Just as the new hockey season is about to start, the Quad City Mallards are making a major change. Today the board of governors of the E-C-H-L accepted their application to join the league.
Also joining the former East Coast Hockey League are the other recent members of the Central Hockey League - Allen, Brampton, Missouri, Rapid City, Tulsa, and Wichita.
Mallards spokesman Brian Lavelle says this will be a very good "move" for the Quad Cities.
For players, Lavelle says the ECHL is a very important "developmental" league.
Lavelle says he knows the Mallards will play their first home game of the season on October 24th, but many other questions have not been answered yet - when will training camp start, when will the season open, and how will the ECHL be divided into conferences and divisions.
