Gone are the days of East Coast hockey on the west coast. In fact, many don't realize the ECHL already officially dropped the name East Coast Hockey League in favor of simply using the ECHL acronym.
But realistically, who doesn't know what KFC, ASAP, TBD and BYOB really mean? in fact, current ECHL team owners and general managers (I'm talking about you, Franke) still erroneously refer to the ECHL as the "East Coast League."
When you consider factors such as inability to shake a former name, having nine teams west of the Mississippi River and the existence of two other nearby hockey organizations who both use the CHL acronym, it's hard to say it isn't time for a big change.
I'm putting my money on the new "East West Hockey League" or EWHL for short. Please share your ideas. I'm anxious to how creative we all can be.
No need to rename it it's already been branded for 25 years as the ECHL.
I understand some people prefer to keep things the same. In my opinion, it's a great idea when the status quo is still relevant. In the case of the ECHL, the brand's identity is no longer relevant to it's product. I suppose the relevancy factor could be changed by expanding to the Gulf Coast and reverting the acronym to "Every Coast Hockey League."
Just announce that "ECHL" now stands for "Elite Champions Hockey League" or "Elite Continental Hockey League," something like that.
My original post touched on the ECHL's similarities to the CHL (Central Hockey League) and the CHL (Canadian Hockey League.) IF (big if) they were going to change the name, I think they'd try to eliminate any confusion between themselves and the other two leagues. Hell, even some thing like BHL, DHL, PHL, RHL, SHL, THL, XHL would be unique in the hockey world if any of them stood for some thing logical.
I have noticed that the only people who get butt hurt by calling it the East Coast Hockey League live out West. I see many media people still call it that. Not a big deal. The league headquarters is on the East Coast, I don't see any Western teams. It's really two seperate leagues anyways. Hardly any if ever out of conference in season play.
Technically, the "ECHL" doesn't stand for anything anymore. It's an example of orphan initialism. The league isn't the East Coast Hockey League, it's just the ECHL. Doesn't mean anything.
Gone are the days of East Coast hockey on the west coast. In fact, many don't realize the ECHL already officially dropped the name East Coast Hockey League in favor of simply using the ECHL acronym.
But realistically, who doesn't know what KFC, ASAP, TBD and BYOB really mean? in fact, current ECHL team owners and general managers (I'm talking about you, Franke) still erroneously refer to the ECHL as the "East Coast League."
When you consider factors such as inability to shake a former name, having nine teams west of the Mississippi River and the existence of two other nearby hockey organizations who both use the CHL acronym, it's hard to say it isn't time for a big change.
I'm putting my money on the new "East West Hockey League" or EWHL for short. Please share your ideas. I'm anxious to how creative we all can be.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH... WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH...
How about waiting for your team to do something in a league they avoided joining for years before advocating for needless change?
I understand some people prefer to keep things the same. In my opinion, it's a great idea when the status quo is still relevant. In the case of the ECHL, the brand's identity is no longer relevant to it's product. I suppose the relevancy factor could be changed by expanding to the Gulf Coast and reverting the acronym to "Every Coast Hockey League."
The league is on every coast. Estero, Florida home of the Florida Everblades is on the Gulf of Mexico.
Still for the AHL and ECHL swapping league names...
I think the map of the AHL will change in the next 5-10 years and not be so East Coast dominate. AHL will be appropriate unless they add more teams in Canada. That may all change however if the NHL lockout puts the entire sport back 10 years again. It was on the cusp of new growth until 2 weeks ago. Hopefully it doen't get ruined.
I think the map of the AHL will change in the next 5-10 years and not be so East Coast dominate. AHL will be appropriate unless they add more teams in Canada. That may all change however if the NHL lockout puts the entire sport back 10 years again. It was on the cusp of new growth until 2 weeks ago. Hopefully it doen't get ruined.
I think you're right about the AHL thinning out in the east and expanding westward. Western NHL teams are already squeaky about travel between their affiliates. Despite the Canadian teams, "American" isn't out of line considering the entire continent is technically "America."
Fair point, I just was making a case that the ECHL is an All America league and the AHL technically isn't.
I think the league is just trying to take advantage of "Brand Recognition". I don't think the league cares so much about what the acronym stands for because people know it as the "E" or ECHL. People know what level of hockey that is and what product they should be expecting. I think they wanted to avoid the mess that has happened in the "alphabet go round" in other leagues, with leagues changing names and levels. The second coming of the IHL was certainly nothing like the first. I live in a place with about 5 people who really follow hockey. If the ECHL changed it's name people at least in this town would think it was a whole different league. We went through the WSHL/ECHL merger and people had no clue that hockey would be getting better and not worse. I think a great many ECHL cities are just like mine.
Guess it pends what you consider better. Teams rarely play to win anymore, they play to cater to the AHL. The roster shufflings hurt team chemistry. You do get to see better players.
To be honest i'm not certain the ECHL will flourish long term, I don't see it being like this anyway. If they keep expanding the organization contract limit it's eventually going to be a league of 30 teams full of NHL team contracted players and controlled by the NHL Organizations.
