Former Vernon Vipers forward Todd Skirving & the ECHL Newfoundland Growlers won the Kelly Cup Tuesday after a 4-3 victory over the visiting Toledo Walleye in Game 6 of the ECHL Finals.
Newfoundland wins the series 4 games to 2 winning the Kelly Cup in their first season in the ECHL. The Growlers are the first Canadian team in ECHL history to win the Kelly Cup. The 1990 Greensboro Monarchs are the last ECHL team to win the Kelly Cup in their first season. Worth noting that the Growlers lost their head coach during the season when Ryan Clowe had complications stemming from concussions and that his assistant John Snowden, with no head coaching experience, took over the team.
A very strange yet crazy story about the Kelly Cup trophy. In late May word got out that the defending Kelly Cup champion Colorado Eagles won't return the Kelly Cup trophy. On June 1st 2019 former ECHL commissioner Patrick Kelly claimed that the league had a replica Cup made because the Colorado Eagles wouldn't give the original back. The Eagles won back-to-back Kelly Cups in 2017-18 in their final two seasons in the ECHL before moving up to the AHL this season.
Here is a story from 9news.com
Here is a statement from the ECHL
The Eagles won back-to-back Kelly Cups in 2017-18 in their final two seasons in the ECHL before moving up to the AHL this season.
Skirving is in his first season in Newfoundland after signing with the Growlers October 16th 2018. In 26 games this season with the Growlers Skirving collected (3-goals-4-assists-7-points). Skirving went pointless in five playoff games.
Skirving spent four years at Rochester Institute Of Technology (RIT) before signing his first professional contract with the ECHL Orlando Solar Bears August 3rd 2017.
Skirving spent last season with three different teams in the ECHL (Orlando Solar Bears, Utah Grizzlies & Atlanta Gladiators)
Skirving was recruited by the Vipers played just half a season in Vernon (2010-11) before being traded. The Prince George Spruce Kings traded Ryan Renz to Vernon January 10th 2011 for Todd Skirving & future considerations. In 34 regular season games with the Vipers Skirving collected (4-goals-5-assists-9-points).
Todd Skirving's Player Profile:
Newfoundland wins 2019 Kelly Cup title
2019 Kelly Cup Finals
June 4 2019
Growlers capture ECHL title in their first season of existence
The Newfoundland Growlers captured the 2019 Kelly Cup championship on Tuesday with a 4-3 win over the Toledo Walleye in Game 6 of the 2019 Kelly Cup Finals presented by SmileDirectClub in front of a standing-room only crowd of 6,329 fans at Mile One Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Newfoundland, which joined the ECHL as an expansion team prior to the 2018-19 season, becomes the first team to claim the ECHL title in its first season of existence since the Greensboro Monarchs in 1990.
Growlers’ forward Zach O’Brien earned the June M. Kelly Playoffs Most Valuable Player Award. O’Brien led all players in the 2019 Kelly Cup Playoffs with 16 goals and 29 points. The 16 goals are tied for the second most in a single postseason in ECHL history, just one behind the league record of 17, which was set by Richmond’s Blaine Moore in 1995 and matched by Peoria’s J.F. Boutin in 2000.
The Playoffs Most Valuable Trophy was renamed earlier this year in honor of June M. Kelly, the wife of ECHL Commissioner Emeritus Patrick J. Kelly, whom the Kelly Cup is named after. Mrs. Kelly was an integral part of the ECHL behind the scenes during her husband’s tenure as Commissioner from the League’s inaugural season in 1988-89 through his retirement following the 1995-96 season.
Hudson Elynuik led the Growlers in the series with eight points (2g-6a) while Kestner had a team-high three goals. Shane Berschbach (4g-3a) and Matt Register (0g-7a) paced the Walleye with seven points each.
2019 Kelly Cup Finals
Game 1 – Toledo 3 at NEWFOUNDLAND 4 (OT)
Game 2 – Toledo 1 at NEWFOUNDLAND 2 (OT)
Game 3 – Newfoundland 1 at TOLEDO 4
Game 4 – NEWFOUNDLAND 4 at Toledo 2
Game 5 – Newfoundland 2 at TOLEDO 3
Game 6 – Toledo 3 at NEWFOUNDLAND 4
Kelly Cup Champions
2019 – Newfoundland defeated Toledo, 4 games to 2
2018 – Colorado defeated Florida, 4 games to 3
2017 – Colorado defeated South Carolina, 4 games to 0
2016 – Allen defeated Wheeling, 4 games to 2
2015 – Allen defeated South Carolina, 4 games to 3
2014 – Alaska defeated Cincinnati, 4 games to 2
2013 – Reading defeated Stockton, 4 games to 1
2012 – Florida defeated Las Vegas, 4 games to 1
2011 – Alaska defeated Kalamazoo, 4 games to 1
2010 – Cincinnati defeated Idaho, 4 games to 1
2009 – South Carolina defeated Alaska, 4 games to 3
2008 – Cincinnati defeated Las Vegas, 4 games to 2
2007 – Idaho defeated Dayton, 4 games to 1
2006 – Alaska defeated Gwinnett, 4 games to 1
2005 – Trenton defeated Florida, 4 games to 2
2004 – Idaho defeated Florida, 4 games to 1
2003 – Atlantic City defeated Columbia, 4 games to 1
2002 – Greenville defeated Dayton, 4 games to 0
2001 – South Carolina defeated Trenton, 4 games to 1
2000 – Peoria defeated Louisiana, 4 games to 2
1999 – Mississippi defeated Richmond, 4 games to 3
1998 – Hampton Roads defeated Pensacola, 4 games to 2
1997 – South Carolina defeated Louisiana, 4 games to 1
Riley Cup Champions
1996 – Charlotte defeated Jacksonville, 4 games to 0
1995 – Richmond defeated Greensboro, 4 games to 1
1994 – Toledo defeated Raleigh, 4 games to 1
1993 – Toledo defeated Wheeling, 4 games to 2
1992 – Hampton Roads defeated Louisville, 4 games to 0
1991 – Hampton Roads defeated Greensboro, 4 games to 1
1990 – Greensboro defeated Winston-Salem, 4 games to 1
1989 – Carolina defeated Johnstown, 4 games to 3
About the ECHL
Began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 27 teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces for its 31st season in 2018-19. There have been 661 players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after starting their careers in the ECHL, including 19 who made their NHL debuts in the 2018-19 season. The ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 31 NHL teams in 2018-19, marking the 22nd consecutive season that the league had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available at ECHL.com as well as on Twitter and Facebook.
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