Introducing the Kalamazoo Wings
The Kalamazoo Kings will play a number of ice hockey games at a variety of including Wings Stadium, Allen County War Memorial Coliseum and Amway Center. Formed in 1999, the Kalamazoo Wings were initially named the Madison Kodiaks and were a part of the United Hockey League. Playing in Madison for a year, the team relocated to Kalamazoo after which the ice hockey franchise became known as the Kalamazoo Wings. With the name, the team was also able to obtain the logo of an old ice hockey team that competed in the IHL from 1973 till 2000. From 2000 till 2007 the Kalamazoo Wings played in the UHL after which it joined the East Coast Hockey League in 2008. The Wings’ current ECHL affiliation is with the American Hockey League franchise, Chicago Wolves.
2014 Roster
The Kalamazoo Wings’ current roster consists of 36 players that include 4 left wringers, 7 right wringers, 4 center players, 11 defencemen, 8 forward players and 2 goalies. The left wringer with the greatest number of goal points is Eric Kattelus (35 goal points, 14 goals and 19 assists). The center player on top of the team is Justin Taylor with 43 goal points, 8 goals and 9 assists. Similarly, the top scorer defenseman for the Kalamazoo Wings is Sam Ftorek with 41 goal points, 9 goals and 19 assists. The most successful forward player of the 2013 season is Ryan Del Monte with 34 goals points, 4 goals and 8 assists. Lastly, goalie Jordan Binnington has a total of 24 goals points with 1 assist. The player with the highest number of goals and goal points in the Kalamazoo Wings is currently the center player, Justin Taylor from Mindemoya, Ontario.
Wins, Singles & Career Records
Throughout the team’s career, the Wings have won 2 International Hockey League Championships in the year 1980 and 1981, a UHL regular season title in 2005, 5 IHL Division championships in 1980, 1981, 1991, 1994 and 1999, a UHL division title in 2005, and 2 ECHL division wins in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Conference wins for the Kalamazoo Wings include 2 IHL wins in 1980 and 1981, a UHL title in 2005 and an ECHL win in 2011. Apart from this the ice hockey team has bagged two Turner Cups and a Colonial Cup.
Since its inception, the Kalamazoo Wings has been ranked among the top five league teams for 8 times. The team’s most successful season was the 2005-06 one in which it scored 76 goal points with a total score of 111. With this the Wings landed on top of the UHL. Single season records for the team include most goals by Dave Michayluk i.e. 66 goals in 1985, most assists and points scored by Rob Brown in 1994 and the most number of penalty minutes (648) by player Kevin Evans in 1987. The greatest amount of career goals for the Kalamazoo Wings is 239 scored by Kevin Schamehorn.
Supporting the colors blue, red and white, the Kalamazoo Wings are all set to compete in a string of exciting ice hockey games. Training under the leadership of head coach, Nick Bootland and management of general manager, Jim Burlew, the successful ECHL franchise is expected to bring forth its a-game.