ECHL Winners

The East Coast League is the first North American league to begin the playoffs which started last week.  Yeah I know, I'm still catching up but technically I'm further ahead than normal.  With that being said I can hand out the awards for top fighting teams in the league this season.  My running tally on the right side was not always up to date so instead, let's skip the update and go right to the top three.


3RD PLACE:  UTAH GRIZZLIES - 75

Not a big surprise here.  I won't get into too many details as that will be saved for a later post.  The team had a lot of toughness along with some experienced players.  An all around tough squad that would have probably favored even better if they were not losing players to the AHL.


2ND PLACE:  ONTARIO REIGN - 78

This is the kind of team I would probably have season tickets to go see if they were close by.  Not only are they incredibly tough but also highly skilled.  They were one of the best teams while also finishing second in penalty minutes.  They should also make the playoffs interesting.


1ST PLACE:  SAN FRANCISCO - 82

Welcome to the ECHL and the exciting world of hockey people of the San Francisco area.  The first year team managed to fit right into the craziness of the western conference.  They might not have been the best team, but they at least had fun and were not going to be pushed around.


What a surprise.  The west dominated in the fighting department this season.  The top three teams last season were also all from the west and included Ontario.  These teams quickly start to not like each other as rivalries heat up before the first game of the season.     

Champion # 3

Skelleftea takes the title in the Swedish Elite League this season.

There are generally not a lot of North American skaters playing in this league however Skelleftea did happen to have the most dominant one on their team.  Bud Holloway was a Los Angeles Kings pick and played three seasons in the AHL before making the move to Europe.  My guess is he wasn't moving in the direction he wanted and didn't see any changes coming.  I'd be surprised if he wasn't on some NHL radars heading into next year.

Holloway easily lead the league with 71 points which is an awful lot for an elite European league.  Putting up a huge season in Europe will get you noticed.  It will be up to him to decide if it is worth making the jump back to North America.

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The Elite League also has a regulation process at the end of the season that takes the worst two teams in the regular season and four teams who qualified from the second tier to face off against each other in a small tournament.  The two teams with the best record at the end take the two spots at the top level.  Well wouldn't you know what happened.

Both Elite team squads are out and will be replaced with Leksands and Orebro.  Orebro has never competed in the Elite League in club history.

I wish every league could do this.

Champion #2

The Swiss league has crowned a new champion.  This year Bern takes the crown after defeating Fribourg in six games.  Bern was led by Byron Ritchie who finished first in points during the regular season and also led the squad in playoff points.  Ritchie played over 500 games in the NHL and AHL.  Leading goal scorer, Canadian Ryan Gardner, has been playing in Switzerland since 1997.

New York Islander forward John Tavares ended up finishing in a tie for second on the team in scoring and Swiss and NHL teammate Mark Streit was the highest scoring defenseman.  Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators also joined during the lockout.  No word on if those players get championship rings (or whatever they hand out).  My guess would be they do.

Like European soccer leagues, the Swiss league has a relegation process at the end of each season that is basically the exact opposite of the standard playoffs.  The four teams who do not make the playoffs square off against each other with the loser moving on to the next round for a final series.  The loser of that then takes on the champion B league team for the final spot in the top league.

Sure enough this year top league team Raperswil lost and will be relegated.  Lausanne will be promoted.

Champion # 1

The Austrian league became the first league (of the ones I follow) to crown a champion last week.  It took Klagenfurt a full four games to win the title. 

MVP of the series went to Jamie Lundmark who also led the team in scoring this year.  Lundmark broke into professional hockey the same year I began my detailed statistical database in 2001 and went one to play over 600 games in the AHL and NHL.  This was his first season in Austria.

The team saw three NHL players make Klagenfurt their home briefly before the NHL returned.  For what it's worth, Edmonton's Sam Gagner finished 7th on the team in scoring after playing just 21 games.