Why do the call the ECHL the East Coast Hockey League...

...When there are teams here in California. Like the Stockton Thunder and Fresno Falcons.

because the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League were taken...

ummmm....they don't anymore...for like 4 years...

"The teams from the defunct lower-level WCHL, along with Las Vegas, joined as expansion teams for the ECHL’s 16th season in 2003-04. In a change reflective of the nationwide presence of the ECHL, the East Coast Hockey League changed its name to simply ECHL on May 19, 2003."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coast_Hockey_League

If they're just going to use meaningless letters for the name of the league, why not call it the XHL?

I don't know. I do like watching their games. I will travel to see the Stockton Thunder play. It's like Minor League Baseball, where you see the future Superstars of the game. I really don't care what's it called. I just only wondered.

Originally, the ECHL was comprised of teams only in the eastern US. Many of the teams were along the East Coast. But as other, smaller minor leagues disbanded, some teams from those leagues joined the ECHL. And many of those teams were in the western US. So the ECHL became a Coast-to-Coast league, despite its name. The ECHL is one of several Double-A minor leagues, but it is by far the largest and most stable of ALL minor leagues (single-A AND double-A). Thus you now have the NHL, then the AHL, THEN the ECHL. So the ECHL is the #3 hockey league in North America. And the plans of the NHL for quite some time have been to have a 1-on-1-on-1 configuration. Each NHL team would have one AHL team and one ECHL team. It's almost already like that.

Very true, the ECHL is a coast to coast thing, and i've wanted to see some games but Oklahoma dont have one lol..

Okay its really weird that this should show up here today! Last evening after the Dats game I was watching a game on NHLa and it was Idaho and Utah two ECHL teams and was asking myself the exact same question. Thanks for clarifying the ECHL. I thought it still stood for East Coast Hockey League