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Defending Champion Is Back In West Mix

March 21, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Winning four games in a row and finishing an eight-game road trip with 14 of a possible 16 points, defending Kelly Cup Champion Idaho has climbed into the final postseason berth in the West Division at 36-21-6 and 78 points. The Steelheads are 15-1-3 in their last 19 games and one point ahead of Fresno at 35-20-7 and 77 points.

Fresno, which has played one less game, will host Gwinnett on Tuesday before heading to Boise for three games in three days, beginning Thursday, with Idaho. The Falcons won the last meeting to even the season series at two wins apiece with the first four games all played in Fresno.

Alaska leads the West at 40-17-7 with 87 points followed by Bakersfield at 37-18-9 and 83 points and Long Beach at 36-18-8 and 80 points.

Alaska plays its final three home games when it hosts Las Vegas on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The Aces visit Long Beach and Fresno on April 1-2 before closing out the season with three games at Las Vegas.

Bakersfield hosts Long Beach on Tuesday and Gwinnett on Friday and Saturday before traveling to Long Beach on Sunday. The Condors are 1-2-1 at home and 3-1-0 at Long Beach.

Long Beach, which is 2-4-3 in its last nine games, travels to Bakersfield on Tuesday and San Diego on Friday while hosting Gwinnett on Wednesday, San Diego on Saturday and Bakersfield on Sunday. The Ice Dogs are 3-0-1 at Bakersfield and 1-2-1 at home against the Condors. Long Beach is 1-1-1 at home and 1-1-1 at San Diego.

North Division Remains Five-Team Race

Heading into the final three weeks of the regular season, the race for the four Kelly Cup Playoff berths in the North Division of the National Conference is still close with five teams separated by five points while a sixth team remains in the hunt.

Going 3-1-0 last week, Atlantic City is 36-20-8 with 80 points and begins the week in first place while Reading, which was 2-0-2 last week, is in second place at 36-18-7 with 79 points. The Royals have played three fewer games than Atlantic City.

Trenton, which was 3-1-0 last week, is in third place at 34-20-9 with 77 points, one point ahead of Wheeling at 36-23-4 with 76 points. Trenton and Wheeling have each played two games more than Reading and one game less than Atlantic City. Toledo went 1-0-1 last week and is one point behind Wheeling at 35-22-5 with 75 points followed by Peoria, which was 2-2-0 last week, at 32-22-7 with 71 points.

Atlantic City will travel to Trenton on Friday before returning home to host Johnstown on Saturday and Sunday. After winning the first meeting, the Bullies are 0-2-1 in their last three trips to Trenton and are 5-3-1 overall against the Titans. Atlantic City is 1-1-1 at home and 5-1-1 overall against the Chiefs.

Reading, which advanced to the conference finals after qualifying for the playoffs for the first time last season, plays four games in five days, hosting Toledo on Tuesday, Dayton on Thursday and Johnstown on Friday before traveling to Trenton on Saturday. The Royals have won the last two times against Toledo to improve to 4-2-1 against the Storm, including 2-1-0 at home. Reading has won its last two games against Dayton and is 6-1-0 against the Bombers, including 3-1-0 at home. The Royals have won their last three games against Johnstown and are 3-0-0 at home and 4-2-0 overall against the Chiefs. Reading is 1-2-1 at Trenton and 3-4-2 overall against the Titans.

Trenton, which is 5-1-0 in its last six games, will host Atlantic City on Friday and Reading on Saturday. The Titans are 6-0-1 in their last seven home games and 19-8-4 overall at the Sovereign Bank Arena. Trenton has won the last three times at home against Atlantic City, improving to 3-1-0 at home and 4-3-2 overall against the Bullies. The Titans have won the last two meetings against Reading and are 3-1-0 at home and 6-3-0 overall against the Royals.

Wheeling, which was 1-2-0 last week, will travel to Peoria for games on Friday and Saturday. The Nailers beat the Rivermen 2-1 at home on Saturday to improve to 5-2-0, including 1-1-0 at Peoria.

Peoria, which has never missed the postseason since joining the league in 1996-97, will play four games in five nights, hosting Johnstown on Tuesday and Wednesday and Wheeling on Friday and Saturday. The Rivermen are 1-0-1 at home and 3-2-1 overall against the Chiefs and are 1-0-1 at home and 2-4-1 overall against the Nailers.

Toledo, which is 4-0-1 in its last five games, travels to Reading on Tuesday before hosting Dayton on Friday and visiting Dayton on Saturday. The Storm is 1-2-0 at Reading and 3-4-0 overall against the Royals and 6-0-1 against Dayton, including 3-0-1 at home.

Trio Fighting For First In East Division

Three teams are battling for first place in the East Division, and the resulting second seed in the American Conference. Charlotte is in first place at 37-22-6 with 80 points followed by South Carolina at 35-20-8 and 78 points and Columbia at 33-17-10 and 76 points. The Checkers have played two more games than South Carolina and five more games than Columbia.

After going 1-2-1 last week, Charlotte travels to Columbia on Friday and to South Carolina on Saturday. The Checkers are 0-1-1 in the last two games with South Carolina, slipping to 1-1-1 on the road and 3-2-1 overall. Charlotte is 3-1-0 at Columbia and 5-4-0 overall.

Columbia, which is 3-1-1 in its last five games, hosts Florida on Tuesday and Charlotte on Friday while visiting Augusta on Thursday and Greenville on Saturday. The Inferno is 1-0-0 at home and 2-0-0 overall against Florida and is 1-1-2 at home and 4-3-2 overall against Charlotte. Columbia is 1-1-0 at Augusta and 2-2-1 overall against the Lynx and is 3-0-0 at Greenville and 6-0-1 overall against the Grrrowl.

South Carolina, which has won three in a row and is 7-1-1 in its last nine games, will host Greenville on Tuesday and Charlotte on Saturday while traveling to Greenville on Friday. The Stingrays are 0-1-1 in the last two meetings with Greenville and 2-2-0 at home and 3-3-1 overall against the Grrrowl. South Carolina has won its last two meetings to improve to 3-1-2 overall and 2-0-1 at home against the Checkers.

Pensacola is 43-14-5 with a league-leading 91 points and became the first team to qualify for the Kelly Cup Playoffs on March 12. In second place in the conference is Florida, which secured its postseason berth on Saturday, at 37-18-9 and 83 points followed by the trio sitting atop the East Division. Mississippi is in sixth place at 33-22-6 with 72 points followed by Gwinnett at 32-21-8 with 72 points and Greenville at 33-24-5 with 71 points. Pee Dee is nine points out of the final postseason spot at 29-30-4 with 62 points.

Florida, which was 2-1-1 last week and is 11-2-3 in its last 16 games, will visit Columbia on Tuesday before returning home to host Victoria on Friday and Saturday. Mississippi, which was 2-0-1 last week, hosts Victoria on Wednesday and Louisiana on Friday before traveling to Louisiana on Saturday. The Sea Wolves traveled to Victoria in December and went 2-1-0 against the Salmon Kings. Mississippi is 2-1-1 at home and 3-3-1 overall against the IceGators.

Following a 1-3-0 week, Gwinnett heads to California where it will play five games in six days, visiting Fresno on Tuesday, Long Beach on Wednesday, Bakersfield on Friday and Saturday and San Diego on Sunday.

Greenville, which was 2-1-0 last week, will visit South Carolina on Tuesday before hosting South Carolina on Friday and Columbia on Saturday. The Grrrowl has won its last two games with South Carolina and is 2-1-1 at South Carolina and 4-2-1 overall against the Stingrays. Greenville is 0-3-0 at home and 1-6-0 overall against Columbia.

Kelly Cup Playoffs Begin April 12

The regular season ends on April 9 and the 2005 Kelly Cup Playoffs are scheduled to begin on April 12 with the Division Semifinals in the National Conference and the Conference Quarterfinals in the American Conference.

The first two rounds of the postseason are best-of-five series with the higher seed hosting the first two games and the fifth game, if necessary. The Conference Finals and the Kelly Cup Finals are best-of-seven series with the higher seed hosting the first two games and the sixth and seventh games, if necessary. Games in the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs are to be played April 12-21 while games in the second round are to be played April 22-May 1. The Conference Finals are May 3-16 with the Kelly Cup Finals being held May 18-June 1.

The postseason qualifiers in the National Conference will be the top four teams with the highest regular-season point total from the North Division and the top four teams with the highest regular-season point total from the West Division. The Division Semifinals will be best-of-five series with the first-place finisher meeting the fourth-place finisher and the second-place finisher meeting the third-place finisher. The winners of the Division Semifinals will advance to the Division Finals which is also a best-of-five series. The winners of the Division Finals will meet in the best-of-seven Conference Finals to determine the National Conference Champion and representative in the best-of-seven Kelly Cup Finals.

Because of geographical proximity in the American Conference, first-round playoff berths will be awarded to the top eight (8) teams - the first-place team in each division (based on regular-season point totals in each conference), as well as the next six-best teams (based on regular-season point totals in each conference). The two division winners will be seeded first and second (in order of points) and the next six-best teams (in order of points) will be seeded third through eighth.

In the Conference Quarterfinals, the first-place team will meet the eighth-place team, the second-place team will meet the seventh-place team, the third-place team will meet the sixth-place team, and the fourth-place team will meet the fifth-place team. Home ice in the Conference Quarterfinals is granted to those teams seeded first through fourth.

In the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals, teams will be reseeded according to the same criteria as the Conference Quarterfinals (division leaders will be seeded first and granted home-ice advantage while the remaining teams will be seeded in order of regular-season points).

The winners of the best-of-five Conference Semifinals advance to the best-of-seven Conference Finals to determine the American Conference Champion and representative in the best-of-seven Kelly Cup Finals.

Stingrays Tenute Extends Scoring Streak To 14 Games

South Carolina rookie center Joe Tenute has scored a point in 14 consecutive games (8g-16a) which is the longest scoring streak in the ECHL this season. The previous high was 12 games by Mike Harder of Charlotte and Brendon Hodge of Wheeling. Tenute has had six multiple-point games during the streak, including a career-high five assists and six points in a 7-3 win against Texas on March 6. The five assists and six points both tied the ECHL season highs. He has had two two-goal games (March 12 in an 8-2 win against Louisiana and Friday in a 4-2 win against Columbia), giving him six two-goal games on the year. Tenute, who has scored a point in 20 of his last 21 games (14g-18a) and in 23 of his last 25 games (16g-21a), leads ECHL rookies with 30 goals and 66 points while he is tied for the rookie lead with 36 assists and 23 power-play points. Among all ECHL players, Tenute is tied for third in goals and tied for fifth in scoring.

Ice Pilots Sit Atop Brabham Cup Standings

Pensacola is 43-14-5 with a league-leading 91 points and needs 10 points to clinch the Brabham Cup, which has been awarded annually to the ECHL regular season points champion since the league began in 1988-89.

Alaska (40-17-7) is four points behind Pensacola and Bakersfield (37-18-9) is six points behind Pensacola while Florida (37-18-9) is eight points back. Atlantic City (36-20-8), Long Beach (36-18-8) and Charlotte (37-22-6) are all 11 points behind the Ice Pilots.

Pensacola needs nine points to become the 15th team in ECHL history to reach 100 points and with seven victories the Ice Pilots can become the sixth team in 17 seasons to win 50 games. Pensacola hosts Victoria on Tuesday and Augusta on Saturday while traveling to Augusta on Friday and Texas on Sunday.

The Ice Pilots, who on March 12 became the first team to qualify for the Kelly Cup Playoffs, are 21-3-1 in their last 25 games, including a team record 12-game winning streak, and have set team records for wins, points, road wins (22) and points.

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.

ECHL Feature Games Of The Week

National Conference - North Division

Wheeling at Peoria
Friday at 7:30 p.m. CT
* Peoria is five points behind fourth-place Wheeling, having played two less games.
* Rivermen have won their last six home games.

American Conference - East Division

Charlotte at Columbia
Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET
* Charlotte leads third-place Columbia, who has five games in hand, for first place in the East.
* Checkers lead the season series.5-4-0.

American Conference - South Division

Mississippi at Louisiana
Saturday at 7:05 p.m. CT
* Sea Wolves are 2-0-1 in their last three, moving into the sixth seed in the playoff race.
* IceGators have won two of the last three games.

National Conference - West Division

Fresno at Idaho
Friday at 7:05 p.m. PT
* Falcons, having played one less game, are one point behind fourth-seed Idaho.
* First meeting at Idaho; Season series is tied 2-2.

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