KELLY CUP HISTORY
Beginning with the 1996-97 season, the Patrick J. Kelly Cup is awarded annually to the playoff champion of the ECHL.
History: Named in recognition of Patrick J. Kelly, one of the founding fathers of the ECHL. Kelly served as Commissioner of the ECHL for the first eight seasons before being named Commissioner Emeritus in 1996, a title which he continues to hold. Kelly celebrated his 50th season in hockey in 2002-03, having begun his career with the St. Catharines Tee Pees of the Ontario Junior Hockey League in 1952. He played professionally for the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League, the Troy Bruins of the International Hockey League, and the Greensboro Generals of the Eastern Hockey League. Kelly coached in the Eastern Hockey League from 1965-73 and was head coach and general manager of Charlotte in the Southern Hockey League from 1973-76. He coached the Colorado Rockies in the NHL in 1977-78 and is the only coach to lead the Rockies to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Following coaching stops in the American Hockey League, he went to Peoria in the International Hockey League where he led the Rivermen to the Turner Cup in his first season in 1984-85. The ECHL is proud to recognize his distinguished career by naming its most coveted trophy in his honor.
QUALIFICATION RULES
In the Eastern Conference, postseason berths will be awarded to the top eight teams based on regular-season finish, regardless of division. The conference semifinals will have the winner of the first-place and eighth-place matchup meeting the winner of the fourth-place and fifth-place series while the winner of the second-place and seventh-place series will face the winner of the third-place and sixth-place matchup.
In the Western Conference, postseason berths will be awarded to the first-place team in each division and the next six teams in the conference, based on points. The division winners will be seeded first and second and will play the eighth-place finisher and the seventh-place finisher, respectively, while the third-place finisher will meet the sixth-place finisher and the fourth-place finisher and the fifth-place finisher will meet. The conference semifinals will have the winner of the first-place and eighth-place matchup will meet the winner of the fourth-place and fifth-place game while the winner of the second-place and seventh-place game will face the winner of the third-place and sixth-place matchup.
All series in the 2014 Kelly Cup Playoffs will be played in a best-of-seven format.
CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYERS
2013 – READING ROYALS – Barry Almeida, Evan Barlow, Alex Berry, Julien Cayer, Joel Champagne, Ethan Cox, Brett Flemming, Stanislav Galiev, Riley Gill, Dominic Jalbert, Nikita Kashirsky, Kirk MacDonald, Mark Mitera, Bryant Molle, Ian O’Connor, Mark Owuya, Robert Shea, Brock Shelgren, Dustin Stevenson, T.J. Syner, Yannick Tifu, David Vallorani, Patrick Wellar, Tim Branham (Assistant Coach) and Larry Courville (Head Coach).
2012 – FLORIDA EVERBLADES – Matt Beca, Trevor Bruess, Ryan Donald, David Fischer, Rylan Galiardi, Brayden Irwin, Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll, Charles Landry, Matt Marquardt, Brandon MacLean, Ryan McGinnis, John Muse, Pat Nagle, Sebastien Piche, Scott Pitt, Kevin Quick, Mike Ratchuk, Bobby Raymond, Mathieu Roy, David Rutherford, Leigh Salters, Justin Shugg, Joe Sova, Brad Tapper (Assistant Coach) and Greg Poss (Head Coach).
2011 – ALASKA ACES – Matt Ambroz, Chad Anderson, Daryl Boyle, Scott Burt, Gerald Coleman, Adam Courchaine, Ethan Cox, Alex Dzielski, Kory Falite, Curtis Fraser, Brandon Gentile, Wes Goldie, Scott Howes, Mark Isherwood, Dan Kissel, Kane Lafranchise, Chris Langkow, Bryan Miller, Garry Nunn, Tyler Ruegsegger, Russ Sinkewich, Brian Swanson, Steve Ward, Louis Mass (Assistant Coach) and Brent Thompson (Head Coach).
2010 – CINCINNATI CYCLONES – Mathieu Aubin, Hans Benson, Reid Cashman, Ryan Del Monte, Cullen Eddy, Barret Ehgoetz, Josh Heidinger, Jason Jozsa, Jimmy Kilpatrick, Doug Krantz, Maxime Lacroix, Robert Mayer, Ian McKenzie, Brett Motherwell, Brian O’Hanley, Will Ortiz, Matt Pierce, Brett Robinson, Kevin Roeder, Brock Sheahan, Jeremy Smith, Dustin Sproat, Mark Van Guilder, Dean Stork (Assistant Coach) and Chuck Weber (Head Coach).
2009 – SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS – Mick Berge, Jonathan Boutin, Trent Campbell, Spencer Carbery, Jeff Corey, Michael Dubuc, Brad Farynuk, Josh Godfrey, Keith Johnson, Nikita Kashirsky, Nate Kiser, Johann Kroll, Maxime Lacroix, Lyon Messier, Travis Morin, Pierre-Luc O’Brien, Sasha Pokulok, James Reimer, Rob Ricci, Scott Romfo, Matt Scherer, Zach Tarkir, Patrick Wellar, Cail MacLean (Assistant Coach) and Jared Bednar (Head Coach).
2008 – CINCINNATI CYCLONES – Mathieu Aubin, Thomas Beauregard, Jimmy Bonneau, Maxime Daigneault, Jean-Michel Daoust, Jason Deitsch, David Desharnais, Cedrick Desjardins, Barret Ehgoetz, Jon Gleed, Billy Irish-Baker, Olivier Latendresse, Matt Macdonald, Ryan Maki, Conrad Martin, T.J. McElroy, Sean Perkins, Scott Reynolds, Ryan Russell, Chad Starling, Bryan Schmidt, Jeremy Swanson, Matt Syroczynski, Avery Wilson, Dean Stork (Assistant Coach) and Chuck Weber (Head Coach).
2007 – IDAHO STEELHEADS – Jay Beagle, Kyle Bruce, Scott Burt, Steve Chabbert, B.J. Crombeen, John Daigneau, Taggart Desmet, Marty Flichel, Blake Forsyth, Lance Galbraith, Darrell Hay, Lars Helminen, John Lammers, Tuomas Mikkonen, Alexander Naurov, Derek Nesbitt, Colin Peters, Kyle Peto, Greg Rallo, Kory Scoran, Steve Silverthorn, Francis Wathier, Travis Wight and Derek Laxdal (Coach).
2006 – ALASKA ACES – Chris Beckford-Tseu, Kimbi Daniels, Olivier Filion, Ryan Gaucher, Barrett Heisten, Chris Heisten, Cam Keith, Alex Leavitt, Mike Lee, Doug Lynch, Justin Maiser, Louis Mass, Keith McCambridge, Peter Metcalf, Chris Minard, Vladimir Novak, Troy Riddle, Mike Scott, Matt Shasby, Joe Talbot, Matt Underhill, Patrick Wellar and Davis Payne (Coach).
2005 – TRENTON TITANS – B.J. Abel, Andrew Allen, Scott Bertoli, Paul Brown, Bryce Cockburn, Nick Deschenes, Jerramie Domish, Connor Dunlop, Les Haggett, Leon Hayward, Chris Houle, Tim Judy, Rick Kowalsky, Matt Libby, Steve Munn, Chris Pittman, Brent Robinson, Rosario Ruggeri, Michael Schutte, Jeff Smith, Jarrett Thompson, Matt Zultek, Ted Dent (Assistant Coach) and Mike Haviland (Head Coach).
2004 – IDAHO STEELHEADS – Blair Allison, David Bararuk, Jeff Bateman, Mike Betz, Scott Burt, Adam Copeland, David Cornacchia, Regan Darby, Brett Draney, Dan Ellis, Lance Galbraith, Dylan Gyori, Darrell Hay, Ben Keup, Zenon Konopka, Jan Kopecky, Mick Mounsey, Jeremy Mylymok, Derek Paget, Sean Peach, Warren Peters, Mike Sgroi, Chris Slater, Dan Vandermeer, Andrei Vasilyev, Martin Vasut and John Olver (Coach).
2003 – ATLANTIC CITY BOARDWALK BULLIES – J.F. Caudron, Steve Cheredaryk, Kevin Colley, Luke Curtin, Kirk Furey, Jade Galbraith, Jerry Galway, Jim Henkel, Mark Loeding, Shawn Maltby, Scott Matzka, Peter Metcalf, Jake Moreland, Ryan Mougenel, Steve Munn, Mike Nicholishen, Dave Reid, Stefan Rivard, Paul Spadafora, Scott Stirling, Joe Talbot, Ian Walterson, Matthew Yeats, Matt Thomas (Assistant Coach) and Mike Haviland (Head Coach).
2002 – GREENVILLE GRRROWL – David Bell, Zdenek Blatny, Jeff Dessner, Simon Gamache, Tyrone Garner, Jay Langager, Eric Lind, Martin Masa, Colin Pepperall, Jayme Platt, Jonathan Roy, Steve Rymsha, Luke Sellars, Judd Strauss, Ryan Stewart, Simon Tremblay, Roger Trudeau, Eric Van Acker, Sean Venedam, Damon Whitten, Nick Vitucci (Assistant Coach) and John Marks (Head Coach).
2001 – SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS – Jared Bednar, Ryan Brindley, Adam Calder, Marty Clapton, Kirk Daubenspeck, Brad Dexter, Zach Ham, Joel Irving, Trevor Johnson, Jody Lehman, Hugo Marchand, Brett Marietti, Mike Nicholishen, Damian Prescott, Chad Remackel, Greg Schmidt, Dave Seitz, Scott Swanson, Buddy Wallace, Chris Wheaton Jason Fitzsimmons (Assistant Coach) and Rick Adduono (Head Coach).
2000 – PEORIA RIVERMEN – Craig Anderson, Trevor Baker, Aaron Boh, J.F. Boutin, Jason Christie, Darren Clark, Jason Deleurme, Duane Derksen, Blaine Fitzpatrick, Matt Golden, Dan Hodge, Jason Lawmaster, Darren Maloney, Tomaz Razingar, Cody Rudkowsky, Joe Rybar, Cam Severson, Matt Smith, Mike Szkodzinski, Didier Tremblay, Trevor Wasyluk and Don Granato (Coach).
1999 – MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES – Sean Blanchard, Cody Bowtell, Andrew Dale, Brad Essex, Quinn Fair, Kevin Hilton, Kelly Hurd, Karl Infanger, John Kosobud, Mikhail Kravets, D.J. Mando, Troy Mann, Mike Martone, Vashi Nedomansky, Patrick Rochon, Mark Rupnow, Chris Schmidt, Travis Scott, Chuck Thuss, Bob Woods and Bruce Boudreau (Coach).
1998 – HAMPTON ROADS ADMIRALS – Chad Ackerman, Alex Alexeev, Rob Bonneau, Dan Carney, Dan Ceman, Sebastien Charpentier, Marty Clapton, Jeff Corbett, Vadim Epanchintsev, Victor Gervais, Alexander Kharlamov, Dominic Maltais, Drew Palmer, Chris Phelps, Joel Poirier, Jason Saal, Kayle Short, Rod Taylor, Yuri Yeresko, Boris Zelenko and John Brophy (Coach).
1997 – SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS – Andy Adams, Jared Bednar, Rob Butler, Jason Cipolla, Rob Concannon, Mario Cormier, Brad Dexter, Jason Fitzsimmons, Jason Hehr, Chris Hynnes, Kevin Knopp, Taras Lendzyk, Brett Marietti, David Mayes, Steve Parson, Jeff Romfo, Mike Ross, Chris Rowland, Dave Seitz, Marc Tardif, Brendan Yarema and Rick Vaive (Coach).
CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS
| YEAR | CHAMPION | HEAD COACH | SERIES | RUNNER-UP | HEAD COACH |
| 2013 | Reading Royals | Larry Courville | 4-1 | Stockton Thunder | Matt Thomas |
| 2012 | Florida Everblades | Greg Poss | 4-1 | Las Vegas Wranglers | Ryan Mougenel |
| 2011 | Alaska Aces | Brent Thompson | 4-1 | Kalamazoo Wings | Nick Bootland |
| 2010 | Cincinnati Cyclones | Chuck Weber | 4-1 | Idaho Steelheads | Derek Laxdal |
| 2009 | South Carolina Stingrays | Jared Bednar | 4-3 | Alaska Aces | Keith McCambridge |
| 2008 | Cincinnati Cyclones | Chuck Weber | 4-2 | Las Vegas Wranglers | Glen Gulutzan |
| 2007 | Idaho Steelheads | Derek Laxdal | 4-1 | Dayton Bombers | Don MacAdam |
| 2006 | Alaska Aces | Davis Payne | 4-1 | Gwinnett Gladiators | Jeff Pyle |
| 2005 | Trenton Titans | Mike Haviland | 4-2 | Florida Everblades | Gerry Fleming |
| 2004 | Idaho Steelheads | John Olver | 4-1 | Florida Everblades | Gerry Fleming |
| 2003 | Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies | Mike Haviland | 4-1 | Columbia Inferno | Scott White |
| 2002 | Greenville Grrrowl | John Marks | 4-0 | Dayton Bombers | Greg Ireland |
| 2001 | South Carolina Stingrays | Rick Adduono | 4-1 | Trenton Titans | Troy Ward |
| 2000 | Peoria Rivermen | Don Granato | 4-2 | Louisiana Ice Gators | Don Murdoch |
| 1999 | Mississippi Sea Wolves | Bruce Boudreau | 4-3 | Richmond Renegades | Mark Kaufman |
| 1998 | Hampton Roads Admirals | John Brophy | 4-2 | Pensacola Ice Pilots | Al Pedersen |
| 1997 | South Carolina Stingrays | Rick Vaive | 4-1 | Louisiana Ice Gators | Doug Sheddan |