PRINCETON, N.J. – The ECHL unveiled the official logo for its 20th Anniversary Season in 2007-08, making it the third-longest tenured professional hockey league in North America behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League.
The logo has XX, which is the Roman numeral for 20, in navy blue trimmed in red, white and silver above the traditional ECHL logo flanked on the left side by 1988 and on the right side by 2008 with “Building Tradition” centered below the logo.
The 20th Anniversary logo will be incorporated into league and team materials as the ECHL proudly celebrates 20 years of hockey, tradition and affordable entertainment.
The Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League began in 1988-89 with five teams in three states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league that will have 25 teams in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08. The 25 teams includes the Mississippi (Biloxi) Sea Wolves, who return after missing two seasons in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the expansion Elmira (N.Y.) Jackals.
Joe Bosack, president and founder of The Joe Bosack Graphic Design Company, designed the logo. Bosack also designed the ECHL logo, the Kelly Cup Playoffs logo, the 15th Anniversary logo and logos for the ECHL All-Star Game.
The Joe Bosack Design Company is a full-service design studio that specializes in branded identity. In addition to its work with the ECHL, Bosack has created identities, both directly and indirectly, for The National Basketball Association, The National Hockey League, The National Football League, Major League Baseball, Nike Team Sports, The Arena Football League, WNBA, Coca-Cola, Fila U.S.A., and Universal Studios in addition to dozens of individual teams and universities.
ECHL
The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.
ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in three states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league that will have 25 teams playing in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08, including the Mississippi (Biloxi) Sea Wolves, who return after missing two seasons in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Opening Day for the 20th Anniversary Season will be Oct. 18 when the Johnstown Chiefs host the Wheeling Nailers at Cambria County War Memorial. The game is a rematch of Game 7 from the first-ever ECHL Finals played in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Cambria County War Memorial. The two teams will wear throwback jerseys for the Opening Day game that begins at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast worldwide on B2 Networks, the “Official Broadband Broadcast Provider of the ECHL”. The remaining teams will open their seasons the weekend of Oct. 19-21.
There have been 329 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including a record 47 in 2005-06 and 26 in 2006-07. There have been 184 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past five seasons and 107 former ECHL players have skated in the NHL this season. More than 100 players under contract to NHL teams have played in the ECHL this season.
The ECHL is represented for the seventh consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2007 with Anaheim assistant coach Dave Farrish, players Francois Beauchemin and George Parros and broadcasters John Ahlers and Steve Carroll.
The ECHL has affiliations with 24 of the 27 teams in the American Hockey League in 2006-07 and for the past 17 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion.
In each of the last two seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call-ups involving more than 500 players.
In the last five seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,000 call-ups involving more than 1,000 players since 2002-03.
2008 ECHL All-Star Game and Skills Competition will be hosted by Stockton Thunder, City of Stockton and Stockton Arena on Jan. 22-23, 2008.
Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.
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