Fort Wayne and Evansville join the ECHL!
5/23/2012 - Let the rivalries begin! This season the Walleye will be facing off against two new teams that are within driving distance of Toledo. The ECHL has welcomed the Fort Wayne Komets (110 miles from Toledo) and the Evansville IceMen (424 miles) to the league.
With the addition of Evansville and Fort Wayne, along with previously announced expansion teams in Orlando and San Francisco, the ECHL will play with 23 teams in 2012-13, an increase from 20 in the 2011-12 season. The ECHL will announce the 2012-13 schedule in the coming weeks.
Evansville IceMen
Evansville plays its home games at the Ford Center, an 11,000-seat building which opened in November in downtown Evansville. The IceMen have been members of the Central Hockey League for the previous two seasons, and were fourth in the league in attendance in 2011-12 with an average of 4,882 per game.
Fort Wayne Komets
Fort Wayne celebrated its 60th season of professional hockey in 2011-12, and led the Central Hockey League with 7,770 fans per game, marking the 10th consecutive season that the Komets have surpassed 7,000 fans in average attendance. The Komets captured the Presidents’ Cup as Central Hockey League champions in 2011-12, marking the ninth league title in team history. In addition to the CHL championship, Fort Wayne has won seven International Hockey League titles and one United Hockey League championship.
