ECHL

The ECHL is a professional hockey minor league based in the United States and Canada, generally regarded as being a tier below the American Hockey League.

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The league, which combined teams from the defunct Atlantic Coast Hockey League and All-American Hockey League, began play as the East Coast Hockey League in 1988 with 5 teams, the Carolina Thunderbirds (now the Wheeling Nailers), the Erie Panthers (now the Victoria Salmon Kings), the Johnstown Chiefs, the Knoxville Cherokees (the franchise, as the Pee Dee Pride, is currently suspended, becoming the Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz in 2006-07), and the Virginia Lancers (the team is currently defunct, last playing as the Lexington Men O' War in 2003).

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Since that time, the League has met with great success, reaching its largest size in 2003 of 31 teams before being reduced to 28 teams for the 2004 season. In September 2002, the West Coast Hockey League ceased operations, and the ECHL Board of Governors approved membership applications from the Anchorage (now Alaska) Aces, the Bakersfield Condors, the Fresno Falcons, the Idaho Steelheads, the Las Vegas Wranglers, the Long Beach Ice Dogs and the San Diego Gulls as well as from teams in Ontario, California and Reno, Nevada. Alaska, Bakersfield, Fresno, Idaho, Las Vegas, Long Beach and San Diego began play in 2003-04 as expansion teams in the league. The teams from the defunct WCHL, along with Las Vegas, joined as expansion teams for the ECHL?s 16th season in 2003-04. In a change reflective of the nationwide presence of the ECHL, the East Coast Hockey League changed its name to simply ECHL on May 19, 2003.

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Hockey: Hockey is any of a family of sports in which two teams compete by trying to maneuver a hard, round ball or a puck into the opponent's goal, past the goalkeeper or goaltender (often abbreviated goalie), using a stick....

United States: :For other uses, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation)....

American Hockey League: The American Hockey League (AHL) is regarded as the top professional hockey league outside the National Hockey League (NHL). It serves as a developmental league for the NHL, and all of its 27 teams have affiliation agreements with NHL clubs....