ECHL: Preview of 2023 Kelly Cup Playoffs Conference Finals

Eastern Conference Finals (Best of Seven)

Newfoundland Growlers vs. Florida Everblades
Series Matchup Sheet

For the second consecutive season and the third time in the last four postseasons, the Newfoundland Growlers and Florida Everblades meet with a spot in the Kelly Cup Finals on the line. Newfoundland defeated Florida 4 games to 1 in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals while the Everblades prevailed in five games last season.
 
Newfoundland, which won the Kelly Cup title in 2019, is 8-1 all-time in Kelly Cup Playoffs series. The Growlers have reached this point with a pair of five-game victories over Adirondack and Reading. The Growlers rank second among playoff teams with 4.80 goals per game and have scored five or more goals in six of their 10 postseason contests. Newfoundland is 5-1 on the road in the playoffs, winning each of its last five road games, and has outscored its opponents 32-17 over those six road games.
 
Pavel Gogolev (5g-8a) and Isaac Johnson (4g-9a) lead Newfoundland in the playoffs with 13 points each, which is tied for fourth overall in the playoffs. Jonny Tychonick is tied for first among rookies, and leads all defensemen in the postseason, with 12 points (0g-12a) while Keenan Suthers is tied for second among first-year players with five goals. Dryden McKay is 8-1 in the playoffs and ranks eighth with a 2.34 goals-against average and is tied for eighth with a .914 save percentage.
 
Florida is appearing in the Conference Finals for the eighth time in team history. The Everblades have advanced to the Kelly Cup Finals five times (2004, 2005, 2012, 2018 and 2022), capturing the Kelly Cup title in 2012 and 2022. Florida defeated both South Carolina and Jacksonville in six games en route to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Everblades have also enjoyed success on the road in the 2023 Kelly Cup Playoffs, posting a 5-1 record, including four straight wins.
 
Tyler Irvine and Sean Josling share the team lead, and are tied for second overall in the playoffs, with seven goals while Joe Pendenza has recorded a team-best 12 points (5g-7a). Cam Johnson, the 2022 recipient of the June M. Kelly Playoffs Most Valuable Player Award, has picked up where he left off last season with an 8-4 record and two shutouts. He is tied for fourth with a 2.11 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
 
The winner of the Eastern Conference Finals receives the E.A. “Bud” Gingher Memorial Trophy. The trophy is named in recognition of E.A. “Bud” Gingher, who was Chairman of the ECHL Board of Governors from 1992-95. Gingher, who passed away in 2002, co-founded the Dayton Bombers in 1991 and owned the team for seven seasons, serving as President and Governor until selling the team in 1998. Gingher was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame in 2010.

Game 1 - Friday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Florida
Game 2 - Saturday, May 20 at 7 p.m. ET at Florida
Game 3 - Monday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Florida
Game 4 - Thursday, May 25 at 7 p.m. NT at Newfoundland
Game 5 - Sunday, May 28 at 4 p.m. NT at Newfoundland (If Necessary)
Game 6 - Tuesday, May 30 at 7 p.m. NT at Newfoundland (If Necessary)
Game 7 - Wednesday, May 31 at 7 p.m. NT at Newfoundland (If Necessary)
 
Western Conference Finals (Best of Seven)

Idaho Steelheads vs. Toledo Walleye
Series Matchup Sheet

Idaho has reached the Conference Finals for the fifth time in team history, and the first time since 2013, while Toledo returns to the Conference Finals for its third consecutive postseason after reaching the Kelly Cup Finals in 2019 and 2022.
 
The series pits two high-flying offenses with the Walleye leading the playoffs with 4.88 goals per game and the Steelheads third with 4.09. Both clubs posted nine goals in a game in their second round series, the first time that had happened in the Kelly Cup Playoffs since 2010, while Idaho’s 28 goals against Allen is the most in a five-game series in ECHL postseason history.
 
The Walleye, who have reached the Conference Finals for the fifth time since 2015, are 8-0 in the playoffs, becoming just the third team in Kelly Cup Playoffs history to open the postseason with eight straight wins, joining the 2003 Columbia Inferno and 2011 Alaska Aces. Toledo leads the playoffs on both the power play (15-for-38, 39.5 percent) and the penalty kill (21-for-23, 91.3 percent).
 
Gordie Green is tied for the playoff lead with 14 points (6g-8a) while Trenton Bliss is tied for first among rookies with 12 points (5g-7a). Sebastian Cossa and John Lethemon have split time in goal, with both goaltenders recording four wins. Cossa leads all goalies in the playoffs with a 1.25 goals-against average and is second with a .954 save percentage while Lethemon, the 2022-23 winner of the Nick Vitucci ECHL Goaltender of the Year Award, ranks seventh with a 2.25 goals-against average.
 
Idaho, which set ECHL single-season records with 32 home wins, 58 wins and 119 points, has won eight of its last nine games after dropping the first two games of the Mountain Division Semifinals against Utah. The Steelheads have scored three or more goals in each of their eight wins and have outshot their opponent in 10 of their 11 games.
 
Wade Murphy leads all players in the postseason with nine goals and is tied for the overall lead with 14 points. Owen Headrick, the 2022-23 ECHL Defenseman of the Year, is second among defensemen in the playoffs with 10 points (1g-9a). In goal, Adam Scheel is 8-3 with a 2.84 goals-against average and a save percentage of .904.
 
The winner of the Western Conference Finals receives the Bruce Taylor Trophy. The trophy is named in recognition of Bruce Taylor, who was the founding father of the West Coast Hockey League. In the early 1990s, Taylor purchased teams in Fresno, Reno and Bakersfield and in 1995 joined them with teams in Anchorage, Fairbanks and San Diego to form the West Coast Hockey League. The Taylor Cup was presented to the playoff champion in the WCHL from the league’s inaugural season in 1995-96 until the league ceased operations following the 2002-03 season. Taylor’s ownership in hockey began in 1983 with the purchase of the Burnaby Bluehawks of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League and continued with the purchase of the Richmond Sockeyes in the BCJHL and the New Westminster Royals in the BCJHL.

Game 1 - Saturday, May 20 at 7:10 p.m. MT at Idaho
Game 2 - Sunday, May 21 at 4:10 p.m. MT at Idaho
Game 3 - Wednesday, May 24 at 7:15 p.m. ET at Toledo
Game 4 - Friday, May 26 at 7:15 p.m. ET at Toledo
Game 5 - Saturday, May 27 at 7:15 p.m. ET at Toledo (If Necessary)
Game 6 - Tuesday, May 30 at 7:10 p.m. MT at Idaho (If Necessary)
Game 7 - Wednesday, May 31 at 7:10 p.m. MT at Idaho (If Necessary)