High-Flying Komets And The Upset Bears

While the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs push on, there is some great hockey being played in the ECHL right now. Two series will end tonight as the final series of the opening round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, and both results will lead to some fierce rivalries in the Division Finals round. As I wrote on Sunday, the Iowa Heartlanders and Fort Wayne Komets were playing Game Seven in Indiana tonight while the Brabham Cup-winning South Carolina Stingrays were facing the Orlando Solar Bears in North Charleston, South Carolina. Both series were entering into Game Seven tonight as the 55th and 56th Game Sevens in ECHL playoff history, and only two of the four teams would live to play another day! Who would rise to the occasion in Fort Wayne? Would the ECHL's top regular-season team advance or be upset? Let's find out as both series ended tonight!

We'll start in North Charleston where the Stingrays were hosting the Solar Bears as this Game Seven was the earlier game on the schedule. Three of the six games these two teams had played had gone to overtime, so the 25-point difference in the standings seemingly meant nothing as both teams came prepared for the other. The only game that had the losing team down by more than two goals at the end of the game was Game Five when South Carolina defeated Orlando in Orlando by a 6-2 score. As said, these teams played a much closer series than what would have been expected.

With both teams knowing that mistakes could cost them the series, this game was played much more tentatively in the early stages of the game. Both teams put eight pucks on net with no goals scored on either side, and each side was whistled for one infraction in the frame. This differed from the previous six games as the winning team hadn't scored less than three goals in any game. In short, defence ruled through the opening 20 minutes of this pivotal game.

The second period would see the Solar Bears kill off another penalty, but we'd finally get a highlight late in the frame thanks to traffic.
Hudson Thornton's shot eludes legs and South Carolina netminder Seth Eisele to find twine with 4:57 to play in the period as Orlando went up 1-0 in the game. The Solar Bears would hold that lead through the final minutes of the period to go into the second intermission with the one-goal lead provided by Thornton.

What might chap the rear ends of Stingrays fans is that the Winnipeg-born Thornton was signed by the AHL's Hershey Bears on April 10, 2024 after starring with the WHL's Prince George Cougars. He'd spend most of 2024 with the Stingrays in the pressbox, but, on December 5, 2024, the Bears loaned Thornton from the Stingrays to the Solar Bears due to the depth that the Stingrays had on the blue line. He'd play 42 games with the Solar Bears after the transaction, and his first playoff goal came against the team with whom he started the season and whose AHL affiliate is the team that assigned him to Orlando. OUCH.

The final 20 minutes saw both sides engage in a chess match with nine shots total between the two squads, five of which were put on net by South Carolina. None of them would find twine behind Jon Gillies, and Spencer Kersten would ice the game with 11 seconds to play as the Orlando Solar Bears upset the ECHL's best team by a 2-0 score in Game Seven. The last time that South Carolina was shutout in a game was on January 31, 2025 by the Norfolk Admirals, so this was a big effort from Orlando in taking down the ECHL's best team.

What makes this even more fun is that the Orlando Solar Bears will play the ECHL's defending champions and in-state rivals in the Florida Everblades in the Division Final. That series starts on Friday in Estero, Florida, and I doubt both sides will be welcoming as they meet for the sixth time in the last ten years. What may gear both sides up is that Florida is 5-0 in those previous series, so I imagine Orlando wants to snaop that streak and oust the defending champions while Florida will push for a sixth series win. Florida went 8-2-3 against Orlando this season, so the second-seeded team looks like the favourite.

The later game saw the Iowa Heartlanders tangling with the Fort Wayne Komets at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Iowa held a 3-2 series lead before the Komets pummeled them by a 6-1 score in Game Six, and both teams knew the stakes in Game Seven. The Heartlanders were looking to continue to start well as they had scored first in five of the six games - Game Six was the only game they hadn't - while the Komets were looking to defend home ice and send Iowa home disappointed. This series had been defined by both sides capitalizing on mistakes and breakdowns, so would we see both teams settle down into a defensive battle?

Iowa got off to the great start they wanted once again, outshooting the Komets 9-5 with one of those pucks denting twine behind Nathaniel Day. Iowa scored first for the sixth time in seven games as Ryan Miotto found the back of the net 5:36 into the game, but that would be the only ink on the scoresheet as no penalties were called. Iowa took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

Whatever Komets head coach Jesse Kallechy said during the break seemed to be what the Komets needed because they came out and dominated the middle frame. Blake Murray scored 1:25 into the frame to tie the game at 1-1, and the Komets would take the lead at the 10:19 mark when Alex Swetlikoff beat William Rousseau. Less than three minutes later, the Komets would extend the lead!
I have watched this goal a dozen times, and I can't believe how open Ethan Keppen is when he one-times this puck into the net. It looks like Zach Dubinsky left Keppen to cut off Matt Murphy who slid that puck to a wide-open Keppen, and no one picked up #92 as he scores a beauty off that incredible pass to make it a 3-1 Fort Wayne lead! That score would hold into the intermission, and the Heartlanders had to find some goals in the final frame to keep their season going.

The Heartlanders brought everything they could in the third period as they outshot the Komets 18-5, but it would be Nathaniel Day and the Komets defence who stood tall in denying all 18 shots! Anthony Petruzzelli would add an empty-netter with 28 seconds to play, and the celebration began in Fort Wayne as the Komets rallied from a 3-2 series deficit to win 4-1 in Game Seven for the 4-3 series win!

That will setup one of the fiercest rivalries in hockey for the Central Division Final as the Fort Wayne Komets will head north to meet the division-leading Toledo Walleye on Friday. As we know from Fiona Quinn's chats on The Hockey Show, there are no friends when it comes to Fort Wayne and Toledo, and we should expect fireworks between these two teams. Toledo has won three of four playoff series between these two teams and they held a 5-3-0 record against the Komets this season. On paper, Toledo is the favourite, but this is one series that might be defined by the bruises more than the scores.

It was a fantastic night for Game Seven games in the ECHL, and we'll see eight teams resume their quests for the Kelly Cup on Friday. Jason will be pleased as the Tahoe Knight Monsters will face the Kansas City Mavericks in the Mountain Division Final, and the lone Canadian team in the Trois-Rivières Lions will battle the Winnipeg Jets' ECHL affiliate in the Norfolk Admirals in the North Division Final.

The ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs have seen eight teams sent home as the second round gets set to begin on Friday. New chapters will be written, heroes will be found, and highlights will be made. Yes, the NHL is the big stage, but the action in the ECHL has been absolutely captivating through the first round of the ECHL playoffs, and it starts again on Friday night as eight teams look to claim the Kelly Cup!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!