Mile High Sticking
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Colorado Avalanche new affiliations and movements

By Mary Callie Agnew

The Colorado Eagles hockey team hosted the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs in the first game of the President's Cup Finals in Loveland Friday night May 13, 2011. Karl Gehring/The Denver Post (Photo By Karl Gehring/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
The Colorado Eagles hockey team hosted the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs in the first game of the President's Cup Finals in Loveland Friday night May 13, 2011. Karl Gehring/The Denver Post (Photo By Karl Gehring/The Denver Post via Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Avalanche are getting a new affiliate next season and promoting an existing affiliate in the restructure of their organization.

Yesterday the Colorado Avalanche officially announced that their new ECHL affiliate would be the Utah Grizzlies. They needed a new ECHL affiliate because their previous one, the Colorado Eagles, had been promoted to their AHL affiliate.

This question keeps coming up so I want to clarify how the moving parts came. With Vegas creating a 31st NHL team and there only being 30 AHL teams, the Avalanche were sharing the San Antonio Rampage with the St. Louis Blues.

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Naturally, the more traditional procedure is to have a single AHL team for each NHL team. To match the NHL there was an open position for a new AHL team. The Colorado Eagles won the bid and became the 31st AHL team.

It only made sense for the Colorado Eagles to become the Colorado Avalanche’s new AHL affiliate. When a player gets called up from the minors or sent down they can take about an hour drive on I-25  to get from one to the other.

The players in the Avalanche minor league system under contract with the Avalanche will move from San Antonio to the Eagles. However there was now an opening for the third farm team which is what the Eagles were previously.

The AHL is the feeder club for the NHL, and the ECHL feeds into the AHL. So, a player signed to an NHL contract may be moved between all three leagues as needed.

Insert the new affiliation between the Avalanche and the Utah Grizzlies. Eagles fans remember playing against Utah. Now Utah will take over the Eagles old positioning in the minors as a feeder for the farm team. The Utah Grizzlies were previous affiliates with the Anaheim Ducks.

Here’s what Grizzlies CEO Kevin Bruder said of the new affiliation:

"“Colorado’s dedication to winning and their acknowledgment of the pride and winning culture that we have in our organization is exciting.”"

Avalanche Assistant GM/GM of the Colorado Eagles, Craig Billington, also saw positives in the new affiliation:

"“The Grizzlies are a strong organization with ties to the state of Colorado dating back even before the Avalanche came to Denver. The Grizzlies provide a great environment for our prospects to develop in and now gives us the opportunity to have our NHL, AHL and ECHL club all within the Rocky Mountain region.”"

Billington is referring to the fact that the Utah Grizzlies were once the Denver Grizzlies, the IHL team Colorado had from 1994-95. The Grizzlies won the Turner Cup that season. The team had to vacate McNichol’s Arena  after just one year to make way for the incoming NHL franchise, the Colorado Avalanche.

Next season Avalanche fans will be able to make the short trip to Loveland to see the future of the Avalanche and their prospects. As fans we can watch these players grow and develop right in front of our eyes and watch their progression into the NHL if given the opportunity.

Next: Prospect Update on Eagles Players

The Colorado Avalanche and Eagles both have sellout records, this affiliation gives us a reason to try to beat our own records fans.

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