The Colorado Avalanche have announced a new multi-year partnership with a new ECHL team named The New Mexico Goatheads, which will debut at the start of the 2026-27 season
The Colorado Avalanche have announced they have reached an agreement with the ECHL and the Colorado Eagles in the AHL that, at the start of the 2026-27 season, the New Mexico Goatheads will serve as their ECHL affiliate within the Colorado Avalanche organization.
The Goatheads play at the Rio Rancho Events Center in Rio Rancho, M.M. This will be the first time since the 2008-09 season that a professional hockey team competed in the state of New Mexico, back when they were called the New Mexico Scorpions.
“The ECHL is a key part of the Avalanche-Eagles player development equation, and we’re excited to establish this multi-year partnership with the New Mexico Goatheads,” said Avalanche Assistant General Manager and Eagles General Manager Kevin McDonald.
“We were impressed with the Albuquerque market when we were evaluating options, and Rio Rancho will provide a strong environment for players to grow both on and off the ice.”
Before the Goatheads, the Avalanche’s original ECHL affiliate was the Utah Grizzlies, with whom they've been since the 2014-15 season. Numerous current Avalanche players have played in the ECHL. Trent Miner, Mackenzie Blackwood, and Scott Wedgewood all played, including defenseman Jack Ahcan.
Even head coach Jared Bednar played and coached in the ECHL for numerous seasons and different teams, such as the Huntington Blizzard and the South Carolina Stingrays, where he played 434 games in the ECHL, finishing with 43 goals and 130 assists for 170 points and winning the ECHL Stanley Kelly Championship twice, once in the 1996-97 and the other in the 2000-01 season with the South Carolina Stingrays.
After the 2001-02 season, he would retire but remain with the Stingrays, climbing the management ladder from Assistant Coach to Vice President of Hockey Operations to Head Coach and General Manager. Later in 2020, he would be recognized for his time in the ECHL and be inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame.
