Expensive ECHL Followers,
Welcome to the 2025-26 Season as we mark the thirty eighth 12 months of ECHL Hockey. This 12 months we glance to proceed to construct on our storied historical past and heritage that has made the ECHL the developmental league to the Nationwide Hockey League and American Hockey League, with over 760 gamers having graduated to the NHL, and bringing inexpensive leisure to hundreds of thousands of followers in our markets.
Final season, the ECHL welcomed a median of 4,984 followers per recreation, marking the League’s highest per-game common in 27 years. Moreover, between the common season and Kelly Cup Playoffs, an all-time report of 5,590,459 followers attended ECHL video games, marking the third consecutive season a brand new report has been established!
We proceed to delight ourselves on providing inexpensive leisure to the communities we serve, welcoming sport followers, households, companies, and teams of all sizes to get pleasure from an outing collectively and take within the thrilling ECHL motion and ambiance for a mixed first-class expertise.
The ECHL would additionally prefer to congratulate the Trois-Rivières Lions, who captured their first-ever Kelly Cup title in 2025, defeating the Toledo Walleye in 5 video games within the Kelly Cup Finals. The Finals featured standing-room solely crowds and the vitality and the ambiance in each buildings was completely electrical in these venues.
Our Groups’ greatest contribution to our markets continues to be the influence off the ice within the communities we serve, donating an ECHL report of over $4.6 million final Season. That is on high of the numerous hours that our employees, coaches and gamers dedicate to native colleges, hospitals, and charities to develop into an integral a part of the group. As well as, the ECHL will as soon as once more accomplice with the Nationwide Hockey League in help of their Hockey Fights Most cancers, Hockey is For Everybody, and the NHL Avenue initiatives to deliver our communities collectively and develop the sport additional all through North America.
The previous 37 years have additionally allowed the ECHL to unquestionably develop into an integral a part of the skilled hockey growth course of, as not solely have over 760 gamers gone on to play within the NHL after their time within the ECHL (together with 16 who made their NHL debut in 2004-25), but in addition numerous officers, coaches and entrance workplace employees have moved on to the AHL and NHL as they’ve used the ECHL to develop their profession. Final season, former South Carolina Stingrays head coach Spencer Carbery, who concluded his second season as head coach of the Washington Capitals, obtained the Jack Adams Award, turning into the primary coach ever to obtain Coach of the 12 months honors within the ECHL, AHL and NHL.
The ECHL has been represented on the final 25 Stanley Cup champions together with in 2025 with 16 people on the Florida Panthers: Assistant Basic Supervisor Brett Peterson; Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Paul Krepelka; Assistant Coach Jamie Kompon; Goaltending Coach Robb Tallas; gamers Vitek Vanecek and Carter Verhaeghe; Skilled Scouts P.J. Fenton and Sean Backman; Novice Scouts Dillon Donnelly, Josh Monk and Ken Morin; Assistant Athletic Coach Brian Riedel; Assistant Gear Managers Thomas Anderson, Dakota King and Joe Wiezczek and Radio Broadcaster Doug Plagens.
Thanks on behalf of the ECHL and all of our Groups in your continued help and we hope that you simply and people you attend with get pleasure from following your favourite membership and making lasting reminiscences across the ECHL expertise.
Sincerely,
Ryan Crelin
ECHL Commissioner
