Tag: ECHL

Former Notre Dame players on NHL rosters to begin 2023-24 season

Know where to check out the former Irish who have made it to the highest level.

We understand that most of you come here for football, but Notre Dame has a devoted fan base for its hockey program. A lot of NHL players have come through the program, and many of them even have found great success at hockey’s highest level. And it’s unlikely any of them forget that they once donned the Gold and Blue.

For the 2023-24 NHL season, there are seven former Irish on rosters at the start. That’s three fewer than the start of each of the past two seasons. But be on the lookout for the 24 players with Notre Dame connections currently in the AHL or even the four in the ECHL. For now, here’s who you can watch in NHL uniforms:

Tim Tebow is now a co-owner of a minor-league hockey team

Former Bronco quarterback Tim Tebow now co-owns a minority stake in a Lake Tahoe-based ECHL hockey team.

Former Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow was a two-sport athlete in baseball and football. Now, he will be a co-owner of a minor-league hockey team.

The team will be located in Lake Tahoe, Nevada and part of the ECHL. The expansion franchise will be the 29th team in the league and will start playing in 2024-25.

Tebow actually already owns minority stakes in two other ECHL teams: the Savannah Ghost Pirates and the Jacksonville Icemen.

“It is an honor and a privilege to steward this new franchise for the community,” Tebow’s co-owner, Dave Hodges, said in a statement. “Tim and I are excited to be able to share this new team with the community. We look forward to engaging the fans as we name the team, design the logos and eventually drop the puck in October of 2024.

“We believe in the power of sports to bring communities together and there’s no better place than the South Lake Tahoe region. With this new ECHL team, we’re committed to delivering unforgettable games, making lasting memories and impacting this community positively.”

Tebow played for the Broncos from 2010-2011, posting an 8-6 win-loss record as a starter.

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Tim Tebow to own minor league hockey expansion team

Tim Tebow is dipping his toes into the ice hockey realm.

Former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback [autotag]Tim Tebow[/autotag] is poised to become the owner of an expansion team in the ECHL — formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League — the minor league hockey circuit announced Monday.

The Florida alumnus will own the Lake Tahoe team in conjunction with David Hodges of Hodges Management Group LLC, which operates in multiple industries including automotive dealerships, real estate investment and insurance.

The name of the expansion team, which would begin play in 2024-25 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, is still to be determined at this juncture.

“I love that sports can bring people together from all over to enjoy camaraderie, competition, and community impact,” Tebow said in a statement. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be part of a group bringing hockey to the Tahoe area for fans and families to create memories for years to come.”

The team will be operated by Zawyer Sports & Entertainment, which also operates the Jacksonville Icemen and the Savannah Ghost Pirates. Under ECHL rules, an ownership group is permitted to operate multiple franchises.

The team will compete at the Tahoe Blue Events Center, an arena with 4,200 seats due to open later in July. Lake Tahoe would supplant Boise, Idaho, as the westernmost active market in the ECHL, which has formerly included teams in multiple western cities including Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego.

The ECHL included 28 teams in the just-completed 2022-23 season, won by the Florida Everblades, and is already due to add a franchise for 2024-25 in Athens, Georgia.

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Tim Tebow takes shot as minor-league hockey team owner

Tim Tebow will become a co-owner of an ECHL franchise in Lake Tahoe

The NFL didn’t pan out for Tim Tebow. Neither did MLB for the Heisman winner from the University of Florida. Next up, ice hockey.

Tebow is going to be a co-owner of an ECHL franchise located in Lake Tahoe, NV.

The team — yet to have a nickname — will start play in the 2024-25 season.

“I love that sports can bring people together from all over to enjoy camaraderie, competition, and community impact,” said Tebow, who already has minority stakes in the Savannah Ghost Pirates and Jacksonville Icemen of the ECHL. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be part of a group bringing hockey to the Tahoe area for fans and families to create memories for years to come.”

The co-owner is Dave Hodges, who is the chairman and CEO of Hodges Management Group and founder/owner of 925 Partners.

“It is an honor and a privilege to steward this new franchise for the community,” Hodges said. “Tim and I are excited to be able to share this new team with the community. We look forward to engaging the fans as we name the team, design the logos and eventually drop the puck in October of 2024. We believe in the power of sports to bring communities together and there’s no better place than the South Lake Tahoe region. With this new ECHL team, we’re committed to delivering unforgettable games, making lasting memories and impacting this community positively.”

The Lake Tahoe franchise will be the 29th team in the league.

Notre Dame alumnus Brock Sheahan named Chicago Wolves coach

Great news for the former defenseman.

Former Notre Dame defenseman and assistant coach Brock Sheahan has just made a big next step in his hockey life. He has been named the coach of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, who are fresh off winning the Calder Cup. This comes after three years as coach of the USHL’s Chicago Steel, which included one Clark Cup. Before making the professional coaching jump, he spent four years as an assistant at Holy Cross, which came after one season as an Irish assistant.

Sheahan played four seasons with the Irish from 2004 to 2008. In 161 games, he scored 33 points and registered 220 penalty minutes. He was a member of the Irish’s 2007 CCHA regular-season and tournament championship team and the 2008 squad that came within one game of winning a national title. After leaving the Irish, he played five years of professional hockey, mostly in the ECHL.

Best of luck to Sheahan as he takes over a defending champion.

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It’s past time for NHL, other hockey leagues to implement a zero-tolerance policy against racism

Hockey leagues have to start taking action against racism.

Editor’s note: This story contains mentions of racism. Please proceed with caution.

Hockey leagues have no excuses anymore; it’s well past time for a zero-tolerance policy against racism.

Late Saturday evening, yet another racist incident occurred in the hockey world. During an ECHL match, Jacksonville Icemen defenseman Jacob Panetta was accused of making a racist gesture towards Jordan Subban of the South Carolina Stingrays. The incident went viral after Subban tweeted that Panetta had made “monkey gestures” at him after an overtime scrum, causing another fight on the ice.

Subban’s brother, New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban, also tweeted about the incident, calling Panetta out. The tweets linked below make mention of racist language — in text and video form — so proceed with caution.

As of Sunday, the Icemen have stated that Panetta has been released from the team, effective immediately, after the ECHL suspended the defenseman indefinitely with a league investigation pending.

Though it took two milquetoast statements from the Icemen — who have yet to apologize to Subban directly, only to “any one who was offended” — it seems Panetta’s time playing hockey in the ECHL is over. And he shouldn’t be the last to get this treatment either.

Hockey leagues must implement a zero-tolerance policy against racism and they must do it now. The racist taunts made against Subban come just one day after the AHL suspended San Jose Barracuda forward Krystof Hrabik 30 days for making a racist gesture against Boko Imama of the Tucson Roadrunners.

All this within the same week the Boston Bruins finally retired the number of Willie O’Ree, the NHL’s first black player.

Hockey culture is broken and has been for some time. We’ve been witness to far too many racist incidents over the years, and there are many more we’ll never know of at the lower and youth levels of the sport. The NHL and other hockey leagues continue to fester this toxic culture of racism, sexism, homophobia, and assault as long as the sport allows the culprits to skate away with no consequences.

Which is why the hockey world has to adopt zero-tolerance policies, especially in regards to racism. Nothing the hockey world has done so far, from meager punishments to inclusion seminars, has worked to curb racist words and acts. If the NHL and other hockey leagues want to stomp out racism as much as they claim to, throwing out the racists and locking the doors behind them is the best way to make an impact.

Hockey should not be a space for racists. Period. End of discussion. Second, third, and fourth chances shouldn’t exist for racism this blatant and overt that it was made in a packed stadium of thousands of people. Instituting zero-tolerance policies should be the least the NHL and hockey leagues can do to protect its marginalized players, fans, and staff.

It’s past time the hockey world stopped enabling this behavior and started taking concrete action.

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