Worcester Railers to join the ECHL in 2017-18

royals119

Registered User
Jun 12, 2006
1,457
1,139
West Lawn, PA

Nice article, but the map is out of date and the divisions are wrong. ECHL has four divisions this year, three with seven teams and the north with six. Unless something happens with the rumored Wichita to Albany move Worcester will slot into the north division with Manchester, Wheeling, Elmira, Reading, Adirondack and Brampton to create four seven team divisions.

If that rumor turns out to be true Worcester will still be in the north along with Albany, and either Wheeling or Brampton switch to the central and we still have four seven team divisions.
 

Woo Hockey

@WooHockeyNews
Jul 5, 2014
887
82
Worcester, MA
woo.hockey
Nice article, but the map is out of date and the divisions are wrong. ECHL has four divisions this year, three with seven teams and the north with six. Unless something happens with the rumored Wichita to Albany move Worcester will slot into the north division with Manchester, Wheeling, Elmira, Reading, Adirondack and Brampton to create four seven team divisions.

If that rumor turns out to be true Worcester will still be in the north along with Albany, and either Wheeling or Brampton switch to the central and we still have four seven team divisions.

That map was shared on social media and I'm surprised that this was the first time someone has pointed errors out on that.
 

Woo Hockey

@WooHockeyNews
Jul 5, 2014
887
82
Worcester, MA
woo.hockey
Nice article, but the map is out of date and the divisions are wrong. ECHL has four divisions this year, three with seven teams and the north with six. Unless something happens with the rumored Wichita to Albany move Worcester will slot into the north division with Manchester, Wheeling, Elmira, Reading, Adirondack and Brampton to create four seven team divisions.

If that rumor turns out to be true Worcester will still be in the north along with Albany, and either Wheeling or Brampton switch to the central and we still have four seven team divisions.



just updated
 

crimsonace

Registered User
Mar 7, 2010
2,160
1,563
Indianapolis, IN
Now if they could just figure out that the Quad Cities are in NW Illinois, not on the Kentucky border, and that Cincinnati is in the SW, not SE corner of Ohio (and Toledo appears to have moved to Cleveland, Indy to Lafayette, and Tulsa looks way too far south)
 

royals119

Registered User
Jun 12, 2006
1,457
1,139
West Lawn, PA
Now if they could just figure out that the Quad Cities are in NW Illinois, not on the Kentucky border, and that Cincinnati is in the SW, not SE corner of Ohio (and Toledo appears to have moved to Cleveland, Indy to Lafayette, and Tulsa looks way too far south)

A lot of those team locations are very approximate. Wheeling is too far south and east, it should be up in that little spike of WV that fits between PA and OH. Reading is too far north and east, that location is closer to WBS.
 

Woo Hockey

@WooHockeyNews
Jul 5, 2014
887
82
Worcester, MA
woo.hockey
Pretty even-money odds that it's the Islanders.

Yep.

Will be interesting to see how the affiliation goes if the Islanders do happen to move to Hartford though. With Boston's presumably affiliating with Manchester in the near future and the Islander's organization being so close to each other, I'd be pretty hyped for a good local rivalry.
 

HWP1997

Registered User
Nov 2, 2016
30
15
Yep.

Will be interesting to see how the affiliation goes if the Islanders do happen to move to Hartford though. With Boston's presumably affiliating with Manchester in the near future and the Islander's organization being so close to each other, I'd be pretty hyped for a good local rivalry.

Trust me, the Islanders aren't moving to Hartford. The XL Center isn't even up to NHL standards. A costly renovation could fix that issue, but with CT experiencing major budget issues, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
 

CHRDANHUTCH

Registered User
Mar 4, 2002
35,232
4,218
Auburn, Maine
Yep.

Will be interesting to see how the affiliation goes if the Islanders do happen to move to Hartford though. With Boston's presumably affiliating with Manchester in the near future and the Islander's organization being so close to each other, I'd be pretty hyped for a good local rivalry.

WON'T need to, remember Bridgeport is in that mix, too, besides take this as a grain of salt, field of schemes is all over the Hartford "remodel", SOMETHING ALL AHL fans have STATED should happen, not just for the Pack, BUT OVERALL.

Manchester's still tied to the Kings, despite the local ownership, but it's still a Kings franchise, whether you call it or not.
 

Nightsquad

Registered User
Jan 25, 2014
834
100
Yep.

Will be interesting to see how the affiliation goes if the Islanders do happen to move to Hartford though. With Boston's presumably affiliating with Manchester in the near future and the Islander's organization being so close to each other, I'd be pretty hyped for a good local rivalry.

Didn't Boston extend an ECHL affiliation with Atlanta for another two to three season?
 

ADK34

Registered User
Feb 1, 2016
148
6
Glens Falls, NY
Railers have found their affiliate

Worcester Railers to be affiliated with the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League and the Bridgeport Sound tigers of the American Hockey League for the 2017-18 ECHL season
 

Speed

Registered User
Jan 7, 2004
1,162
5
Holden, MA
www.sharksboosters.com
Worcester Magazine: CLIFF RUCKER: A man in motion

https://worcestermag.com/2017/03/09/cliff-rucker-man-motion/49931

Interesting tidbit:
"Rucker started researching the ECHL, going so far as to fly to Elmira to meet with the Jackals organization in New York.

“I made an offer to buy the arena,†Rucker said. “These are little known facts, I think. The reason I was intrigued was because the arena was part of the deal. I sat with the owners and made an offer to buy the arena and the team, and to my utter shock, they rejected the offer and didn’t even counteroffer. In hindsight, thank God.â€"
 

Woo Hockey

@WooHockeyNews
Jul 5, 2014
887
82
Worcester, MA
woo.hockey
https://worcestermag.com/2017/03/09/cliff-rucker-man-motion/49931

Interesting tidbit:
"Rucker started researching the ECHL, going so far as to fly to Elmira to meet with the Jackals organization in New York.

“I made an offer to buy the arena,†Rucker said. “These are little known facts, I think. The reason I was intrigued was because the arena was part of the deal. I sat with the owners and made an offer to buy the arena and the team, and to my utter shock, they rejected the offer and didn’t even counteroffer. In hindsight, thank God.â€"

Bet they're kicking themselves for not accepting his offer. :laugh:
 

Nightsquad

Registered User
Jan 25, 2014
834
100
https://worcestermag.com/2017/03/09/cliff-rucker-man-motion/49931

Interesting tidbit:
"Rucker started researching the ECHL, going so far as to fly to Elmira to meet with the Jackals organization in New York.

“I made an offer to buy the arena,†Rucker said. “These are little known facts, I think. The reason I was intrigued was because the arena was part of the deal. I sat with the owners and made an offer to buy the arena and the team, and to my utter shock, they rejected the offer and didn’t even counteroffer. In hindsight, thank God.â€"

Bet they're kicking themselves for not accepting his offer. :laugh:

This is what bugs me the most, and that is when politicians or the so called movers and shakers of a city or market do everything they can to put barriers up to people from the outside so to speak coming to your town wanting to invest their money to establish whatever business it is. In a town like Elmira NY options are limited, its not exactly a picture of wealthy or affluent America. Nearby Corning is doing well but Elmira is a pretty depressed area as are most small cities of Upstate NY. Their economies are very reliant on government, or not for profit (text exempt) sectors such as colleges, hospitals, or other human service type industry. When a person steps in you have to do your due diligence and vetting but don't slam the door on the individual or group that wants to put forth the financial resources and capital that is pretty much a struggle for the locals.
 

CHRDANHUTCH

Registered User
Mar 4, 2002
35,232
4,218
Auburn, Maine
imo, Rucker did the right thing, going the expansion route, rather than inheriting a franchise that's HAD issues going back further than u can count w/ the arena and the franchise, and its past history of ownership, (AFR)
 

Woo Hockey

@WooHockeyNews
Jul 5, 2014
887
82
Worcester, MA
woo.hockey
imo, Rucker did the right thing, going the expansion route, rather than inheriting a franchise that's HAD issues going back further than u can count w/ the arena and the franchise, and its past history of ownership, (AFR)

Not sure of the details in terms of money he offered for the team and arena, but knowing your franchise isn't doing too well financially and turning down an offer to potentially turn that around is just dumb on their part.
 

Woo Hockey

@WooHockeyNews
Jul 5, 2014
887
82
Worcester, MA
woo.hockey
This is what bugs me the most, and that is when politicians or the so called movers and shakers of a city or market do everything they can to put barriers up to people from the outside so to speak coming to your town wanting to invest their money to establish whatever business it is. In a town like Elmira NY options are limited, its not exactly a picture of wealthy or affluent America. Nearby Corning is doing well but Elmira is a pretty depressed area as are most small cities of Upstate NY. Their economies are very reliant on government, or not for profit (text exempt) sectors such as colleges, hospitals, or other human service type industry. When a person steps in you have to do your due diligence and vetting but don't slam the door on the individual or group that wants to put forth the financial resources and capital that is pretty much a struggle for the locals.

Exactly. I'm assuming that part of them not selling is because the team is technically "community owned", but people need to have an open mind with theses kinds of things. If there's any possibility the entity can be owned by someone local and can stay true to the city, they should consider selling the team.
 

Sports Enthusiast

Not Here To Be Liked
Sep 19, 2010
19,972
134
Middle of nowhere
They are gunna need a solid affiliation game because they hired a weak head coach who mostly has a college background. Still think that was a head scratcher hire by Elmira 3 years ago. I'm surprised another team then wanted him after because its not like he showed anything or won.
 

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