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San Diego Wins Brabham Cup With 108 Points

April 4, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. – Following a 4-3 loss by Wheeling at Atlantic City, San Diego beat Alaska 2-1 on Saturday to win the Brabham Cup, the trophy awarded each season to the regular season point champion in the ECHL. San Diego finished with 108 points and a 49-13-10 record while Wheeling finishes with 106 points and a 51-17-4 record.

The 49 wins sets the ECHL record for wins by a first-year team and the Gulls become only the second first-year team in history to win the Brabham Cup. Toledo won the points title in its first season with a then record for a first-year team 46 wins in 1991-92. Erie won the points title in the first season of the ECHL in 1988-89.

San Diego clinches home ice throughout the 2004 Kelly Cup Playoffs that open Monday with Reading playing at Johnstown in the Northern Division Wild Card Game, the winner advancing to meet Wheeling in the Northern Division Semifinals. The Gulls will open postseason play on Tuesday hosting Alaska in the Pacific Division Semifinals.

It marks the second consecutive season that the Brabham Cup winner was determined on the final day. In 2002-03, Toledo won 4-3 at Wheeling and Peoria lost 4-3 in a shootout against Dayton. Toledo finished with 104 points while Peoria finished with 103 points.

The Gulls' 108 points ties Florida (53-15-2) for the second-highest point total in ECHL history while Wheeling's 106 points ties Pee Dee (51-15-4) for the fourth-highest point total in league history. The all-time record for points is 116 by Louisiana in 2001-02 (56-12-4).

San Diego's winning percentage of .750 ties it with Richmond (46-11-13 in 1995-96) for the fifth best regular season winning percentage. San Diego's 30 home wins ties the ECHL record held by Louisiana (2001-02) and its 49 overall wins ranks sixth all-time. San Diego's 13 losses tie Knoxville (1990-91) for the third fewest losses in a season while its eight losses on the road tie Florida (1999-2000) and Pee Dee (1999-2000) for the third fewest road losses in a season.

The Gulls allowed 177 goals which tied them with Peoria for third overall in 2003-04 and for fifth all-time in league history. San Diego's 2.46 goals against average tied them with Peoria for third overall in 2003-04 and for fifth all-time in league history. Atlantic City led the league with 159 goals allowed and a 2.21 goals against average while Louisiana ranked second with 167 goals allowed and a 2.32 goals against average. The record for fewest goals is 156 by Louisiana in 2001-02 and the record for lowest goals against average is 2.17 by Louisiana in 2001-02.

San Diego was 4-4-2 and in last place in the Pacific Division following its first 10 games and 11-7-2 and in fourth place after its first 20 games. The Gulls were 9-1-0 over their next 10 games to improve to 20-8-2 but remained in fourth place. A five-game winning streak, however, moved them into first place on January 25 with a 26-10-3 record. San Diego remained in first place for the remainder of the season going 14-1-4 in their final 19 games and 28-3-7 in their last 38 games. The Gulls became the first to clinch a berth in the 2004 Kelly Cup Playoffs on February 27 and it clinched the Pacific Division on March 28 and the Western Conference on March 30.

Wheeling is only the fifth team in league history to win 50 games and the first since Louisiana won a league record 56 games in 2001-02. Wheeling tied Pee Dee for the third most wins in ECHL history with 51 wins.

Wheeling set team records for points (106), wins (51), home wins (28) and road wins (23). Wheeling had 59 points in 2002-03 and its 47-point increase is the third-highest point increase from one season to the next.

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