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28-694: Beginning with the 2012–13 season, the Bulls played their home games at the Cow Palace (former home of their NHL affiliate, the San Jose Sharks ), which is right on the Daly City/San Francisco border. To accommodate the Bulls, the team spent $ 2 million installing a new ice system and a custom-made 360-degree wraparound LED video scoreboard with its game presentation system and ten sets of speaker arrays. The center hung video board has

56-542: A 360 degree view for game presentation and full timekeeping and statistics. The new Colosseo Cube scoreboard had to be custom built by Colosseo USA because of the weight limitations on the 71-year-old building's roof. The Cow Palace made steel support beams and installed them in the rafters to help provide the additional support. On July 11, 2012, the National Hockey League 's San Jose Sharks announced that they had entered into an affiliation agreement with

84-758: A minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL in Evansville, Indiana . The franchise was originally a member of the United Hockey League before it merged into the Central Hockey League in 2010. The franchise won four post-season championship titles in the UHL in 1999, 2002, 2004 and 2005. The franchise played one season at Swonder Ice Arena before moving to the Ford Center beginning in

112-687: The 2011–12 season . The IceMen were formerly known as the Muskegon Fury from 1992 to 2008, and Muskegon Lumberjacks from 2008 to 2010. The IceMen franchise replaced the original Evansville IceMen that were a part of the All American Hockey League before folding in 2010. The franchise went dormant after the 2015–16 season and were replaced at the Ford Center by the Evansville Thunderbolts in

140-641: The Augusta Lynx and Fresno Falcons , both of which folded during the 2008–09 season . 2012%E2%80%9313 ECHL season The 2012–13 ECHL season was the 25th season of the ECHL . The regular season schedule ran from October 12, 2012 to March 30, 2013, with the Kelly Cup playoffs to follow. The All-Star Game , not held in 2011-12, was brought back and held on January 23, 2013 at Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado , home of

168-541: The Binghamton Senators , after losing their Blue Jackets affiliation. In January 2015, Mullins was replaced by Al Sims due to a poor start to the season (9–16–4). On November 16, 2015, team owner Ron Geary wrote a letter to the IceMen fans that the team's operating lease with the Ford Center was ending after the 2015–16 season. Despite attempts to negotiate a lease extension with the city since February 2015,

196-721: The Colorado Eagles . On September 21, 2011, the ECHL Board of Governors approved the membership of the San Francisco Bulls for the 2012–13 season. The Bulls will play in the Cow Palace , which was the home of the San Jose Sharks of the NHL for their first two seasons. On November 1, 2011, the ECHL Board of Governors approved the membership of the reincarnation of the Orlando Solar Bears for

224-604: The Peoria Rivermen announced that the IceMen would be their ECHL farm club, cutting ties with the Alaska Aces . The IceMen announced on June 5, 2014, that they had hired Dwight Mullins as the new head coach and was joined by former IceMen player Josh Beaulieu as assistant coach. Prior to the 2014–15 season , the IceMen agreed to a new affiliation contract with the Ottawa Senators and their AHL affiliate,

252-672: The Southern Professional Hockey League . The IceMen franchise had ECHL approval to relocate to Owensboro, Kentucky , pending a complete renovation of the Owensboro Sportscenter . However, the team's ownership was unable to obtain the financing for the renovations and the deal with Owensboro was voided in September 2016. In January 2017, part of the franchise was sold to an ownership group based out of Jacksonville, Florida , and approved by

280-427: The 1st/8th series plays the winner of the 4th/5th series while 2nd/7th winner plays against the 3rd/6th winner in the conference semifinal series. The Board of Governors also elected to change the playoff format such that all rounds of the playoffs were best of seven series. For 2013, the conference finals and Kelly Cup finals used a two-referee system. Evansville IceMen The Evansville IceMen were

308-491: The 2012–13 season, making these two franchises the last to be added. The league's annual Board of Governors meeting concluded on June 25, 2012. Announcements included the re-election of Steve Chapman , president of the Gwinnett Gladiators , to his seventh term as board president, capping of league membership at 26 teams, adoption of a two-referee system for the conference finals and Kelly Cup finals, and

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336-725: The 2012–13 season. The Solar Bears will play in the Amway Center which is currently home to the NBA 's Orlando Magic . The league announced on April 6, 2012, that the expansion franchise Chicago Express had withdrawn from the ECHL, effective immediately. The Express finished their inaugural season ninth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 34 wins, 26 losses, 8 overtime losses, and 4 losses in shootouts, eliminating them from playoff contention. The team also finished last in

364-540: The Board of Governors' preseason meeting. The preseason Board of Governors meeting was held on September 27, 2012. Announcements included changes to the Kelly Cup playoff format and a change to the league's reserve list policy. The 3-day and 7-day injured reserve spots were changed to two generic reserve spots with no minimum stay required. No change was made to the 21-day reserve list policy. The 2013 ECHL All-Star Game

392-857: The Bulls. The Bulls were the first ice hockey team to represent San Francisco since the San Francisco Spiders of the International Hockey League played only the 1995-96 season before folding. The team made its debut on October 12, 2012, with a 4-3 loss to the Bakersfield Condors in front of a capacity crowd of 8,277 at the Cow Palace. They finished the regular season eighth in the Western Conference with 25 wins, 38 losses, 2 overtime losses, and 7 shootout losses, falling four games to one to

420-527: The Ford Center beginning in the 2016–17 season , thus displacing the IceMen franchise from Evansville. Finally, on March 14, the IceMen and the ECHL announced the franchise's relocation to Owensboro has been approved but the franchise would have to go dormant for the 2016–17 season to allow time for the necessary renovations on the Owensboro Sportscenter to be completed. However, by September 2016, Geary still had not taken over management of

448-589: The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Bulls might fold or move the next week. The team folded on January 27, 2014. At the time of their folding, the Bulls were eighth in the Western Conference with 15 wins, 20 losses, 4 overtime losses, and 1 shootout loss, and had a next-to-last attendance average of 2,292 fans per game (eclipsing only the Wheeling Nailers ). San Francisco was the third team in ECHL history to fold mid-season after

476-552: The Sportscenter and the City of Owensboro announced a different management company would take over the Sportscenter on October 1. On the September 30 deadline, Geary sent a letter to Mayor Ron Payne stating he would not be purchasing the Sportscenter because of too much cost to convert and refurbish the arena. In January 2017, Geary sold the sold part of the franchise to an ownership group based out of Jacksonville, Florida , and

504-449: The final ECHL deadline and Geary began relocation discussions with the City of Owensboro, Kentucky . On January 19, it was announced that Geary had agreed to terms with Owensboro and intended to relocate the team to the Owensboro Sportscenter if the IceMen were forced to leave the Ford Center. On February 8, 2016, the City of Evansville announced that it had secured an expansion team in the Southern Professional Hockey League to play at

532-488: The league The 2013 Kelly Cup playoffs format represented a significant departure from previous years. Eight teams qualified in the Eastern Conference: the three division winners plus the next five teams in the conference. With the addition of the expansion franchise in the San Francisco Bulls , the Board of Governors changed the Western Conference seeding such that eight teams qualified: two division winners and

560-822: The league for attendance, averaging 2,508 fans per game (compared to the league average of 4,282 fans per game). On May 17, 2012, the ECHL announced the addition of two expansion franchises - the Evansville IceMen and the Fort Wayne Komets , both located in Indiana and both former Central Hockey League markets. The IceMen will play home games at the Ford Center and the Komets at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum . The league also indicated that 23 teams would play in

588-728: The league on February 8. The league announced it would return to play in the 2017–18 season and became the Jacksonville Icemen . On February 8, 2010, it was announced that the Muskegon Lumberjacks would move to Evansville, Indiana as the Evansville IceMen at the conclusion of the 2009–10 International Hockey League season, replacing the team with the same name , and played their home games at Swonder Ice Arena . The United States Hockey League would then award an expansion team to Muskegon taking on

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616-613: The league re-alignment for the 2012–13 season. The San Francisco Bulls joined the Western Conference's Pacific Division, while in the Eastern Conference, the Orlando Solar Bears joined the South Division and the Fort Wayne Komets and Evansville IceMen joined the North Division following the departure of the Chicago Express . The league also voted to table any decision regarding the playoff format until

644-685: The name Muskegon Lumberjacks . On July 13, 2010, the International Hockey League merged with the Central Hockey League , retaining the name Central Hockey League . The merger had the Bloomington PrairieThunder , Dayton Gems , Evansville IceMen, Fort Wayne Komets and Quad City Mallards IHL franchises move to the Northern Conference of the CHL. In 2011, the IceMen moved their home games to

672-593: The new Ford Center in Evansville, playing in the inaugural event for the arena. On May 17, 2012, the IceMen were formally accepted into the ECHL, with membership to begin in the 2012–13 season. On June 15, 2012, the IceMen announced an affiliation with the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets and its primary AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons . Before the resumption of the new season on August 30, 2012,

700-410: The next six teams in the conference. This eliminated the Western Conference first-round bye. Similar to the NHL , the division winners were seeded as the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference and the top two seeds in the Western Conference; the conference winner faces the eighth seed, second faces seventh, third faces sixth, and fourth faces fifth in the conference quarterfinal round. The winner of

728-416: The top-seeded Alaska Aces in the first round of the Kelly Cup playoffs . Due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout , Minnesota Wild forward Torrey Mitchell , who was a former San Jose Shark, signed a standard contract with the Bulls on December 31, 2012. He played his first official game as a Bull two days later and scored the only regulation goal for the team in a 2-1 shootout loss at home. On January 20, 2014,

756-473: The two parties had not yet come to an agreement on new terms with the upcoming December 1 deadline (later extended to Dec. 15 and then again to January 6 when the 15th deadline was not met). Evansville had been reported to have been paying the highest rent in the ECHL since moving to the Ford Center in 2011, with as much as $ 650,000 per season compared to the league median of about $ 152,000. The City of Evansville and Geary were unable to come to an agreement before

784-580: Was played on January 23, 2013, and was hosted by the Colorado Eagles at Budweiser Events Center . The format featured the host team Eagles taking on the ECHL All-Star Team. The ECHL All-Stars won the game 7–3, scoring five unanswered goals in the second period to tie an ECHL All-Star Game record. Eastern Conference Western Conference * - Division leader; y - Won division; z - Won conference (and division) * - Division leader; y - Won division; b - Won Brabham Cup , best record in

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