In a very welcome change of pace I am going to get away from the UB coaching situation and put up an update about the ECHL:
I received an email today from a source regarding the future of the ECHL. In addition to Robert Morris Leaving the Conference (joining the ESHCL) Syracuse will leave the league after this season. The Orange will apparently be joining the NECHL which will put them in a league with other Central New York Teams like Ithaca, Cornell, and Binghamton. It will also put them in the same league as Rutgers (who like Syracuse is a Big-East team for scholarship athletics.
View ECHL / NECHL MAP in a larger map
View ECHL / NECHL MAP in a larger map
| 2010-2011 ECHL Schools in Blue, Robert Morris in Red (leaving ECHL to join the ESCHL), NEHCL in Purple, and Penn State Berks (leaving NECHL after this season) in Yellow, Syracuse (Leaving the ECHL to join the NECHL |
In a way this balances out the loss of Robert Morris as the Orange are one of the weaker teams in the conference:
| School | GP | W | L | SOL | OTL | PTS |
| Robert Morris* | 21 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| Buffalo | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| Canton | 18 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 22 |
| Niagara | 20 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 19 |
| Syracuse* | 20 | 6 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| Mercyhurst | 22 | 6 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Rochester | 14 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| R.I.T | 21 | 4 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Current ECHL Standings
* - Leaving the ECHL in 2010-2011
The ECHL will still remain an auto bid conference and being reduced to six members still keeps it as big, or bigger than some other auto bid leagues. While the Orange brought a name to the conference losing Syracuse could be a net plus. UB, Canton, and Niagara (the remaining powers) now get to pad their schedule with some power teams to make up for the softness that the bottom three teams bring.