Atlantic Coast Hockey League (2002–03)

The Atlantic Coast Hockey League was a professional minor league ice hockey league based in the United States. The second league to bear the name Atlantic Coast Hockey League, it operated for only one season, 2002–2003, before its franchises split into two new leagues.

Atlantic Coast Hockey League
SportIce hockey
Founded2002
Ceased2003
No. of teams6
Last
champion(s)		Orlando Seals

History

The 2002 incarnation of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League was the second organization to bear this name, after the original Atlantic Coast Hockey League, the early 1980s predecessor of the East Coast Hockey League. The ACHL would last only one season, and was notable for the early-season move of the St. Petersburg Parrots to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After a bitter split among the franchises, the league split into two new leagues, the South East Hockey League and World Hockey Association 2. Surviving franchises would later rejoin each other for the 2004–05 season in the Southern Professional Hockey League.

The Orlando Seals won the ACHL's only regular season and playoff championships.

Teams

Two expansion teams were planned for the 2003–04 season, before the league folded:

League split

After the 2002–03 season, David Waronker, who owned four of the ACHL's teams in whole or in part, announced he would be founding a new league the following year. This was the World Hockey Association 2, which was envisioned as a developmental league to a revived World Hockey Association. Waronker's teams, the Jacksonville Barracudas, the Macon Trax, the Orlando Seals, and the ACHL expansion team, the Miami Manatees, joined this new league; they were joined by the Lakeland Loggerheads and the Alabama Slammers. The Cape Fear Fire Antz and the Knoxville Ice Bears joined the SEHL with the Huntsville Channel Cats (who were also briefly an ACHL expansion team), the Tupelo T-Rex (who never played due to contractual issues with a previous professional league), and eventually the Winston-Salem T-Birds (who began the season known as the Winston-Salem Hockey Club) as the 4th team.

Final standings

Regular season
Team GP W L OTL GF GA Pts
Orlando Seals594314223515888
Knoxville Ice Bears593621223118674
Macon Trax593125321420265
St. Pete/Winston-Salem Parrots572823617117462
Cape Fear Fire Antz602137318024344
Jacksonville Barracudas601841118024837

Playoffs
Semifinals Final
              
1 Orlando Seals 3 4 1 x x
3 Macon Trax 2 3 0 x x
1 Orlando Seals 2 3 8 x x
2 Knoxville Ice Bears 1 1 1 x x
4 St. Pete/Winston-Salem Parrots 0 1 0 x x
2 Knoxville Ice Bears 1 3 3 x x

Final

All times are local (EST)

March 26, 2003
7:00 pm		Knoxville1 – 2
(1–1, 0–1, 0–0)		OrlandoTD Waterhouse Centre, Orlando, FL
Game reference
Fred BeaubeinGoaliesDavid Goverde
Gatis Tsplis (Savchenko, Desjarlais) - pp - 5:391 – 0
1 – 110:36 - Todd Nowicki (Sanderson, White)
1 – 26:03 - Louis Goulet (Nowicki, Lipuma)
4 minPenalties8 min
32Shots29
March 28, 2003
7:30 pm		Knoxville1 – 3
(0–1, 0–1, 1–1)		OrlandoTD Waterhouse Centre, Orlando, FL
Game reference
Fred BeaubienGoaliesDavid Goverde
0 – 119:30 - Todd Nowicki (Goulet, White)
0 – 21:05 - Terry Ryan (Seroski)
Jim Bermingham (Desjarlais, Rodriguez) - 0:521 – 2
1 – 319:49 - en - Terry Ryan (Goulet, Stephens)
4 minPenalties2 min
34Shots30
March 29, 2003
7:30 pm		Orlando8 – 1
(5–0, 2–1, 1–0)		KnoxvilleJames White Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN
Attendance: 3,258
Game reference
David GoverdeGoaliesFred Beaubien (out 11:42 1st)
Jason Tapp (in 11:42 1st)
Louie Goulet (Stephens) - 2:571 – 0
Mark White - 4:282 – 0
Brad Federenko (Ryan, Sanderson) - 5:293 – 0
Brad Federenko (Seroski) - 11:244 – 0
Terry Ryan - 11:425 – 0
5 – 14:10 - Todd MacIsaac (Alepin, Rodriguez)
B.J. Stephens (Johnson) - 4:456 – 1
Terry Ryan (White, Federenko) - 9:557 – 1
Darcy Johnson (Goulet, Stephens) - 8:288 – 1
2 minPenalties2 min
37Shots16

See also
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