The East Coast Hockey League ECHL has a long and not so famous history. It is a tier 2 minor hockey league usually rated under the American Hockey League. The league started on the east coast of the United States but has expanded into the western U.S. and Alaska. Yet they keep the same name. Well actually only the abbreviation has stuck around. We are not supposed to call it the East Coast Hockey League, just the ECHL.
There are teams in Stockton, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. The Atlantic coast is a long way from those towns. But tradition reigns. And the league won’t change its name to the Continental Hockey League or the Over The Horizon Hockey League. It is stuck with the East Coast moniker.
The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey with teams scattered across the United States. It is generally regarded as a tier below the American Hockey League.
The ECHL, along with the AHL, are the only minor leagues recognized by the collective bargaining agreement between the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association, meaning any player signed to an entry-level NHL contract and designated for assignment must report to a club either in the AHL or the ECHL. Additionally, the league’s players are represented by the Professional Hockey Players’ Association in negotiations with the ECHL itself.
“Florida Everblades” gotta love it.
