League’s 34th season opens on Thursday, Oct. 21

PRINCETON, N.J. – The ECHL announced on Tuesday that the 2021-22 season will begin with one game on Thursday, Oct. 21 before continuing with seven games on Friday, Oct. 22, 13 games on Saturday, Oct. 23 and two games on Sunday, Oct. 24.

Began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league that will have 27 teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces playing 972 games from Oct. 21, 2021 to April 17, 2022.

One of the ECHL’s two new teams for the 2021-22 season will take center stage on opening night as Trois-Rivières will host Newfoundland in the first-ever ECHL game in the province of Quebec in the recently completed Le Nouveau Colisée.

Among the six home openers on Friday, Oct. 22 is the other new team in the league, Iowa, hosting Kansas City at Xtreme Arena in Coralville, Iowa. Other openers on the Oct. 22 schedule include Idaho hosting Utah, Maine taking on Worcester, Norfolk entertaining Reading, Rapid City meeting Tulsa and Wichita hosting Allen. 

Twelve teams open their home schedules on Saturday, Oct. 23 as Adirondack entertains Newfoundland, Allen welcomes Wichita, Florida hosts Jacksonville, Fort Wayne takes on Wheeling, Indy entertains Cincinnati, Kansas City welcomes Iowa, Kalamazoo meets Toledo, Orlando hosts Atlanta, Reading meets Norfolk, South Carolina takes on Greenville, Utah entertains Idaho and Worcester welcomes Maine.

Friday, Oct. 29 sees three teams host their first home game of the season with Atlanta welcoming Orlando, Greenville hosting Jacksonville and Tulsa entertaining Allen while on Saturday, Oct. 30, Cincinnati opens its home schedule against Indy.

On Friday, Nov. 5, Newfoundland opens play on home ice against Adirondack, while the final three home openers for the 2021-22 season are set for Saturday, Nov. 6 with Jacksonville taking on South Carolina, Toledo hosting Kalamazoo and Wheeling welcoming Fort Wayne.

About the ECHL

Began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 26 teams in 19 states and two Canadian provinces for its 33rd season in 2020-21. There have been 696 players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after starting their careers in the ECHL, including 18 who have made their NHL debuts in the 2020-21 season. The ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 31 NHL teams in 2020-21, marking the 24th 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 Twitter and Facebook.