More Florida Everblades

• Everblades cruise to 7-2 win at Elmira
• Blades' Micflikier named ECHL Player of Week
• McArdle becomes 15th ex-Blade to play in NHL

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Share and Enjoy [?]

The Florida Everblades are the only ECHL team left in the state as of Monday afternoon, when the ECHL announced it was terminating the membership of the Pensacola Ice Pilots.

The termination comes a week after Pensacola’s ownership group informed the league that the Ice Pilots did not plan to field an ECHL team for the 2008-09 season, or any year after that.

“That’s grounds for automatic termination,” said league commissioner Brian McKenna, who added that he couldn’t recall a situation where a team had given the league such short notice. “Obviously it was a shock to other members of the league ... and no one from Pensacola was at (the ECHL league meetings held this week in Denver) to explain the decision.”

Pensacola joins the then-Texas Wildcatters and Columbia Inferno among South Division teams who will not rejoin the division after the 2007-08 season. First-place Texas relocated to Ontario, Calif., and fifth-place Columbia is taking a year off to try and build or lease a new arena.

But the Ice Pilots’ late-breaking decision to leave the league will have the biggest impact, especially because schedules for the 2008-09 season have already been released and printed. The Blades had 11 games scheduled with their only in-state rival, including six home games and four weekend dates.

“We’re very surprised; this was just sprung on us at the meeting,” said Blades team president/general manager Craig Brush. “It’s a horrific thing ... nobody is happy about it, especially the teams in our division.”

Pensacola’s players will now become unrestricted free agents. Coach John Marks, in his second year at Pensacola, is the ECHL’s winningest coach. But he now finds himself without a team.

Marks could not be reached for comment on Monday. Last month, he had expressed surprise that the Ice Pilots might allow him to interview for other coaching jobs, such as the then-head coaching vacancy with the Blades, which has since been filled by former Texas coach Malcolm Cameron.

Ice Pilots team president Greg Schuh told Pensacola’s WEAR TV last week that the ownership group still plans to field a hockey team in Pensacola, possibly for the Central Hockey League or the Southern Professional Hockey League, both considered lower-tier leagues than the second-tier ECHL.

But McKenna had his doubts.

“I can’t really comment on that ... but it didn’t seem too logical to me,” he said, adding that the league was aware of financial difficulties for the Ice Pilots, who finished last in the division for the past three seasons.

McKenna and Brush both said the ECHL would like to keep a team in Pensacola but were doubtful that arrangements could be made for next season. So instead, the league will work on drafting a new schedule. Pensacola’s departure affects all six South Division teams, as well as North Division teams who had scheduled match-ups with the Ice Pilots. Playoffs will also be impacted, in that four of six South Division teams will advance, instead of four of seven.

McKenna said the league expects to finish its new schedule in about a month, and he thought there was a chance for the Blades to play a few more dates against North Division teams, rather than just adding more match-ups against South Division foes.

“If we can turn it into a nice swing, you may be able to see some more variety there,” he said.

The ECHL is also planning to add teams to the South Division in Greenville, S.C., and Greensboro, N.C., in a few years. McKenna said the ECHL is hopeful about the prospect of adding a team in Lakewood Ranch near Bradenton, but Brush didn’t think that was as promising.

“There’s lots of talk, but until I see somebody actually completing an application, I don’t get too excited about it,” he said.

The ECHL once had five teams in Florida locations: Jacksonville, Miami, Tallahassee, Pensacola and Estero. The Blades are the only team of those five that hasn’t gone belly-up.

“I think it has to do with operations. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not this is a good hockey state,” Brush said.

“(Our league’s) product on the ice is fine across the board,” McKenna said. “What it really comes down to is good management and the ability to promote your product — the teams that are able to do that, like the Everblades, remain strong.”

As for the Ice Pilots, the owners’ decision to leave the ECHL had yet to hit the team’s Web site, which still advertised a new goalie signing and season tickets for the now nonexistent 2008-09 season.

MEETING NOTES: Also at this week's Board of Governors Meetings, the ECHL made a few changes for the 2008-09 season. First, playoffs were realigned with just the top four teams in each division making the playoffs. There will be best-of-seven series in each of the division semifinals, division finals, conference finals and Kelly Cup finals.

The league shortened between-period intermission times to 15-18 minutes, and reduced before-game warm-ups to 16 minutes -- the same amount of time used by the NHL and AHL.

Myrtle Beach, Columbia, Reno and Toledo all reported that they hope to join/rejoin the ECHL in 2009-10 or soon after.

Finally, the league decreed that teams could sign just 24 players to ECHL contracts during the summer.