Oct 15, 2026

Bench Clearers | Retro Revival: ECHL

Before the Cup, there was the ECHL.

It started in 1988 with five teams nobody expected to last a season. Today, 782 of its former players have reached the NHL.

The Johnstown Chiefs, one of the ECHL's five founding teams.

The league nobody expected to last

In the spring of 1988, minor-league hockey in the eastern United States was falling apart. The All-American Hockey League and the Atlantic Coast Hockey League had both gone under.

A handful of owners, led by Vinton, Virginia oilman Henry Brabham, refused to let their teams disappear with them. They pulled five survivors into a new league: the Carolina Thunderbirds, Erie Panthers, Johnstown Chiefs, Knoxville Cherokees and Virginia Lancers. They called it the East Coast Hockey League.

The first commissioner, Patrick J. Kelly, also managed the rink the Lancers played in. The schedule was 60 games, and there were no NHL affiliations.

Johnstown Chiefs team photo on the ice — The Johnstown Chiefs, early ECHL years.

1990-91 Erie Panthers team photo — The 1990-91 Erie Panthers, another of the original five.

A Game 7 with a Hanson Brother behind the bench

The league's very first Final set the tone. Carolina and Johnstown went the full seven games.

Before Game 7, the commissioner suspended three Carolina players. And Johnstown's coach was Steve Carlson, who had played Steve Hanson, one of the Hanson Brothers, in Slap Shot. Carolina won Game 7 anyway, and the Thunderbirds became the first champions in ECHL history.

The Hanson Brothers from Slap Shot in their blue Chiefs jerseys at a fan event — The Hanson Brothers, back in their *Slap Shot* Chiefs jerseys.

The Hanson Brothers celebrating on the ice in white Chiefs jerseys — The Hanson Brothers, back in their *Slap Shot* Chiefs jerseys.

The first call-up

Quebec Nordiques goaltender making a save — The Quebec Nordiques gave the ECHL its first NHL player.

In January 1990, former Johnstown Chiefs goaltender Scott Gordon played a game for the Quebec Nordiques.

He was the first ECHL player ever to reach the NHL. That changed what the league meant. It was still loud and still local, but it was no longer only a show. It was a way up.

What does ECHL stand for?

Officially, nothing.

By the 2003-04 season the league had added seven western teams, from Alaska to San Diego, and "East Coast" no longer described it. On May 19, 2003, the name became simply ECHL. That same season it became the first professional league in North America to require visors.

The lockout year

When the NHL locked out its players in 2004-05, Anchorage native Scott Gomez went home and played for the Alaska Aces. He finished the year as the ECHL's MVP.

The championship trophy changed too. Since 1997 the ECHL champion has won the Kelly Cup, named for Patrick J. Kelly, the commissioner who ran the league through its first eight seasons.

Idaho Steelheads players celebrating on the ice with the Kelly Cup — The Idaho Steelheads with the Kelly Cup. Idaho joined in the 2003 western expansion.

Why the ECHL builds goaltenders

NHL teams carry two goalies. Young goalies need real games to develop, not practice reps, and the ECHL is where many of them get to start.

Jonathan Quick played in Reading. Braden Holtby played 12 games for the South Carolina Stingrays. Jordan Binnington played 40 games for the Kalamazoo Wings in 2013-14, then spent more than five seasons in the minors before St. Louis made him its starter midway through 2018-19. That June, he lifted the Stanley Cup. So did Quick and Holtby.

Jordan Binnington lifting the Stanley Cup in 2019 — Jordan Binnington, Stanley Cup champion, 2019.

Jonathan Quick wearing a Reading Royals jersey — Jonathan Quick with the Reading Royals.

Kalamazoo Wings goaltender set in his crease — The Kalamazoo Wings crease, where Binnington played 40 games.

782former ECHL players have gone on to play in the NHL.

26Stanley Cup winners in a row with at least one ECHL alum on the team.

26 straight years on the Stanley Cup

For 26 years in a row, the Stanley Cup winner has had at least one player, coach or staff member who came through the ECHL.

Not every road to the NHL runs through this league, but more do than most fans think. In 2026, that list included Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi, who played four games for the Maine Mariners in 2022-23. The ECHL's first champion came from Carolina in 1989. Thirty-seven years later, so did the Stanley Cup champion.

The route, 1988 to now

Every stop on the way from five teams to a coast-to-coast league.

1988

Five teams start the East Coast Hockey League after two leagues fold.
1989

Carolina beats Johnstown in Game 7 to win the first title.
1990

Former Johnstown goalie Scott Gordon becomes the first ECHL player in the NHL.
1997

The championship trophy becomes the Kelly Cup.
2003

Seven western teams join, the name becomes ECHL, and visors become mandatory.
2019

Former Kalamazoo goalie Jordan Binnington wins the Stanley Cup.
2026

The ECHL is represented on the Stanley Cup champion for the 26th straight year.

Swamp Rabbits, Ghost Pirates and minor-league weird

No other level of pro hockey would sign off on names like the Swamp Rabbits, Ghost Pirates, Solar Bears and Knight Monsters.

This season the New Mexico Goatheads are set to join them. The league runs 30 teams across the United States and Québec, and every one of them plays for a town that chose hockey. Teams have moved, folded and come back under new names, but the league keeps finding new cities. Somewhere in one of those arenas this season is the next player to make it.

Wear the league

Some of these teams are gone. Their logos aren't. Pick up a piece of ECHL history on the original Hockey Tank.

Today's teams got the treatment too

We've partnered with current ECHL clubs, including the Kansas City Mavericks. Find their Bench Clearers gear at each team's official online shop and arena store.