ECHL ECHL

Field Set For 2006 Kelly Cup Playoffs

March 27, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


The field for the 2006 Kelly Cup Playoffs is set as defending Kelly Cup champion Trenton secured the final North Division berth and Charlotte and Augusta locked up the last two spots in the South Division.

The ECHL regular season ends on Apr. 8 and the Kelly Cup Playoffs are scheduled to begin Apr. 10 with the Kelly Cup Finals scheduled for May 22-June 3.

Trenton will meet Johnstown in the best-of-three division quarterfinals that will be played Apr. 10-13 with the winner meeting the regular season winner in the North Division in the best-of-five division semifinals scheduled Apr. 14-23. Reading leads the division with 89 points and a 41-19-7 record followed by Wheeling with 86 points and a 40-19-6 record and Toledo with 85 points and a 40-20-5 record. The best-of-five division finals will be played Apr. 24-May 3 and the best-of-seven American Conference Finals are scheduled for May 5-20.

Gwinnett leads the South Division with 99 points and a 46-13-7 record and has already secured one of the two byes in the quarterfinals. Florida is in second place with 89 points and a 43-20-3 record while Greenville is in third place with 85 points and a 41-23-3 record. South Carolina is in fourth place with 73 points and a 30-22-13 record followed by Charlotte with 65 points and a 30-32-5 record and Augusta with 64 points and a 29-32-6 record. The quarterfinals will have the third-place finisher playing the sixth-place finisher and the fourth-place finisher playing the fifth-place finisher. The winners from the quarterfinals will advance to the semifinals to meet the first-place finisher and the second-place finisher. The best-of-three quarterfinals will be played Apr. 10-13 with the best-of-five semifinals scheduled for Apr. 14-23. The best-of-five division finals will be played Apr. 24-May 3 and the best-of-seven American Conference Finals are scheduled for May 5-20.

The best-of-seven division semifinals in the National Conference will be played Apr. 10-22 with the best-of-seven division finals scheduled for Apr. 24-May 6. The best-of-seven National Conference Finals will be played May 8-20.

Fresno leads the Pacific Division with 89 points and a 38-13-13 record while Long Beach is in second place with 79 points and a 35-23-9 record. Bakersfield is in third place with 74 points and a 34-24-6 record and San Diego is in fourth place with 68 points and a 31-28-6 record.

Las Vegas leads the West Division with 106 points and a 50-11-6 record, two points in front of Alaska with 104 points and a 49-11-6 record. Idaho is in third place with 85 points and a 39-21-7 record and Utah is in fourth place with 74 points and a 34-25-6 record.

Five Sellouts, Raise League Attendance For 11th Straight Week

A season-high crowd of 8,402 in Utah, sellout crowds in Stockton and Charlotte and more than 6,000 in Gwinnett and Reading allowed the ECHL to average more than 6,000 per game for one of its best Friday nights in recent history.

Saturday saw Charlotte, Idaho and Reading have sellout crowds while Stockton drew more than 8,600 and San Diego topped 8,000 and Las Vegas had over 6,200 as the ECHL surpassed 3.5 million for the 11th year in a row.

Crowds over 5,000 in Stockton, Gwinnett and Trenton on Sunday allowed the league to increase its average attendance for the 11th week in a row to 4,327 per game which is up more than nine percent from last season.

The ECHL surpassed three millions fans in the shortest number of games since 1999-2000 and the league continues to move towards having its highest average attendance since 2000-01 when it averaged 4,319 per game.

The ECHL has had 35 sellout crowds and 13 crowds of more than 10,000 led by San Diego and Stockton who have both had four crowds over 10,000. Gwinnett has two crowds in excess of 10,000, including a sellout of 11,355 on Nov. 11, while Charlotte drew 10,894 on Nov. 25 and 10,945 on Feb. 18 and Fresno had 10,814 on Mar. 18.

Stockton drew 10,117 for the fourth time this season on Friday and had 8,675 on Saturday and 5,450 on Sunday to raise its average attendance to 6,240 per game which leads the league and is the highest average attendance since 2002-03 when Florida averaged 6,245 per game. The Thunder is looking to become the first team other than Florida to lead the ECHL in attendance since 2000-01.

Florida is second in the league with 6,164 per game and will play its last two regular season home games this weekend, hosting Pensacola on Friday and Greenville on Saturday. The Everblades have led the league in total and average attendance each of the past five seasons and have led the Kelly Cup Playoffs in average attendance in every one of their six seasons in the league.

Charlotte has a league-leading 10 sellouts while Idaho has seven and Florida and Stockton each have five. The listed capacity for Bobcats Arena is 6,800, but additional sections can be opened to accommodate larger crowds including 7,941 on Friday and 9,109 on Saturday. The Checkers have had two crowds over 10,000 and four crowds of more than 9,000 and are averaging 5,835 per game which is third in the league and an increase of more than 15 percent from last season.

San Diego had more than 13,000 for its two games to raise its average attendance to 5,745 per game which is up from last season and fourth in the league. Gwinnett had almost 12,000 for its two games and raised its average to 5,569 which is fifth in the ECHL. The sellout crowd of 7,215 in Reading on Saturday included the one-millionth fan in team history and allowed the Royals to raise their average attendance to 5,546 per game which is up two percent from a year ago and sixth in the league. Toledo had its second-largest crowd of the year with 4,590 on Saturday and raised its average attendance to 3,938 per game.

Wranglers Take Over Brabham Cup Race Lead

Winning four in row, including a pair of wins against Alaska, the Las Vegas Wranglers have improved to 50-11-6 and moved into first place in the race for the Brabham Cup with 106 points, two points ahead of the Aces who are 49-11-6 and seven points in front of Gwinnett with 99 points and a 46-13-7 record.

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.

The most ECHL teams to finish with 100 points in a season is three in 2003-04 with San Diego (108 points), Wheeling (106 points) and Atlantic City (100 points). Gwinnett, Fresno, Florida and Wheeling can all mathematically reach 100 points. The ECHL has never had more than one team with 50 wins in a season.

Las Vegas, which is 14-2 in its last 16 games, becomes the seventh team in the 18-year history of the league to win 50 games and is the 17th team to record 100 points in a season. The Wranglers have set team records with 50 wins, 106 points and 24 road wins while tying the team record of 26 home wins set in 2003-04. The Wranglers play four of their final five games at home, hosting Stockton on Tuesday, San Diego on Friday, Long Beach on Apr. 7 and Phoenix on Apr. 8. Las Vegas plays at Phoenix on Apr. 4.

Alaska, which became the 16th team in league history to record 100 points when it won 4-3 at Utah on Mar. 15, has set team records with 49 wins, 104 points and 29 home wins. The Aces host Victoria on Friday and Saturday before playing their final four games on the road, visiting Fresno on Apr. 4 and 7, Stockton on Apr. 5 and Bakersfield on Apr. 8.

Gwinnett, which has already secured a bye in the quarterfinals of the South Division playoffs, has set team records with 46 wins, 99 points, 27 home wins and 19 road wins. The Gladiators play at Augusta on Thursday and Friday and at South Carolina on Saturday before returning home for their final three games, hosting Florida on Apr. 4, South Carolina on Apr. 7 and Augusta on Apr. 8.

Florida is 43-20-3 and has 89 points, four points ahead of Greenville at 41-23-3 in the race for the second bye in the quarterfinals of the South Division playoffs. The Everblades play at South Carolina on Tuesday and host Pensacola on Friday and Greenville on Saturday before playing at Gwinnett on Apr. 4 and at Pensacola on Apr. 7 and 8. The Grrrowl will play four of its last five games at home, hosting Columbia on Friday, South Carolina on Apr. 4, Augusta on Apr. 7 and Charlotte on Apr. 8.

The ECHL records for wins and points are held by the Louisiana IceGators, who were 56-12-4 and had 116 points in 2001-02. The Wranglers and Aces cannot break the record for wins, but both can still mathematically reach 116 points.

Falcons Seek First Division Title, ECHL Record

The Fresno Falcons are 20-0-6 against the Pacific Division and are looking to become the first team in ECHL history to not lose a game in regulation to a team within its own division.

The Falcons have three games remaining against Pacific Division opponents, hosting Bakersfield on Tuesday and Long Beach on Apr. 8 while playing at Stockton on Sunday.

Fresno's winning percentage of .885 surpasses the winning percentage of .818 by Louisiana in 2001-02 when the IceGators were 52-10-4 within the Southwest Division while winning an ECHL record 56 games and finishing with a league record 116 points.

The Falcons, who can clinch the division with a win against Victoria on Monday, have qualified for the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the first time in team history and have set team records with 89 points and 19 road wins.

Did You Know ... South Carolina has not missed the postseason since joining the ECHL in 1993-94 and holds the league record for most playoff appearances and most consecutive playoff appearances with 13. Toledo is making its 12th playoff appearance in 2006 tying Pensacola for the second-most postseasons.

Feature Games Of The Week

North Division

Toledo at Trenton - Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET
- Drew MacIntyre is 7-1-0 with a 1.62 goals-against average against Trenton.
- Titans' Jim Henkel has nine points (4g-5a) in his last 10 games.

South Division

South Carolina at Charlotte - Thursday at 7:05 p.m. ET
- South Carolina won the last meeting 3-2 on Feb. 26.
- Charlotte is 8-1-0 with goals against of 2.52 against South Carolina.

West Division

Victoria at Alaska - Saturday at 7:15 p.m. AT
- Olivier Filion has 10 points (8g-2a) in eight games against Victoria.
- Victoria's Adam Taylor has a six-game scoring streak (3g-4a).

Pacific Division

Bakersfield at Fresno - Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. PT
- Condors' Marty Magers in 3-0-0 with a 1.98 goals-against average on the road.
- Fresno has scored 65 percent of its goals against Bakersfield in the second period.

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ECHL Stories from March 27, 2006


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