PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- Teams are shuffling around the ECHL to make room for Maine.
Portland's new AA minor league hockey franchise will play its first game in October 2018. The Maine Mariners fill the void that was left when the Portland Pirates relocated to Springfield, Mass. in 2016.
The comings and goings in the ECHL also include the addition of a new team from St. John's, Newfoundland and the departure of the Quad City Mallards.
To account for all of the changes, the ECHL rearranged the way its members are organized, as detailed in an announcement on Tuesday.
The Maine Mariners and the new St. John's team will play in the North Division of the Eastern Conference. The division also includes the Manchester Monarchs, setting up a potential geographic rivalry across the shared Maine-N.H. border.
