Kalamazoo Wings

Ice hockey team in Michigan, US

For the K-Wings franchise that played in the original IHL, see Kalamazoo Wings (1974–2000).

Kalamazoo Wings

City| Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States
League| ECHL
Conference| Western
Division| Central
Founded| 1999 (in the UHL)
Home arena| Wings Event Center
Colors| Red, white, blue

Owner(s)| William D. Johnston/Ronda Stryker (Greenleaf Hospitality)
General manager| Toni Will
Head coach| Joel Martin
Captain| Collin Saccoman
Media| WKZO
Kalamazoo Gazette
Affiliates| Vancouver Canucks (NHL)
Abbotsford Canucks (AHL)
Website| kwings.com
Franchise history
1999–2000| Madison Kodiaks
2000–present| Kalamazoo Wings
Championships
Regular season titles| 1 UHL 2005–06
Division titles| 1 UHL 2005–06
4 ECHL 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14
Conference titles| 2 UHL 2005–06, 2006–07
1 ECHL 2010–11
Colonial Cups| 1 UHL 2005–06
Kelly Cups| 0 ECHL
Current season

The Kalamazoo Wings, nicknamed the K-Wings, are a mid-level professional ice hockey team in Kalamazoo, Michigan. A member of the ECHL's Western Conference, Central Division,[1] they play in the 5,113-seat Wings Event Center. They are the affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League, and the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.

Kalamazoo is home to the "Green Ice Game". Played since 1982 on St. Patrick's Day, it is one of the most celebrated games in minor league hockey. The team has sought to duplicate the game's success with the Pink Ice Game (Valentine's Day), the Orange Ice Game (Halloween), the Lavender Ice game (Hockey Fights Cancer) and the Rainbow Ice game.

## History

[edit]

A road game in October 2012 vs. Toledo Walleye.

The team began in the 1999–2000 season as the United Hockey League's Madison Kodiaks in Madison, Wisconsin. After one season in Madison, the franchise moved to Kalamazoo, where it renamed itself the Wings in honor of the original Wings that had played in the International Hockey League from 1974 through 2000. The new K-Wings obtained the rights to use the original team's name, colors, logos, and history as their own.[2]

The K-Wings played in the UHL from October 2000 until June 1, 2009, when they withdrew because of concerns that the league, which had renamed itself the International Hockey League in 2007, might go bankrupt. Eight days later, the K-Wings joined the ECHL. From September 13, 2012 until the end of the 2014–15 season, the Wings had an affiliation with the American Hockey League's Chicago Wolves.[3][4] They were also affiliated with the National Hockey League's Columbus Blue Jackets and Vancouver Canucks as well as their AHL affiliates the Springfield Falcons and Utica Comets, respectively.[5]

Prior to the 2015–16 season, the ECHL required teams to only have one official NHL/AHL affiliate, leading to the K-Wings only keeping their Columbus affiliation and the Blue Jackets' new AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters. They ended their affiliation with the Blue Jackets after one season and affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Syracuse Crunch for the 2016–17 season.[2] They changed again for the 2017–18 season to the Canucks and Comets, their previous affiliates for several seasons.[6]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wings voluntarily suspended operations for the 2020–21 ECHL season.[7] When the team returned for the 2021–22 season, they switched their affiliation back to the Columbus Blue Jackets.[8] On June 23, 2022, the Wings signed an affiliation extension with the Blue Jackets (and therefore the Cleveland Monsters also) for the 2022–23 season[9][10]

On July 10, 2023, Kalamazoo announced they had returned to the Vancouver Canucks organization in an affiliation agreement for the 2023–24 season.[11] They also entered an agreement with the Canucks AHL affiliate in Abbotsford.[12]

## Season records

[edit]

Season | GP | W | L | T/OTL | Pts | GF | GA | Pct | Regular Season Finish | Playoffs

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

United Hockey League
2000–01 | 74 | 37 | 31 | 6 | 80 | 220 | 220 | .541 | 3rd Southwest, 9th of 15 | Lost Play-in game vs. Muskegon Fury
2001–02 | 74 | 27 | 37 | 8 | 66 | 213 | 277 | .446 | 6th Western, 11th of 14 | did not qualify
2002–03 | 76 | 29 | 39 | 8 | 66 | 210 | 282 | .434 | 5th Western, 10th of 10 | did not qualify
2003–04 | 76 | 45 | 22 | 9 | 99 | 281 | 207 | .651 | 4th Western, 4th of 12 | Lost Quarterfinal series vs. Fort Wayne Komets, 2–3
2004–05 | 80 | 50 | 24 | 6 | 100 | 257 | 204 | .663 | 2nd Central, 3rd of 14 | Lost Semifinal series vs. Fort Wayne Komets, 3–4
2005–06 | 76 | 52 | 17 | 7 | 111 | 332 | 183 | .730 | 1st Central, 1st of 14 | Won Colonial Cup Final series vs. Danbury Trashers, 4–1
2006–07 | 76 | 47 | 23 | 6 | 100 | 251 | 191 | .658 | 2nd Eastern, 4th of 10 | Lost Colonial Cup Final series vs. Rockford IceHogs, 3–4
International Hockey League
2007–08 | 76 | 31 | 34 | 11 | 73 | 242 | 252 | .480 | 5th of 6 IHL | did not qualify
2008–09 | 76 | 44 | 29 | 3 | 91 | 274 | 253 | .599 | 4th of 6 IHL | Lost Semifinal series vs. Fort Wayne Komets, 3–4
ECHL
2009–10 | 72 | 42 | 20 | 10 | 94 | 273 | 243 | .653 | 1st North, 3rd of 20 | Lost Quarterfinal series vs. Reading Royals, 2–3
2010–11 | 72 | 40 | 24 | 8 | 88 | 255 | 225 | .611 | 1st North, 4th of 19 | Lost Kelly Cup Final series vs. Alaska Aces, 1–4
2011–12 | 72 | 38 | 26 | 8 | 84 | 264 | 237 | .583 | 1st North, 8th of 20 | Lost Eastern Conference Final series vs. Florida Everblades, 1–4
2012–13 | 72 | 34 | 30 | 8 | 76 | 205 | 215 | .528 | 3rd North, 14th of 23 | did not qualify
2013–14 | 72 | 42 | 22 | 8 | 92 | 224 | 197 | .639 | 1st North, 4th of 21 | Lost Quarterfinal series vs. Greenville Road Warriors, 2–4
2014–15 | 72 | 36 | 30 | 6 | 78 | 226 | 233 | .542 | 3rd North, 16th of 28 | Lost Division Semifinal series vs. Fort Wayne Komets, 1–4
2015–16 | 72 | 38 | 28 | 6 | 82 | 233 | 230 | .569 | 3rd North, 13th of 28 | Lost Conference Quarterfinal series vs. South Carolina Stingrays, 1–4
2016–17 | 72 | 38 | 30 | 4 | 80 | 222 | 237 | .556 | 4th Central, 15th of 27 | Lost Division Semifinal series vs. Toledo Walleye, 3–4
2017–18 | 72 | 34 | 31 | 7 | 75 | 251 | 251 | .521 | 5th Central, 16th of 27 | did not qualify
2018–19 | 72 | 36 | 31 | 5 | 77 | 229 | 254 | .535 | 4th Central, 15th of 27 | Lost Division Semifinal series vs. Cincinnati Cyclones, 2–4
2019–20 | 61 | 23 | 30 | 8 | 54 | 194 | 241 | .443 | 5th Central, 22nd of 26 | Season cancelled
2020–21 | Opted out of participating due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22 | 72 | 36 | 35 | 1 | 73 | 224 | 255 | .507 | 5th Central, 19th of 27 | did not qualify
2022–23 | 72 | 29 | 37 | 6 | 64 | 178 | 226 | .444 | 5th Central, 23rd of 28 | did not qualify
2023–24 | 72 | 38 | 30 | 4 | 80 | 214 | 203 | .556 | 4th Central, 13rd of 27 | Lost Division Semifinal vs. Toledo Walleye, 0–4
2024–25 | 72 | 31 | 33 | 8 | 70 | 201 | 229 | .486 | 5th Central, 14th of 29 | did not qualify

## Seasons

[edit]

Main article: List of Kalamazoo Wings seasons

## Players

[edit]

### Team captains

[edit]

#### First franchise

[edit]

##### IHL (First incarnation)

[edit]

* Unknown, 1974–95
* Brad Berry, 1995–99
* Unknown, 1999–00

#### Second franchise

[edit]

Note: This list does not include captains from the Madison Kodiaks.

##### UHL

[edit]

* Unknown, 2000–03
* Marty Flichel, 2003–04
* Tyler Willis, 2004–05
* Nick Bootland, 2005–07

##### IHL (Second incarnation)

[edit]

* Nick Bootland, 2007–08
* Glenn Detulleo, 2008–09

##### ECHL

[edit]

* Sam Ftorek, 2009–10
* Wes O'Neill, 2010–12
* Elgin Reid, 2012–13
* Jean Bourbeau, 2014–15
* Tyler Shattock, 2015–17
* Ben Wilson, 2017–20
* Justin Taylor, 2021–22
* Chaz Reddekopp, 2023–24
* Collin Saccoman, 2024–present

### Retired numbers

[edit]

* #1 Georges Gagnon[13]
* #13 Tyler Willis
* #22 Mike Wanchuk
* #26 Kevin Schamehorn[13]
* #27 Neil Meadmore

## Team records

[edit]

Kalamazoo Wings playing against the Chicago Express in 2011

### Single season

[edit]

Goals: 46  Nick Bootland (2007–08)
Assists: 70  Daniel Carriere (2005–06)
Points: 94  Kory Karlander (2007–08)
Penalty minutes: 344  Tyler Willis (2003–04)
GAA: 2.02  Ryan Nie (2006–07)
SV%: .929  Ryan Nie (2006–07)

### Career

[edit]

Career games played: 614  Justin Taylor (2010–22)
Career goals: 237  Justin Taylor (2010–22)
Career assists: 263  Kory Karlander (2004–13)
Career points: 457  Justin Taylor (2010–22)
Career penalty minutes: 1,463  Tyler Willis (2003–10)
Career goaltending games played: 422  Joel Martin (2004-18)
Career goaltending wins: 152  Joel Martin (2004–18)
Career shutouts: 18  Joel Martin (2004–18)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "ECHL Announces Revisions to Divisional Alignment and Playoff Format". ECHL. October 9, 2014. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
2. ^ a b "K-Wings Strike Deal to Become Tampa Bay Lightning Affiliate". OurSports Central. May 25, 2016.
3. ^ "Wolves Enter Affiliation Agreement with Kalamazoo". Chicago Wolves. September 13, 2012. Archived from the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
4. ^ "Wolves Extend Affiliation with Kalamazoo". Chicago Wolves. August 19, 2014. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
5. ^ "Kalamazoo renews affiliation with Vancouver and signs new agreement with Columbus". Kalamazoo Wings. August 20, 2014. Archived from the original on July 20, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
6. ^ "Kalamazoo Wings enter affiliation agreement with Vancouver Canucks". Michigan Live. July 12, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
7. ^ "CINCINNATI, IDAHO AND KALAMAZOO ELECT SUSPENSION OF PLAY FOR 2020-21 SEASON". ECHL. December 7, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
8. ^ "K-WINGS ANNOUNCE NHL AFFILIATION WITH COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS". Kalamazoo Wings. July 21, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
9. ^ "WINGS EXTEND NHL AFFILIATION WITH COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS". Kalamazoo Wings. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
10. ^ "CBJ & Kalamazoo Wings extend affiliation agreement for 2022-23 season". Columbus Blue Jackets. June 23, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
11. ^ "Canucks reach affiliation deal with ECHL's Wings". The Sports Network. July 10, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
12. ^ "K-Wings announce NHL affiliation with Vancouver Canucks". Kalamazoo Wings. July 10, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
13. ^ a b "WINGS TO RETIRE PAIR OF NUMBERS". Kalamazoo Wings. September 24, 2018. Retrieved January 22, 2019.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Kalamazoo Wings at Wikimedia Commons
* Official website

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