ECHL Notebook: Trades, A Pseudo Hat Trick and Friday Night Fights

Trades, fights and a trio of firsts headline this week’s edition of the Notebook. Let’s dive in.

The Savannah Ghost Pirates currently sit in third place in the South Division (8-5-0, 16 points as of Monday).

While it’s customary for teams to have one or two big goal-scorers, Savannah has five players who have at least 10 through 13 games: Riley Hughes (8-6-14); Reece Vitelli (4-10-14); Will Riedell (2-10-12); Ross Armour (5-6-11) and Dennis Cesana (3-7-10).

Hughes was named Inglasco ECHL Player of the Week for Oct. 28-Nov. 3, recording five points (2-3-5) during the week. He’s currently on a one-year AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers after appearing in 12 games for the Iowa Heartlanders last season.

Vitelli posted 41 points (10-31-41) in 48 contests with the Atlanta Gladiators and scored a goal in six games for AHL Tucson before coming to Savannah in late July.

Riedell split time between the Rapid City Rush and the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers last season, scoring 22 points (8-14-22) in 48 games.

Armour appeared in 44 games last season for the Ghost Pirates, totaling 35 points (10-25-35). His 0.80 point/game ratio ranked second on the Ghost Pirates among players who played 40-plus games.

Cesana signed with the Checkers last February after playing 10 games with the Florida Everblades part of last season.

On Sunday, the Fort Wayne Komets announced they have traded forward Filip Fornåå Svensson to Norfolk for cash considerations. Fornåå Svensson played three games with the Komets, registering an assist.

The team also signed forward Michael Gildon ahead of Saturday’s home game against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Gildon, 23, made his pro debut with Worcester, appearing in three games with the Railers.

Before turning pro, the Plano, Texas native played five seasons with Ohio State, appearing in 118 games with the Buckeyes, scoring 38 points (12-26-38).

The Allen Americans also made a deal over the weekend, acquiring forward Ryan Mahshie from the Orlando Solar Bears.

Mahshie played eight games this season with Orlando and had no points. In 2023-24, he had a goal for one point over 12 games.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound forward played three years of collegiate hockey at R.P.I., where he led his team in scoring in 2022-23, with 22 points (15 goals and 7 assists), and one season at the University of Connecticut.

Last week, I predicted Worcester Railers captain Anthony Repaci would pick up a Player of the Week award for his performance the previous week. (I’m glad I didn’t jinx him because he won).

Repaci hit a milestone in Saturday’s victory over the Trois-Rivieres Lions. His game-tying goal surpassed Barry Almeida for the franchise record in points scored at 151.

Worcester lost three of its four games last week, but Repaci continues to be a bright spot.

Fort Wayne Komets forward Nick Deakin-Poot achieved three firsts in Sunday’s 6-1 victory over the Cincinnati Cyclones.

Deakin-Poot, in his rookie season out of Acadia University, notched his first goal and first assist while dropping the gloves for his first pro bout.

Midway through the second period, Deakin-Poot took a pass from Jack Gorniak after a Cincy turnover to put Fort Wayne ahead 3-0. His first assist and fight also came in a wild, physical contest.

Maybe not an official hat trick, per se, but it all counts.

Speaking of fights, the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson bout may not have lived up to the hype, but Friday night had its share of must-see battles on the ice, minus the gloves. Here are three.

Toledo Draws A Crowd

If a team wants to sell out the arena night after night, it always helps when you win.

The Toledo Walleye have been doing a lot of both lately. Over the weekend, they extended their franchise-record sellout streak to 39 games. It’s been nearly a year since the Huntington Center didn’t sell out a game. The last non-sellout occurred on Dec. 3, 2023 against the Iowa Heartlanders.

It hasn’t hurt that the Walleye continue to win. As of Monday, they sit atop the Central Division at 9-3-1.