The Chicago Express were a professional ice hockey team located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, serving the Chicago market. The Express were a member of the North Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference.[1] The team played its home games at the Sears Centre.[2]
On April 6, 2012, it was announced that the Chicago Express would cease operations due to poor attendance numbers and lack of support.[4] The Express finished last in the league for average attendance with 2,508.[5] On some nights, the Express, which also had AHL and NHL competition in the same market, was struggling to get 1,000 spectators at its games.
The team formed out of talks between owner Craig Drecktrah and officials at the Sears Centre. On the heels of the Chicago Hounds folding in 2009 after only playing one season (2006–07) at the Sears Centre, Drecktrah worked with arena and Hoffman Estates village officials to bring in an ECHL franchise.[2] The league approved the franchise's application at the ECHL's annual Board of Governors Meeting in June 2010.[6]
Team nameedit
Express center ice logo during their first and only ECHL season in 2011-12
To name the new franchise, the team held a special name the team contest that eventually received over a thousand unique name suggestions. On July 22, the four finalists for the team name were unveiled. They were the Chicago Blizzard, Hoffman Estates Hammers, Chicago Knights and Chicago Express. Voting for the team's name closed on August 4, with Express announced as the winner on September 21. The final four portion of the contest received a total of 20,000 votes.[7]
2011-2012 seasonedit
Under the direction of Steve Martinson, the Express finished with a record of 34-26-8-4, good enough for 80 points and second place in the North Division, four points behind the division leading Kalamazoo Wings. However, this was only good enough for ninth in Eastern Conference. They were actually tied with the eighth place Reading Royals points wise, however they missed out on the playoffs because the Royals had more wins.
The Express foldedit
At the end of the season, the Express folded outright. There were a myriad of reason for this. Firstly, the Express could not hope to compete with the Chicago Blackhawks (NHL) and the Chicago Wolves (AHL). The team had no radio and television deals, and were not promoted on those mediums. The team also had a hard time drawing fans to Hoffman Estates from the heart of the city.[8]
Mascotedit
The mascot for the Chicago Express was "Traxx" the Horse.
Playersedit
Chaz Johnson finished as Chicago's all-time leader in goals scored with 20.Tyler Donati led the Express with 47 assists and 61 points.Devin DiDiomete was the Express' all-time leader in penalty minutes.Allen York played for both the Express and the NHL'sColumbus Blue Jackets in the 2011–12 season.Nathan Lutz was the captain of the Express.
^. ECHL. August 1, 2011. Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
^ abSelvam, Ashok (June 19, 2010). "Sears Centre to house new hockey team". Daily Herald. Retrieved July 13, 2011.[dead link]
^"Columbus Blue Jackets Announce ECHL Affiliation Agreement Chicago Express for 2011-12". Columbus Blue Jackets. July 13, 2011. from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
^. ECHL. April 6, 2012. Archived from the original on April 21, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
^. ECHL. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
^. ECHL. June 24, 2010. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
^Selvam, Ashok (September 21, 2010). . Daily Herald. Archived from the original on September 24, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^. Q101 Alternative. April 7, 2012. Archived from the original on June 30, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
^. ECHL. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
External linksedit
Official website of the ECHL
November 10, 2023
chicago, express, other, uses, disambiguation, were, professional, hockey, team, located, hoffman, estates, illinois, serving, chicago, market, express, were, member, north, division, echl, eastern, conference, team, played, home, games, sears, centre, cityhof. For other uses see Chicago Express disambiguation The Chicago Express were a professional ice hockey team located in Hoffman Estates Illinois serving the Chicago market The Express were a member of the North Division of the ECHL s Eastern Conference 1 The team played its home games at the Sears Centre 2 Chicago ExpressCityHoffman Estates IllinoisLeagueECHLConferenceEasternDivisionNorthOperated2011 2012Home arenaSears CentreColorsNavy Gray Sky Blue Owner s Craig DrecktrahHead coachSteve MartinsonAffiliateColumbus Blue Jackets NHL Springfield Falcons AHL Franchise history2011 2012Chicago ExpressThe Express were owned by Craig Drecktrah who formerly owned the United Hockey League s Chicago Hounds and Rockford IceHogs It was announced on July 13 2011 that the Express would be affiliated with the NHL s Columbus Blue Jackets and the AHL s Springfield Falcons 3 On April 6 2012 it was announced that the Chicago Express would cease operations due to poor attendance numbers and lack of support 4 The Express finished last in the league for average attendance with 2 508 5 On some nights the Express which also had AHL and NHL competition in the same market was struggling to get 1 000 spectators at its games Contents 1 Team history 1 1 Inception 1 2 Team name 1 3 2011 2012 season 1 4 The Express fold 2 Mascot 3 Players 3 1 Team captain 4 References 5 External linksTeam history edit nbsp Express mascot Traxx the horse left Inception edit The team formed out of talks between owner Craig Drecktrah and officials at the Sears Centre On the heels of the Chicago Hounds folding in 2009 after only playing one season 2006 07 at the Sears Centre Drecktrah worked with arena and Hoffman Estates village officials to bring in an ECHL franchise 2 The league approved the franchise s application at the ECHL s annual Board of Governors Meeting in June 2010 6 Team name edit nbsp Express center ice logo during their first and only ECHL season in 2011 12To name the new franchise the team held a special name the team contest that eventually received over a thousand unique name suggestions On July 22 the four finalists for the team name were unveiled They were the Chicago Blizzard Hoffman Estates Hammers Chicago Knights and Chicago Express Voting for the team s name closed on August 4 with Express announced as the winner on September 21 The final four portion of the contest received a total of 20 000 votes 7 2011 2012 season edit Under the direction of Steve Martinson the Express finished with a record of 34 26 8 4 good enough for 80 points and second place in the North Division four points behind the division leading Kalamazoo Wings However this was only good enough for ninth in Eastern Conference They were actually tied with the eighth place Reading Royals points wise however they missed out on the playoffs because the Royals had more wins The Express fold edit At the end of the season the Express folded outright There were a myriad of reason for this Firstly the Express could not hope to compete with the Chicago Blackhawks NHL and the Chicago Wolves AHL The team had no radio and television deals and were not promoted on those mediums The team also had a hard time drawing fans to Hoffman Estates from the heart of the city 8 Mascot editThe mascot for the Chicago Express was Traxx the Horse Players edit nbsp Chaz Johnson finished as Chicago s all time leader in goals scored with 20 nbsp Tyler Donati led the Express with 47 assists and 61 points nbsp Devin DiDiomete was the Express all time leader in penalty minutes nbsp Allen York played for both the Express and the NHL s Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2011 12 season nbsp Nathan Lutz was the captain of the Express SkatersPlayer Pos GP G A Pts PIMDrew Akins 20 F 16 1 0 1 13Josh Burrows 4 D 43 3 8 11 25Darcy Campbell 6 D 61 8 29 37 87Joe Cucci 14 C 14 1 4 5 11Steven Delisle 5 D 38 1 3 4 20Devin DiDiomete 27 LW 41 11 16 27 277Tyler Donati 19 RW 46 14 47 61 29Taylor Ellington 4 D 17 5 6 11 14Mike Embach 16 F 60 13 13 26 41Pierre Luc Faubert 72 RW 72 19 25 44 70Matt Gingera 26 F 6 1 0 1 2Ryley Grantham 71 F 19 6 5 11 75Maxime Gratchev 93 F 27 8 20 28 38Dan Henningson 12 D 27 1 2 3 10Chaz Johnson 98 RW 64 20 15 35 132Tyler Johnson 18 C 20 3 3 6 8Scott Lehman 7 D 11 0 2 2 7Nathan Lutz 44 D 72 6 7 13 121Anthony Maiani 7 F 39 4 14 18 10Aaron Marvin 17 C 65 11 27 38 49Kyler Moje 15 F 2 0 0 0 0Brett Motherwell 42 D 25 0 8 8 20Kyle Ostrow 9 F 59 11 20 31 23Chad Painchaud 27 LW 27 11 11 22 29Trent Palm 5 D 4 0 0 0 0Danick Paquette 20 F 13 7 4 11 27Drew Paris 2 D 22 3 6 9 10Blair Riley 22 LW 15 7 9 16 8Bobby Robins 25 F 28 7 8 15 123Tony Romano 15 C 3 0 0 0 0Johan Ryd 26 F 3 0 0 0 0Tim Spencer 21 F 8 0 1 1 42Evan Stephens 24 D 48 3 16 19 22Mike Thomas 7 F 2 0 0 0 4Yannick Tifu 10 C 17 3 8 11 19Matt Tomassoni 24 D 3 0 0 0 0Scott Wietecha 3 D 54 14 13 27 69Jonathan Zion 8 D 40 10 15 25 29GoaltendersPlayer GP MIN W L OTL GAA SV SOPaul Dainton 31 18 794 6 3 2 3 25 896 1Rob Madore 31 12 722 8 3 1 2 41 926 1Peter Mannino 31 22 1334 10 8 2 3 15 899 1Rob Nolan 47 16 844 6 8 1 2 99 896 0Brooks Ostergard 47 1 65 0 0 1 4 65 844 0Allen York 30 11 604 4 4 1 3 28 892 0All player statistics taken from the ECHL com 9 Team captain edit Nathan Lutz 2011 12References edit Annual ECHL Board of Governors Meeting concludes ECHL August 1 2011 Archived from the original on August 24 2011 Retrieved August 1 2011 a b Selvam Ashok June 19 2010 Sears Centre to house new hockey team Daily Herald Retrieved July 13 2011 dead link Columbus Blue Jackets Announce ECHL Affiliation Agreement Chicago Express for 2011 12 Columbus Blue Jackets July 13 2011 Archived from the original on 2011 07 17 Retrieved July 13 2011 CHICAGO EXPRESS CEASE OPERATIONS ECHL April 6 2012 Archived from the original on April 21 2012 Retrieved April 6 2012 2011 12 Attendance Report ECHL Archived from the original on July 15 2012 Retrieved April 6 2012 Expansion membership approved for Chicago ECHL June 24 2010 Archived from the original on July 23 2011 Retrieved July 13 2011 Selvam Ashok September 21 2010 Sears Centre welcomes new hockey team to town Daily Herald Archived from the original on September 24 2010 Retrieved July 13 2011 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link BREAKING NEWS CHICAGO EXPRESS FOLDS AFTER JUST ONE SEASON Q101 Alternative Q101 Alternative April 7 2012 Archived from the original on June 30 2016 Retrieved June 21 2016 2011 12 Season Statistics Chicago Express ECHL Archived from the original on March 5 2016 Retrieved April 26 2012 External links editOfficial website of the ECHL Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Chicago Express amp oldid 1159263762, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
