Elmira Jackals 2015-2016 Season Schedule Breakdown
Things will be a little different for the Elmira Jackals when they open their 2015-2016 ECHL Kelly Cup campaign on October 16th. As a whole, the ECHL has seen a lot of realignment this offseason.
First and foremost, three former ECHL teams – the Ontario Reign, Bakersfield Condors and Stockton Thunder – have now moved to the American Hockey League.
With that, the Manchester Monarchs, Adirondack Thunder and Norfolk Admirals will now play in the ECHL this season. All three will play in the Eastern Conference’s East Division.
Other conference realignments: the Brampton Beast move to the Eastern Conference, while Evansville, Fort Wayne, Cincinnati and Indy all move to the Western Conference.
There’s also been several division realignments.
After all is said and done, the Elmira Jackals remain the East Division alongside Manchester, Adirondack, Reading and Norfolk – and those are the teams they’ll see a lot of this season.
In fact, 42 of the team’s 72 games this season will be played against divisional opponents, including 12 games against the Reading Royals and 11 games each against Manchester and Adirondack. They’ll also face Norfolk eight times.
In non-divisional opponents, Brampton is at the top of the list, with 11 games against that opponent this season.
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The Elmira Jackals will also face Wheeling, Kalamazoo and Toledo of the North Division, overall playing 24 games against teams in that division. As for teams in the South Division, they’ll face only Orlando, South Carolina and Florida – no games against the newly-renamed Greenville Swamp Rabbits or the Gwinnett Gladiators.
Once again, the Elmira Jackals face no Western Conference opponents.
The Monarchs and Thunder, both new teams to the ECHL, will each visit Elmira six times this season, giving Jackals fans plenty of chances to see the new teams in action. Brampton and Reading will also visit Elmira six times, so if you’re headed to First Arena for a home game – there’s a good chance it could be against once of those teams.
The Jackals will face the Eastern Conference Champions, the South Carolina Stingrays, twice – but both of those games are away. They won’t at all face the Kelly Cup Champion Allen Americans.
Last season, the Elmira Jackals went 32-33-0-7 with 71 points on the season. That was good for sixth in the East Division and 12th in the Eastern Conference.
In comparison, Toledo finished atop the league with 107 points and a record of 50-15-5-2.
Elmira opens this season with a three-game homestand, starting when they host Adirondack on October 16th. Three of the team’s first five games will be played against the Royals – and overall, five of the team’s seven games in October will see them face divisional opponents, an early chance to grab points that could be crucial later on in the run for the playoffs.
Throughout the season, the team’s longest homestand is a six-game schedule between January 8th and January 18th that sees the team host Manchester, Norfolk, Reading, Adirondack and Brampton.
The Jackals’ longest road stand: six games, between February 6th and February 14th. They’ll visit Manchester, Adirondack, Florida and Orlando.
The team’s busiest month: January, with 14 games on the slate, including nine home games and five away meetings.
The Elmira Jackals will close out the season at home against Brampton on April 9th, the end to a home-and-home with the Beast.