BRAMPTON, ON – The Brampton Beast will be seeing a lot of their new division rivals next season. The ECHL announced conference and division realignment today, as well as new seeding for the Kelly Cup Playoffs, helping logistics departments for all teams in the long haul.
The Beast will be apart of the Eastern Conference’s North division, with new division rivals, the Wheeling Nailers, Toledo Walleye, and Kalamazoo Hawks. With the realignment, the distance between the Beast and their further division rival, Wheeling, is now only 587.9 kilometres, compared to an average distance of 1672.6 kilometres between the Beast and their old Central division rivals.
The rest of the realignment goes as follows: In the Eastern Conference’s East division, the Elmira Jackals and Reading Royals will be joined by teams in Adirondack, Manchester and Norfolk. In the South Division, theFlorida Everblades will be joined by the Greenville Road Warriors, Gwinnett Gladiators, Orlando Solar Bears, South Carolina Stingrays.
In the Western Conference, the Midwest division will feature theCincinnati Cyclones, Evansville IceMen, Fort Wayne Komets, Indy Fuel, and Quad City Mallards. The Central division doesn’t see any additions, but multiple subtractions, leaving them with theAllen Americans, Missouri Mavericks, Tulsa Oilers, Wichita Thunder. Finally, the West Division will be host to theAlaska Aces, Colorado Eagles, Idaho Steelheads, Rapid City Rush, and Utah Grizzlies.
The division winners will be seeded 1, 2 and 3 and the next five highest point totals in each conference will qualify for the 2016 Kelly Cup Playoffs. All series in the playoffs will be played in a best-of-seven format with the conference champions meeting in the Kelly Cup Finals to determine a national champion.
Catch the Brampton Beast at home February 5 and 6 to take on the Allen Americans. February 5 will be when the Beast hosts the first ever Jersey Toss. After the Beast score their first goal, fans are strongly encouraged to toss a jersey onto the ice, with all jerseys going to support the Moss Park Hockey League. The game is also being hosted on Winning Weekday, where if the Beast win, fans in attendance will win a free ticket to the Beast’s next weekday game against the Tulsa Oilers on February 17. February 6 will be the night the Beast will unveil their new Canada-themed alternate jerseys, on Guaranteed Fun Night! If you don’t have fun, get your money back! Tickets can be purchased online at bramptonbeast.com or by calling 905-564-1684.
| About the ECHL
Began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 21 teams in 14 states for its 27th season in 2014-15. There have been 541 players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after starting their careers in the ECHL, including 29 who made their NHL debuts in the 2013-14 season. The ECHL has affiliations with 28 of the 30 NHL teams in 2014-15, marking the 18th consecutive season that the league had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Brampton Beast The Brampton Beast was founded in January 2013. The Brampton Beast finished in sixth place and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in their inaugural year. The team was recognized as the he Community Relations Franchise of the Year in their first year of operation. |
