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Alaska, Las Vegas Fight For Brabham Cup...Again

Published on April 2, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


For the second straight year, Alaska heads into the final week of the season with a one-point lead over Las Vegas in the race for the Brabham Cup. The Aces have 99 points (46-16-7) and the Wranglers have 98 points (42-12-14) while Bakersfield is in third place with 94 points (41-16-12).

Presented to the ECHL regular-season point champion every year since the league began in 1988-89, the Brabham Cup is named in recognition of Henry Brabham, who was a founding member of the ECHL and the first owner of the Erie Panthers. A former mayor and businessman who was a major force in professional hockey in Virginia for more than 15 years, Brabham worked tirelessly to establish the ECHL during its early years.

Alaska won the Brabham Cup a year ago with 113 points, finishing one point ahead of Las Vegas, as the two had the second-highest and third-highest point totals in league history. The ECHL record is 116 points by Louisiana in 2001-02. The Aces are looking to become the first team in ECHL history to repeat as regular-season champion. Alaska became only the second team to win both the regular season and postseason championships in the same season in 2006 joining the South Carolina Stingrays who won both the Kelly Cup and the Brabham Cup in 1997.

If the Aces and Wranglers reach 100 points they will become the only team beside Trenton to reach 100 points in back-to-back seasons. The Titans won the Brabham Cup in 2000-01 with 104 points and finished second in 2001-02 with 102 points. There have been 20 teams that have reached 100 points in a season and the most teams to achieve the century mark in a season is three in 2003-04 (San Diego, Wheeling and Atlantic City) and 2005-06 (Alaska, Las Vegas and Gwinnett).

Alaska closes out the regular season at home with games against Utah on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The Aces have won their last three home games and are 17-0-1 in their last 18 games at home with the last loss in regulation being Jan. 5 when Utah won 6-4. Alaska is 25-6-2 at home this season and 99-30-12 at home since joining the ECHL as an expansion team in 2003-04. The Aces are 6-2-0 against Utah this season and 12-4-2 all-time against the Grizzlies.

Las Vegas hosts Long Beach on Tuesday and Stockton on Friday and Saturday while traveling to Long Beach on Wednesday. The Wranglers have won their last six games at home to improve to 21-7-5 for the season. Las Vegas is 3-0-2 against Long Beach this season and 16-7-4 all-time against the Ice Dogs, and is 3-1-0 against Stockton this year and 7-2-0 all-time against the Thunder.

Bakersfield, which has set team records for points (94), wins (41) and road wins (20), needs to win its final three games to reach 100 points. The Condors will host Idaho on Wednesday and Friday before traveling to Long Beach on Saturday.



Phoenix Holds Last Spot In National Conference

Posting a convincing 7-1 win at Utah on Mar. 28, Victoria qualified for the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the first time in its three-year history, joining defending Kelly Cup champion Alaska, Las Vegas, Bakersfield, Idaho, Stockton and Fresno in the National Conference.

In the National Conference, playoff berths will be awarded to the first-place team in each division as well as to the next six-best teams, based on regular-season point totals, and all playoff series will be best-of-seven games. In the Conference Quarterfinals, the division winners will be seeded first and second in order of points and the next six-best teams will be seeded third through eighth in order of points.

The eighth and final spot in the National Conference continues to be held by Phoenix, which moved a little closer with road wins at Bakersfield and Fresno, at 27-37-5 and 59 points, six points ahead of Long Beach at 25-40-3. The RoadRunners, who are playing their last seven games of the season on the road, travel to Victoria for games on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The RoadRunners, who did not qualify for the postseason as an expansion team last year, have won the first three meetings with all games played at Phoenix and all decided by identical 4-2 scores on Dec. 12, Dec. 21 and Dec. 23.

Alaska, Las Vegas and Bakersfield have already secured home ice for the first round of the playoffs. Alaska has advanced to the Kelly Cup Playoffs in each of its first four seasons while Bakersfield is making its third straight appearance and Las Vegas is making its third trip in four years.

Idaho and Stockton are tied for fourth place in the conference with 84 points, but the Steelheads have home-ice advantage because they have 39 wins compared to 37 wins for the Thunder. Idaho visits Bakersfield on Wednesday and Friday and Fresno on Saturday while Stockton hosts Fresno on Wednesday and plays at Las Vegas on Friday and Saturday.

The Steelheads have advanced to the Kelly Cup Playoffs in every one of their first four seasons including 2003-04 when they became only the second expansion team in ECHL history and the first since 1990 to win the championship. The Thunder is making its first Kelly Cup Playoffs appearance in its second season. Fresno is making its second consecutive trip to the Kelly Cup Playoffs after reaching the National Conference Finals a year ago before losing in double overtime in Game 7 at Alaska.



Attendance Rises As Teams Have Strong Weekend

Over 23,000 for three games in Stockton and more than 13,000 for two games in Las Vegas combined with the sixth sellout of the season for Idaho and the 10th standing-room-only crowd in Charlotte helped the ECHL surpass 3.5 million for the 12th consecutive year and raise average attendance to 4,133 per game.

Drawing more than 9,000 for back-to-back home games on Mar. 30 and Apr. 1, Stockton raised its league-leading attendance to 6,785 per game. The Thunder, who host Fresno in their final regular season home game on Wednesday, have now had five crowds over 9,000, including season highs of 9,737 on Jan. 20 and Mar. 3. The average is up 6.5 percent from a year ago when Stockton led the ECHL in its inaugural season with 6,343 per game, the largest average attendance since 2000-01.

Charlotte had its league-leading 10th sellout of the season with 9,520 on Mar. 31 and raised its attendance to 5,951 per game, which is third in the league and up 1.9 percent from a year ago. The Checkers, who host Texas on Wednesday and Columbia on Saturday, have had 20 sellouts in the last two seasons at Bobcats Arena, which has a listed capacity of 6,800 for hockey. Charlotte has had three crowds over 10,000, including a team record 11,237 on Feb. 10, and eight others in excess of 9,000.

Florida is second in the league with 6,189 per game and will play its final two regular season home games on Friday and Saturday when it hosts Augusta. The Everblades have drawn over 200,000 fans in every one of their first nine seasons and from 2005-06 led the ECHL in attendance.

Johnstown continued its late season attendance climb raising its average to 2,577 per game, which is up 6.1 percent from last season, and the highest average since 1997-98. Utah had almost 12,000 for its last two home games and raised its average to 4,223 per game an increase of 8.9 percent from a year ago. Ten of the 23 teams returning from last season have seen an increase in average attendance led by Fresno with 11.9 percent, Utah with 8.9 percent and Dayton with 4.1 percent.

Bakersfield is fourth in the league with 5,827 per game and will play its last two regular season home games on Wednesday and Friday when it hosts Idaho. The Condors average is up 3.8 percent from last season as they look to increase their average attendance for the fourth straight year since joining the ECHL as an expansion team in 2003-04.

Reading had more than 6,000 for the fifth time in its last seven games and increased its attendance to 5,319 per game, which is sixth in the league. Fresno raised its average again to 5,068 per game, which is up a league-high 11.9 percent from a year ago when 13 of 22 returning teams raised their attendance. The Falcons play their final two regular season home games when they host Long Beach on Friday and Idaho on Saturday.

Gwinnett's average is up 2.9 percent from a year ago to 5,688 per game, which is fifth in the league. The Gladiators will close out the regular season hosting Charlotte on Tuesday and South Carolina on Friday.

Augusta had its second-largest crowd of the year on Mar. 31 to conclude a month that saw the Lynx have five of their biggest crowds of the year.

Idaho had its sixth sellout of the season on Mar. 31 and raised its attendance to 4,352 per game. It is the 29th regular season sellout for the Steelheads since joining the ECHL as an expansion team in 2003-04. Idaho led the league in its first season with 10 sellouts in the regular season and five sellouts in the postseason and became only the second team ever to win the league championship as an expansion team.

Hosting a battle for the South Division lead for the second straight week, Texas had its second-largest crowd of the season on Mar. 31 helping raise its average attendance by more than 7.5 percent from 2004-05.

More than 13,000 watched the battle for the Brabham Cup between Alaska and Las Vegas to help the Wranglers raise their average to 5,039 per game. Las Vegas will host Long Beach on Tuesday and Stockton on Friday and Saturday.

The ECHL is trying to raise attendance for the fourth year in a row for the first time ever after having its largest average since 1999-2000 in 2005-06 with 4,327 per game.



Texas Takes South Division Lead; Augusta Holds Last Spot

Only one spot remains in the South Division as Texas, Florida, Gwinnett and Charlotte clinched berths in the Kelly Cup Playoffs over the weekend.

In the South Division, berths in the Kelly Cup Playoffs are awarded to the first-place team as well as to the next four-best teams based on regular-season point totals. The fourth seed and the fifth seed will play a best-of-three game series in the Division Quarterfinals with the winner advancing to meet the division leader in the Division Semifinals, a best-of-five series that also had the second seed playing the third seed.

The last spot is currently held by Augusta, which is 39-27-3 and has 81 points, two points ahead of South Carolina at 35-26-9. The Lynx, who have not made back-to-back Kelly Cup Playoff appearances since 2000 and 2001, are 6-1-1 in their last eight games and will travel to Florida on Friday and Saturday.

Charlotte (40-25-3) went 4-0-0 last week and clinched their playoff spot with a 3-2 shootout win against Augusta on Apr. 1. The Checkers, who are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games, will travel to Gwinnett on Tuesday and Cincinnati on Friday while hosting Texas on Wednesday and Columbia on Saturday. Gwinnett is 40-22-7 and in third place with 87 points, having clinched its fourth consecutive Kelly Cup Playoffs berth with a win against South Carolina on Mar. 29. The Gladiators, who reached the Kelly Cup Finals a year ago and the conference finals in 2004, host Charlotte on Tuesday and South Carolina on Friday before traveling to Pensacola on Saturday.

Texas is 40-20-9 and leads the South Division with 89 points, one point in front of Florida at 41-22-6 and two points ahead of Gwinnett. After not being able to play last season in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Wildcatters are making their first trip to the Kelly Cup Playoffs since relocating to Beaumont in 2003-04 and have set team highs with 40 wins, 19 road wins and 21 home wins. Texas, which is 8-2-0 in its last 10 games, travels to Charlotte on Wednesday, to Columbia on Friday and to South Carolina on Saturday. Florida, which has not missed the Kelly Cup Playoffs since joining the league in 1998-99 and in 2004 and 2005 advanced to the Kelly Cup Finals, plays at Pensacola on Tuesday before hosting Augusta on Friday and Saturday.

South Carolina is 35-26-9 and in sixth place with 79 points, two points behind Augusta for the fifth and final postseason spot. The Stingrays hold the ECHL record for most playoff appearances and consecutive playoff appearances having advanced in each of their first 13 seasons, including 1997 and 2001 when the Stingrays won the Kelly Cup. South Carolina will travel to Gwinnett on Friday before hosting Texas on Saturday.



Four Claim Playoff Spots In North; Johnstown Has Final Spot

Only one spot remains in the North Division as Cincinnati, Toledo and Trenton clinched berths in the Kelly Cup Playoffs over the weekend to join Dayton, which secured its spot on Mar. 25.

In the North Division, berths in the Kelly Cup Playoffs will be awarded to the first-place team as well as to the next four-best teams, based on regular-season point totals. The fourth seed and the fifth seed will play a best-of-three series in the Division Quarterfinals with the winner advancing to meet the division winner in the Division Semifinals, a best-of-five series that also had the second seed playing the third seed.

The last spot is currently held by Johnstown, which is 32-31-6 with 70 points, three points ahead of Reading at 30-32-7 and four points in front of Wheeling at 30-33-6. The Chiefs are trying to reach the Kelly Cup Playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since 2001 and 2002 and would be making their 12th postseason appearance. Johnstown, which has won its last four games, travels to Toledo on Wednesday and Reading on Saturday while hosting Reading on Friday.

Reading, which is trying to make its fourth-straight trip to the Kelly Cup Playoffs, plays at Trenton Thursday and at Johnstown on Friday before hosting Johnstown on Saturday. Wheeling, whose season-high seven-game winning streak ended with a 4-2 loss to Cincinnati on Mar. 31, has reached the Kelly Cup Playoffs two times in the last three years and advanced to the division finals a year ago. The Nailers play at Dayton on Tuesday and at Trenton on Saturday while hosting Trenton on Friday.

Dayton is 36-24-8 and leads the North Division with 80 points, two points in front of Cincinnati at 36-27-6 and five points ahead of Toledo at 36-30-3 and Trenton at 35-29-5. The Bombers have 34 more points than last season and their most wins and points since their last postseason appearance in 2001-02 when they finished first in their division with 92 points (40-20-12) and reached the Kelly Cup Finals. Dayton hosts Wheeling on Tuesday and Toledo on Saturday while visiting Cincinnati on Thursday and Toledo on Friday.

Cincinnati, which had a voluntary suspension for the last two seasons, has reached the Kelly Cup Playoffs three times in its last four seasons including 2003 when it lost in Game 7 of the conference finals to eventual champion Atlantic City. The Cyclones play at Columbia on Tuesday before hosting Dayton on Thursday and Charlotte on Friday.

Toledo has advanced to the postseason for the third consecutive year, its longest streak since qualifying in each of its first eight seasons from 1991-99. The Storm host Johnstown on Wednesday and Dayton on Friday before traveling to Dayton on Saturday.

Trenton has now reached the Kelly Cup Playoffs in every season, but one since joining the league in 1999-2000. The Titans won the Kelly Cup in 2005 and advanced to the Kelly Cup Finals in 2001 after capturing the Brabham Cup. Trenton hosts Reading on Thursday and Wheeling on Saturday while traveling to Wheeling on Friday.

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