League's 36th season opens on Thursday, Oct. 19
The ECHL announced on Thursday that the 2023-24 season will open on Thursday, Oct. 19 when the Orlando Solar Bears host the Florida Everblades. Opening Weekend continues with seven games on Friday, Oct. 20 and 14 games on Saturday, Oct. 21 before concluding with three games on Sunday, Oct. 22.
Download the 2023-24 ECHL Schedule
Formed in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league that will have 28 teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces playing 1,008 games from Oct. 19, 2023 to April 14, 2024.Friday, Oct. 20 features Idaho hosting Allen, Indy entertaining Fort Wayne, Iowa welcoming Rapid City, Newfoundland taking on Reading, Savannah hosting Norfolk, Trois-Rivières hosting Maine and Wichita entertaining Kansas City. Eleven teams open their home schedule on Saturday, Oct. 21 as Atlanta takes on Savannah, Cincinnati welcomes Wheeling, Fort Wayne hosts Indy, Greenville entertains Norfolk, Jacksonville takes on Florida, Kalamazoo welcomes Toledo, Kansas City hosts Wichita, Maine entertains Trois-Rivières, South Carolina takes on Orlando, Utah welcomes Tulsa and Worcester hosts Adirondack. Norfolk opens the home portion of its schedule on Wednesday, Oct. 25 against Worcester while Rapid City plays its first home game on Friday, Oct. 27 against Kansas City. There are five home openers slated for Saturday, Oct. 28 as Adirondack welcomes Maine, Allen entertains Atlanta, Florida hosts Jacksonville, Reading takes on Trois-Rivières and Tulsa welcomes Cincinnati. The third weekend of the season sees the final two home openers with Toledo hosting Reading on Friday, Nov. 3 and Wheeling taking on the Royals on Saturday, Nov. 4. About the ECHL Formed in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 28 teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces for its 35th season in 2022-23. There have been 740 players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after playing in the ECHL, including 13 who made their NHL debut in the 2022-23 season. The ECHL has affiliations with 28 of the 32 NHL teams in 2022-23, marking the 26th consecutive season that the league has affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com as well as on Twitter and Facebook.