversary Season on Friday, October 11, 2002, with 11 games on the schedule, including Charlotte hosting Kelly Cup Champion Greenville and Dayton hosting Johnstown in a rematch of the 2002 Kelly Cup Playoffs Northwest Division Finals.

The league's newest member Lexington plays its first ECHL game in the 7,500-seat Rupp Arena, hosting Greensboro on Friday.

Highlighting the 12-game schedule on Saturday will be a match-up of the last two Kelly Cup Champions when 2002 Champion Greenville hosts 2001 Champion South Carolina. Prior to the game, the Grrrowl will raise the 2002 Kelly Cup Championship banner in the BI-LO Center.

There are six games scheduled for Sunday, including Jackson traveling to Mississippi for a rematch of the Kelly Cup Southwest Division Finals.

The 972-game schedule will conclude March 30 and will be followed by the 2003 Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Greenville begins their title defense

The Greenville Grrrowl won their first-ever East Coast Hockey League Championship with a four-game sweep of Dayton in the 2002 Kelly Cup Finals.

Making its first finals appearance, the Grrrowl became only the third team in history to record a sweep in the ECHL Finals, joining Charlotte and Hampton Roads.

Greenville's John Marks became the first coach in history to lead two different teams to the ECHL Championship, having led Charlotte to the 1996 title.

It was the fifth ECHL title for Grrrowl assistant coach Nick Vitucci, who was twice named the postseason MVP (1989 and 1996) in 13 seasons as an ECHL player.

Greenville’s Simon Gamache and Tyrone Garner shared the Most Valuable Player honors for the 2002 Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Gamache led the playoffs with 15 goals, six power-play goals and 24 points.

Garner was 4-0 with a 1.75 goals against average and a .945 save percentage in the Kelly Cup Finals, and led the postseason with 12 wins and 417 saves.

Brophy and Marks at the head of the 2002-03 coaching class

The East Coast Hockey League welcomes back its two most sucessful coaches as John Brophy returns for his second season in Wheeling and John Marks returns for his fifth season in Greenville.

Brophy, who coached now-defunct Hampton Roads for 11 seasons, is the all-time ECHL leader in games coached (810), wins (452) and championships (3).

Marks ranks second in wins (340), and is tied for second in championships (2).
Brophy and Marks are the only coaches in ECHL history to win both the Riley Cup, the original ECHL Championship trophy retired following the 1996 season, and the Kelly Cup.

Brophy won back-to-back Riley Cup titles with Hampton Roads in 1991 and 1992 and won the Kelly Cup in 1998 with Hampton Roads.

Marks, who is the only coach in ECHL history to win titles with two different teams, won the 1996 Riley Cup with Charlotte and the 2002 Kelly Cup with Greenville.

Many coaches playing musical chairs

Rick Adduono is the new head coach in Greensboro after four seasons in South Carolina. Adduono advanced to the postseason all four years with the Stingrays, including winning the 2001 Kelly Cup.

Cam Brown, who retired after 10 seasons as a player in the ECHL, is the new head coach of Baton Rouge.

Malcolm Cameron is the new head coach of Cincinnati after spending the 2001-02 season as an assistant coach with Columbia.

Toby O'Brien replaces Scott Allen, who became an assistant coach with San Antonio in the American Hockey League, behind the bench in Johnstown. O'Brien, who was the first goaltender in Chiefs' history, had been general manager of Johnstown for the past six seasons.

Jim Wiley is the head coach of Lexington, who relocated from Macon following last season. Wiley has spent the last 11 seasons with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks including two seasons as coach of the Sharks’ AHL affiliate in Lexington.
David Lohrei, who coached Baton Rouge the past two years, replaces Al Sims in Reading.

Gord Dineen, who coached Macon in 2001-02, replaces Mark Kauffman behind the bench for Richmond.

Jason Fitzsimmons was named the third head coach of South Carolina after four seasons as an assistant coach. Fitzsimmons spent three seasons as a goaltender for the Stingrays and in 1996-97 helped South Carolina become the only team in ECHL history to win both the regular season and postseason, earning Most Valuable Player honors in the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Bill Armstrong is the fourth coach in Trenton Titans history replacing Peter Horachek. Armstrong coached Providence in the AHL for the past four seasons helping the Bruins win the Calder Cup in 1999.

Claude Noel is the new head coach for the Toledo Storm replacing Dennis Holland. Noel has amassed an ECHL coaching record of 92-81-19 with Roanoke Valley in 1990-91 and Dayton in 1991-93.

The following teams had record setting performances from 2001-02:

Louisiana set ECHL records for most points (116), highest winning percentage (.806), most wins (56), most home wins (30), most road wins (26), fewest home losses (2), most shutouts (10), fewest goals against (156), and lowest goals against average (2.17).

Louisiana tied the ECHL record with a 14-game winning streak from Nov. 23-Dec. 22.

Mobile set the ECHL record for most ties with 18.

Arkansas tied the ECHL record for fewest overtime/shootout losses with four.

Reading set the ECHL records for fewest goals scored (182) and lowest goals-per-game average (2.53).

Trenton won its first eight games of the season tying the ECHL record set by Dayton in 1994.

Greensboro set the ECHL record for fewest home wins with nine.

Dayton qualified for the postseason for the 11th consecutive season tying the ECHL record held by Hampton Roads.

The following players had record setting performances from 2001-02:

Louisiana's Frederic Cloutier set the ECHL record for lowest goals against average (1.84) and highest save percentage (.945) and tied the ECHL record for most shutouts (7).

Johnstown's Frederic Deschenes won 25 games, marking the fourth consecutive season he won 20 or more games, tying the ECHL record for consecutive 20-win seasons by a goaltender.

Rod Taylor, who played for Richmond and Roanoke, played in his 600th career game breaking Bob Woods' ECHL record of 599 games. Taylor, who has 643 career games, is the all-time leader with 360 goals and ranks second with 670 points.

Mobile's Greg Hewitt set the ECHL record for most ties by a goaltender with 15.

Jackson won 5-4 at 15:19 of the third overtime on April 5 at Louisiana, ending the second-longest game in ECHL history at 115:19. The following records were set, in what many felt, was the ECHL game of the year:

Louisiana set an ECHL playoff record with 82 shots on goal.

Louisiana (82) and Jackson (57) combined for an ECHL playoff record 139 shots.

Jackson's Andrew Allen set an ECHL playoff record tallying 78 saves.

There have been 192 former ECHL players that have advanced to the National Hockey League along with coaches, on-ice officials and front office personnel.

In 2001-02 there were 83 ECHL alumni that played in the NHL, including 18 that made their NHL debut. A total of 24 teams in the NHL will develop players with ECHL affiliates in 2002-03.

The 2002-03 ECHL Teams:

Northeast Division
Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies
Charlotte Checkers
Greensboro Generals
Reading Royals
Richmond Renegades
Roanoke Express
Trenton Titans

Northwest Division
Cincinnati Cyclones
Dayton Bombers
Johnstown Chiefs
Lexington Men O’ War
Peoria Rivermen
Toledo Storm
Wheeling Nailers

Southeast Division
Augusta Lynx
Columbia Inferno
Columbus Cottonmouths
Florida Everblades
Greenville Grrrowl
Pee Dee Pride
South Carolina Stingrays

Southwest Division
Arkansas RiverBlades
Baton Rouge Kingfish
Jackson Bandits
Louisiana IceGators
Mississippi Sea Wolves
Pensacola Ice Pilots