The Colorado Avalanche announced on Saturday that they will change their ECHL affiliation. The new affiliation will be with the New Mexico Goatheads of Rio Rancho, and will start playing next season. This will now end an agreement with the Utah Grizzlies at the end of the season.

Reason for the switch

The current ECHL affiliate, the Utah Grizzlies, will move to Trenton, New Jersey next season. The team’s owner, David Elmore, passed away. General Manager of the Maverik Center, President & CEO of the Utah Grizzlies, Kevin Bruder, also died. These deaths contributed to the move. In June 2025, the Grizzlies announced the team was up for sale and might move. Come September 9th, right before the season started, the Grizzlies announced this would be “The Final Hunt,” with the sale of the team and the relocation to Trenton.

ECHL recent past

The Avalanche have stayed close with their choices on its lower-level hockey. Colorado went to Denver’s roots by partnering with the Grizzlies in June 2018 and has been with them since. Prior to that, the Avs looked down the road to the Colorado Eagles. The Eagles became the Avs’ affiliate in 2016 and then won back-to-back Kelly Cups in 2017 and 2018. That prompted a promotion to the AHL and an agreement with the Grizzlies. An agreement with the Fort Wayne Komets lasted only one season after a two-year stint with the Denver Cutthroats.

The advantage

Keeping the ECHL affiliate close will be a tremendous advantage for the organization. The elevation of Rio Rancho, New Mexico is about 600 feet higher than it is in Loveland, Colorado. So players making the jump to the AHL will have the high-altitude training already. The players will play in the same time zone as opposed to the East Coast. This will also make it easier to pull players up from the ECHL to the AHL because they will be closer.

With the agreement of the new organizations, this creates a true “Hockey Highway” that stretches down Interstate 25. It will go from Loveland, Denver, to Rio Rancho, including the top three levels of professional hockey in the world, extending 490 miles.