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The ECHL (formerly the '''East Coast Hockey League''') is a Professional Ice Hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey , with teams scattered across the United States and Canada , generally regarded as a tier below the American Hockey League . The ECHL's official website lists the league as "The Premier AA" league of hockey in North America, because most teams serve as feeder teams for American Hockey League teams. Hockey generally does not use letter-designations to define their league's levels, but the ECHL has tried for years to establish such a pecking order, with some success. LEAGUE HISTORY 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, to resume play in Conway, South Carolina in 2008-09 ), and the Virginia Lancers (now the Utah Grizzlies ). Since that time, the ECHL has met with a mixture of failures and successes, 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 Season as expansion teams. The teams from the defunct lower-level 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 . The league, because of geographical anomalies, continues to use unbalanced conferences and divisions, which has in the past made for some extremely varied playoff formats. Due to travel costs, the league has attempted to placate owners in keeping those costs down, which has led to the sometimes-odd playoff structures. TEAMS ''( 2007-08 NHL / AHL affiliates in parentheses)'' National Conference West Division
Pacific Division
American Conference North Division
South Division ]
FUTURE TEAMS Two teams under suspension are planned to return in 2008 and 2009, respectively, as new arenas in their respective areas are slated to open.
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DEFUNCT AND RELOCATED TEAMS Teams that no longer play within the ECHL are listed below. Many of the former teams which had not moved are considered to have suspended operations and the franchises placed for sale, but in reality are and were simply financial failures, similar to defunct teams in all other minor league sports histories. While the ECHL stated in recent years they would not grant voluntary suspensions of franchises for more than one year, both the Toldeo Storm and Mississippi Sea Wolves have had two-year suspensions -- the Sea Wolves because of Hurricane Katrina and the Storm in order to demolish their present arena and construct a new arena on the site. The new owners of the Toledo franchise, the businessmen who own the area AAA-baseball team the Toledo Mud Hens, have stated they will choose a new name for the team but none has been picked yet. SEE ALSO
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