The Champs With A Statement

In sports, I believe there's a distinct advantage when it comes to having done something before. Players have the experience and knowledge necessary to know what it takes to accomplish whatever that goal is, so having done something before doesn't feel like a new journey. The ECHL's Florida Everblades showed everyone what the experience and knowledge of being back-to-back champions holds as they introduced the Kansas City Mavericks to a world of hurt in Game One of the Kelly Cup Final tonight. Needless to say, the champs flexed a little muscle this evening in their 8-1 blowout of the Mavericks to start the final.

The Everblades opened this series on the road as the first-overall Mavericks held home-ice advantage at Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, Missouri, but that lasted all of three minutes as Bobo Carpenter's shot from the top of the right face-off circle beat Cale Morris cleanly to put the Everblades up 1-0. Jeremy McKenna would get that one back at the 6:26 mark when he deflected a Nate Knoepke shot from the blue line in front Cam Johnson to elude the netminder for the 1-1 score.

Late in the frame, Florida's Oliver Chau won a race to a loose puck after it eluded a Mavericks' defender at the offensive blue line, and Chau sakted in along before tucking a backhander past Morris at 15:55 to put Florida up 2-1. That score would be pushed to 3-1 when Cole Moberg gained the line and unleashed a slapshot that went high blocker-side on Morris, and the Mavericks' netminder likely wanted that one back at 17:44. With that tally, Florida took the two-goal cushion into the intermission as the Mavericks looked to regroup.

Far be it for me to criticize a goaltender since stopping a beach ball would be a task for this writer, but it seemed like Morris should have been able to make stops on the Carpenter and Moberg goals. Yes, there was some traffic around the net during Carpenter's goal, but nothing seemed to impede his vision. The same is true of Moberg's goal where he simply teed it up and blew it past Morris with a defender in front of Moberg - there was no real traffic to disrupt Morris's vision. Might there have been some nerves at play?

As it has been said, when it rains, it sometimes pours, and the Mavericks got a big dose of that in the second period when the Everblades were flying. Four goals in 9:05 put this game in out-of-reach territory as Carpenter scored his second goal at 8:50, Riese Zmolek made it a 5-1 game at 9:28, Chau added his second goal at 11:09, and Logan Lambdin capped off the scoring in the frame with his goal at 17:55. When the dust settled after the second period, the Everblades held a 7-1 lead over the Mavericks as this one seemed like it was over after 40 minutes.

A third period goal by Zmolek at the the 6:00 mark capped off an 8-1 win for the Everblades after the Mavericks let Jack LaFontaine have a shot at stopping pucks, but the defending, two-time champions sent a statement to the ECHL's best team that they're in it to win it no matter who they face. It should be noted that Florida is now 12-0 in these playoffs when they score first, so Kansas City will need to try to hit the scoresheet first in the next six games. It's interesting that LaFontaine looked more comfortable than Morris did in the Mavericks' net, so we'll see who gets the start for the Mavericks after they got their doors blown off in Game One.

It should be noted that the Everblades are now three wins from becoming the first team in ECHL history to win three consecutive titles. The Toledo Storm in 1992 and 1993, the Allen Americans in 2015 and 2016, and the Colorado Eagles in 2017 and 2018 were the only other back-to-back champions, and none reached the Kelly Cup Final in their quests for a third title. Florida, for their part, are also looking to win a fourth Kelly Cup in franchise history which would be the most won by any ECHL team. Clearly, Florida is in uncharted waters right now simply by making the final.

On the other side of the coin, the Mavericks have to win four of the next six games, but they could become the first team since the Alaska Aces in 2014 to win Brabham Cup as regular-season champions and the Kelly Cup in the same season. It seems that the first-overall curse isn't just an NHL thing with the Presidents' Trophy - the Brabham Cup has its own history! Coincidentally, the last two Brabham Cup winners - Idaho and Toledo - both lost to Florida in the Kelly Cup Final, so this would be the third time in three seasons that Florida eliminated the top team in the final if they are successful. That's gotta be a record as well, right?

Florida leads 1-0 over Kansas City in the Kelly Cup with Game Two slated for Saturday night at Cable Dahmer Arena in a back-to-back games situation. There won't be a lot of time for curing bumps and bruises or for wallowing over a loss, but that might be the best thing for both teams. Florida's looking to put a strangehold on the series with a second while Kansas City needs to rebound with a victory before heading to Estero, Florida for Game Three on Wednesday.

We'll see who emerges victorious tomorrow, but the champs sent a statement tonight that they're hungry for a third consecutive title.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!