Alaska Wins

Alaska wins their third championship in the last nine years.  They've never even missed the playoffs since joining the ECHL although it's not hard playing in the west.  Rob Murray coached the team to victory this season.  Brent Thompson did it in 2011.  Both are in the top ten for most penalty minutes in AHL history.  There is your random stat of the day.  Or how about this?  Keith McCambridge coached Alaska before Thompson.  He made the Final but lost.  Before him was Davis Payne, the first coach of Alaska when they became a member of the ECHL and first to lead them to a championship.  Payne is now an assistant with Los Angeles who are one win away from the Stanley Cup.  McCambridge is head coach of St. John's who are playing in the Calder Cup Final.

On to the guys who got it done on the ice.

Strong overall team.  I've always been a Brendan Connolly fan though his success has come entirely in the ECHL.  He is a good player with a lot of grit to his game for being relatively small at 5'8 180 lbs.

The playoffs in professional hockey this year have remained more PG rated in terms of fighting in recent memory.  It might be a sign of the time or a sign of future change.  Could have just been one of those seasons.  Yet you still get something unique.  Nick Mazzolini with the "C" next to his name above has the distinction (for now) of leading all players in the NHL, AHL and ECHL in playoff points.  He also has the most penalty minutes.

One quick note about a very solid Cincinnati team that I would have pegged to be in the Finals a month ago comes in the form of an ECHL first.  Goalie Rob Madore was the playoffs MVP this year.  He becomes the first player in league history to win the award on the losing team.