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Preview of Saturday s Kelly Cup Finals Game 5

May 22, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


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2004 Kelly Cup Finals (Best-of-Seven Series)
Idaho Leads 3-1

Florida Everblades (37-25-10) at Idaho Steelheads (40-23-9) 7:05 MT

* Jay Legault scored the game-winning goal at 7:01 of overtime and Jeff Maund made 36 saves, including seven in the extra period, in Florida's 3-2 win at Idaho in Game 4 on Friday.
* Idaho is first team with a 3-0 lead in the Finals which did not win Game 4. Hampton Roads (1992), Charlotte (1996) and Greenville (2002) all swept series after leading 3-0.
* Eight teams have led 3-1 in the Finals and seven of those teams have won the title with a win in Game 5. Richmond led 3-1 in 1999, but lost Game 5 en route to losing the Kelly Cup in seven games to Mississippi.
* Dan Ellis made 29 saves to earn his third shutout of the postseason and Scott Burt scored at 1:18 of the first overtime as Idaho won 1-0 in Game 3 on Wednesday.
* Idaho's win was the second 1-0 overtime win in Kelly Cup Finals history. Pensacola won 1-0 in overtime in Game 3 at Hampton Roads on May 12, 1998. There have been four 1-0 games in the history of the Kelly Cup Finals.
* Zenon Konopka scored two goals and David Cornacchia tallied the game-winning goal in Idaho's 6-4 win at Florida in Game 2 on May 15.
* Andrei Vasilyev recorded a hat trick and Dan Ellis made 30 saves in Idaho's 5-1 win at Florida in Game 1 on May 14.
* Idaho's Andrei Vasilyev became the first player to score three goals in a Kelly Cup Finals game since Mississippi's Chris Schmidt in Game 6 against Richmond in 1999. The record for most goals in a game is four by Toledo's Mark Deazeley in Game 5 of the 1994 Riley Cup Finals against Raleigh.
* Idaho's Dan Ellis leads the Kelly Cup Playoffs with 12 wins and three shutouts while ranking third in goals against average (1.85) and fourth in save percentage (.939).
* Florida's Jeff Maund is 1-1 with a 1.22 goals against average and a .958 save percentage in two games against Idaho and 2-3 with a goals against average of 2.73 in seven postseason games.
* Everblades' Reggie Berg leads the postseason with 14 assists and ranks second in scoring with 19 points.
* Zenon Konopka is tied for the postseason lead with nine goals and three game-winning goals and ranks third in scoring with 16 points.
* Everblades rank fourth in the Kelly Cup Playoffs in scoring with 3.13 goals per game.
* Idaho ranks second in the postseason in scoring with 3.25 goals per game and ranks third in goals allowed with 2.06 goals per game.
* Florida's Tom Buckley leads the Kelly Cup Playoffs with 20 points (9g-11a) and is tied for the postseason lead with nine goals, three game-winning goals and five game-winning points (3g-2a).
* Idaho's Jan Kopecky is tied for the Kelly Cup Playoffs lead with three game-winning goals, ranks third with eight goals, and is tied for seventh in scoring with 13 points (8g-5a).
* Everblades' Rob Zepp is tied for second with one shutout and eight wins while ranking 15th in goals against average (2.72).
* Steelheads' David Bararuk is tied for the rookie lead with eight assists and ranks second in scoring with 13 points (4g-9a).
* Florida's Ryan Brindley ranks second among defensemen with eight assists and is tied for second with 10 points.
* Idaho's Darrell Hay leads defensemen in the Kelly Cup Playoffs with 10 assists and 12 points while teammate Dan Vandermeer is tied for second among defensemen in scoring with 10 points (4g-6a).
* Florida's Reggie Berg (1g-4a) and Ryan Brindley (2g-3a) are tied for the postseason lead with five game-winning points.
* Steelheads' Andrei Vasilyev has seven points (4g-3a) and is +7 in his last five games.
* Florida defenseman Tim O'Connell is tied for the Kelly Cup Playoffs lead with a plus-minus rating of +12.
* Steelheads defenseman Dan Vandermeer is tied for the postseason lead with a plus-minus rating of +12.
* Everblades' Matt Pagnutti is tied for third among defensemen in the postseason with four goals and is tied for second with 10 points.
* 2,787 miles and two time zones separate Boise, Idaho and Estero, Florida.
* Idaho was one of six teams from the former West Coast Hockey League that joined the ECHL for 2003-04 while Florida is in its sixth season in the league.
* Idaho began its run to the Kelly Cup Finals by overcoming an 0-2 deficit to beat Las Vegas three games to two in the Pacific Division Semifinals.
* Steelheads beat Alaska in four games in the Pacific Division Finals and Gwinnett in four games in the Western Conference Finals.
* Florida reached the Kelly Cup Finals by beating Roanoke in four games in the Southern Division Semifinals and swept South Carolina in three games in the Southern Division Finals. Everblades reached the Finals by defeating Reading in five games in the Eastern Conference Finals.


Attendance Notes
 * The first four games of the Kelly Cup Finals have drawn standing-room-only crowds marking the first time in league history that there have been four sellouts in a row.
* The four sellouts ties the record for most sellouts in the Finals set in 1998 when Pensacola sold out Games 1, 2 and 7 and Hampton Roads sold out Game 5.
* The average of 6,463 per game is the highest per game average in the Finals since 1999.
* The previous high for consecutive sellouts was three set in 1993 when Toledo sold out Games 4 and 6 and Wheeling sold out Game 5. The record was tied in 1997 when Louisiana sold out Games 3-5.
* The crowd of 5,771 for Game 4 was 115.3 percent of the capacity of the Bank of America Centre (5,006) making it the largest percent of capacity crowd in Finals history. The previous high was 114.7 percent (6,202 at 5,406-seat Wheeling Civic Center) for Game 5 of the Riley Cup Finals on April 17, 1993.
* The crowd of 5,278 for Game 3 was 105.4 percent of the capacity of the Bank of America Centre (5,006) making it the third-largest percentage of capacity crowd in Finals history.
* The fourth-largest percentage of capacity crowd is 104.9 percent for Game 2 at Florida while the fifth-largest percentage of capacity crowd is 104.2 percent for Game 1 at Florida.
* The first two games of the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals drew standing-room-only crowds at TECO Arena with 7,374 fans for Game 1 on Friday and 7,427 for Game 2 on Saturday. The crowds are the 10th and 11th largest sellouts in ECHL Finals history and are the largest Finals crowds since 8,834 at South Carolina for the decisive game of the 2000 Kelly Cup Finals.
* Idaho has sold out its last four postseason games and had a league-leading 10 sellouts during the regular season.
* Florida has sold out its last four postseason games and ranked second in the league with eight sellouts during the regular season.
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