Home
News
ECHL's 30th season is underway

ECHL's 30th season is underway

Monday, October 16th

The ECHL’s 30th season began last week, and five teams escaped the opening weekend with 2-0-0 records.

The Wheeling Nailers picked up a pair of road wins at Greenville, scoring 12 goals in the process, including a 7-6 overtime win on Saturday. Hunter Fejes scored four goals in the win on Saturday while Garrett Meurs tallied six points (4g-2a) over the two games. Fejes and Meurs share the league lead in goals after the opening weekend.

The defending South Division champion Florida Everblades opened defense of their division title with a pair of wins on home ice over Atlanta. Seven different Everblades teamed up to score the team’s seven goals over the weekend while Clark Seymour notched four assists and is tied for first among ECHL defensemen with four points.

Three Mountain Division teams also opened the season with a pair of wins. The defending Kelly Cup champion Colorado Eagles recorded a pair of wins over Utah, winning 3-2 on home ice on Friday before notching a 2-1 win at Utah on Saturday. Michael Joly scored a pair of goals in Friday’s win and Brady Shaw is tied for second in the league among rookies with three points (1g-2a).

Allen’s offense got off to a quick start, picking up a pair of wins at Rapid City while outscoring the Rush 13-6. Olivier Archambault leads the league with seven points (3g-4a) while Zach Pochiro (3g-2a) and Casey Pierro-Zabotel (1g-4a) are tied for third with five points.

Wichita also started 2-0-0, sweeping a pair of home games against Indy. Matt DeBlouw scored a pair of goals in the two games and is tied for the team lead in scoring with Kyle Platzer (1g-2a) with three points each.

The ECHL’s two newest teams also opened their home schedules last weekend. The Worcester Railers welcomed over 12,000 fans to DCU Center for their 4-3 season-opening win over Manchester. Patrick McNally had a goal and an assist for the Railers while Eamon McAdam stopped 30 shots to record the win in goal.

Meanwhile in Jacksonville, the Icemen dropped a 5-4 decision to Orlando in front of 8,956 fans at Veteran’s Memorial Arena. Rookie Alexander Goulet led the way for Jacksonville with three points (2g-1a) while Jamie Phillips turned aside 41 shots.

The ECHL averaged 5,857 fans per game during the 21 games of opening weekend, marking the largest opening weekend in the league since 2013-14 when an average of 6,433 fans attended 17 games. In addition to the 12,135 fans in Worcester, the Tulsa Oilers welcomed 12,845 fans for their opener on Friday against Kansas City while Fort Wayne had 10,089 fans on Saturday against Toledo.