Atlantic Coast Hockey League (2002-2003)

For the other league of the same name, see Atlantic Coast Hockey League.

The 2002 version of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League was the second league to carry this name. It shared the name with the Atlantic Coast Hockey League, the early 1980s predecessor of the ECHL. The ACHL would last only one season, and was notable for the early-season move of the St. Petersburg Parrots to Winston-Salem, NC. After a bitter split among the franchises, the league split into two new leagues, the South East Hockey League and World Hockey Association 2. The franchhises would later rejoin each other for the 2004-05 season in a league that eventually became known as the Southern Professional Hockey League.

The Orlando Seals won the ACHL's only regular season and playoff championships.

League Split
After the 02-03 season the Jacksonville Barracudas, the Macon Trax, the Orlando Seals, and, the ACHL expansion team, the Miami Manatees formed the WHA2 with the addition of the Lakeland Loggerheads and the Alabama Slammers. The Cape Fear Fire Antz and the Knoxville Ice Bears joined the SEHL with the Huntsville Channel Cats (who were also briefly an ACHL expansion team), the Tupelo T-Rex (who never played due to contractual issues with a previous professional league), and eventually the Winston-Salem T-Birds (who began the season known as the Winston-Salem Hockey Club) as the 4th team.