Analysis of South Carolina’s Kelly Cup win

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC- In a post game reaction to their 4-2 win in game seven of the ECHL’s Kelly Cup finals, Jared Bednar, the head coach and general manager of the South Carolina Stingrays was as one would expect, effusive in his praise of his team’s overall team effort. Bednar in his post game remarks stated that “t his group bought into the team concept and what we were trying to do with our program from the outset and this is their reward.”
 
This win it can be argued, makes South Carolina the bell weather franchise in the ECHL in terms of on ice performance.   The ‘Rays have now made the playoffs 15 times in their 16 years of existence. They hold ECHL records for most playoff game appearances 139 and most wins, 77 in post season play.    They are tied with now defunct Hampton Roads for the most playoff championships with three.
 
It is clear from the scores and closeness of all of this year’s Kelly Cup final series’ games save one, that the Stingray’s Cup win could have just as easily been a loss.   Coach Bednar said after several games that “a bounce one way or the other could have seen the Alaska Aces winning the game.”   If so Alaska not South Carolina would have been hoisting the cup.”
 
There were however, reasons why South Carolina won the series in one of the best Kelly Cup matchups over the history of play for the Kelly Cup trophy. Three reasons standout that made a difference for the Stingrays, overall readiness, goaltending, and team balance.
 
Readiness
Readiness is a subjective category that can be explained by the crucible through which the Stingrays passed simply to get the finals. Alaska arrived in the Kelly Cup finals as the second best team in the ECHL in terms of regular season point totals. They had cruised through the first three rounds of the playoffs    handily winning all three series.   They lost only two games total in the initial three rounds, none at home in any of the series and were dominating until they met South Carolina. Their goalie was almost unbeatable and they boasted a penalty kill percentage of 92.3 percent. Lastly, they would play before 6,700 plus standing room only crowds that made the Sullivan Arena a tough place to play for visitors.
 
Meanwhile, South Carolina opened up with one of their long-term rivals the Charlotte Checkers and after digging themselves a 0-2 hole in the series and trailing 2-0 after the first period of the third game, roared back to win game three and then reel off three additional wins to move on. Their reward was to play against their most bitter rival the Florida EverBlades.
 
Florida a pre-season favorite to win the Kelly Cup had established themselves as the team to beat as the regular season point’s leader and they were loaded with talent. They had the leagues’ MVP in Kevin Baker and a veteran lineup and had spent the entire season setting the expectations for their fan base that this was their year to win the Kelly Cup.
 
They may have prevailed but things got away from them when they ended up with just one viable goalie in the series against South Carolina, David Leggio. The other starter was recalled to the AHL and never came back. Many observers thought Leggio simply wore down as the Stingrays had two frontline goaltenders that Bednar rotated throughout the playoffs. Bednar simply played one of his two goalies, Jonathan Boutin or James Reimer, until they lost and then went with the other net minder.
 
T hey ousted the Florida EverBlades 4-2 in an emotional six-game set.  Florida, which had the best regular season record in the ECHL, was a heavy pre-season pick to win the Kelly Cup as they had assembled a deep, experienced team.  All games in the series were settled by one goal margins and the teams played three overtime games.
 
In what was the turning point of the series and perhaps the entire playoffs the Stingrays won game five 4-3 after overcoming a 0-3 deficit midway in the second period. That win seemed to typify a South Carolina team which simply kept coming at you no matter what.   In game six the EverBlades rallied to tie the game with two goals in the last two minutes of the game after it looked like the game was over. Despite this adversity, the ‘Rays moved on to the conference final with an OT win.
 
Cincinnati, last year’s Kelly Cup winner and winner of this year’s American Conference North Division title, was primed for a second trip to the playoffs. Instead, the ‘Rays who were battle tested after Florida swept the series.
 
The testing, adversity and triumph including winning on the road especially in Florida and Cincinnati and then taking two games in Alaska after making two trips into Anchorage traveling more than 18,000 miles in their quest to capture the Kelly Cup. All of this tempered the ‘Rays and helped forge them into a team that was extraordinarily resilient.
 
Goaltending:
Alaska entered the playoffs with the ECHL goal tender of the year Jean-Philippe Lamoureux a rookie, who had led the league in the regular season in shutouts and wins. He came into the finals with a playoff’s goals against average of 1.65 and figured to be the “Ace in the goal” for Alaska. He played well but in the end was outplayed by the South Carolina tandem of Jonathan Boutin and James Reimer.
 
South Carolina had struggled in mid season with the call-up of goal tender Michael Neuvirth to Hershey of the AHL. He is now leading that team in the AHL Calder Cup finals. His partner Bobby Goepferth signed with Salzburg in Europe mid way in the season leaving the ‘Rays to struggle using help from Ian Vigier out of the SPHL in goal while Bednar searched for a more permanent solution.
 
Vigier held the fort well until Boutin arrived late in the season from Victoria. Boutin got into 21 games while Reimer played only five regular season games after joining the Stingrays in late March from Reading. The young rookie was struggling in Reading but flourished with a stronger team.   Despite the newness of both goalies, as mentioned earlier Bednar adopted a strategy of playing one until they lost and then inserting the other until they lost.
 
He carried this over into the playoffs and Boutin was able to post a 12-4 record appearing in 16 playoff games while Reimer stepped in and was able to shine in the final series.   Boutin’s last loss, a 4-2 outcome with one goal scored on an empty netter featured an excellent effort by Boutin as he faced 35 shots.
 
That loss however, set the stage for Reimer and game seven. “I had complete confidence in both goalies, “I think everyone in our locker room would have been comfortable with either Jonathan or James in net for Game seven.”   Reimer finished with an overall playoff record of 4-1-2 playing in seven games.
 
Reimer ended up with the MVP award on the strength of his three wins in the finals while Jonathan Boutin led the ‘Rays into the finals through the first three playoff series and contributed a win in the finals.   Reimer won the other three games in the finals by posting 1.64 goals against average and a .942 save percentage.   The 21 year old outdueled the ECHL goaltender of the year Lamoureux, also a rookie, who shouldered the very high expectations of leading his team to the Kelly Cup after his sparkling regular season.
 
However, the turning point in the series came in game four when the ‘Rays solved Lamoureux enough to blast five goals past him forcing him out of the game early. This put them up 3-1 in the series and forced the Aces into having to win three straight against the American Conference champs a task they could not complete.
 
Balance
While Reimer won the MVP award observers, including Bednar were struck with the overall balance of the team. “The thing that I’m most proud of is that we did it by committee,” Bednar said. “We had a dozen guys that could legitimately have been the MVPs during the playoffs. You could have picked between seven and nine guys for the MVP and no one would have argued with you.”   The playoffs allow a team to carry 23 eligible players and the Stingrays were bolstered by the addition of late season acquisitions, signings and players who returned from long-term assignments in the American Hockey League.
 

Photo courtesy of the SC Stingrays

Photo courtesy of the SC Stingrays


Bednar in addition to securing his two goaltenders late in the season picked up a rookie out of an NCAA Division III program, Norwich University, center Nikita Kashirsky.   All he accomplished was to end up as the leading scorer among rookies in the playoffs with 18 points and a team leading plus/minus record of +13 before going down with a season ending injury in game five. Trent Campbell, who spent a long stint in the AHL returned and led the team in scoring over the course of the playoffs.   He played in all 23 playoff games scoring six goals and 24 points.   Travis Morin, who was the regular season ECHL leader in assists assumed the same position in the playoffs despite missing four games and being hampered by a severely sprained wrist that occurred in the Florida Series.
 
Pierre-Luc O’Brien played at both ends of the ice picking up 18 points and serving on the penalty kill. Rookie Maxime Lacroix was a major contributor leading the playoffs with 13 goals six of which came against Alaska. He could have easily been named the MVP for his offensive results.   Jeff Corey, Spencer Carbery another late season acquisition, Matt Scherer and Keith Johnson had excellent productivity and importantly played two-way hockey and provided scoring that kept the Aces from being able to concentrate on just one line.
 
While the offense played two way hockey the deep experienced blue line corps helped limit Alaska to 15 goals in seven games while the ‘Rays scored 22 of their own. There were a few lapses and the defense was excellent no matter which combination was on the ice.   Johann Kroll, Zack Tarkir and Brad Farynuk all of whom spent major time in the AHL before returning for the ECHL playoffs, provided offensive threats while Patrick Weller another late season addition with AHL time anchored the blue line along with his usual partner Kroll. Scott Romfro and Nate Kiser long-term Stingrays’ veterans were just as solid.
 
Lastly, the calm leadership of Bednar, the only person to date with his name listed on the Kelly Cup three times, twice as a player with the South Carolina and now as Coach of the 2009 Kelly Cup winners gets credit as the prime architect of this team.
 
His success comes against the backdrop of a franchise that failed to make the playoffs for the first time in their history two seasons ago. In two years at the helm he has piloted the ‘Rays to the Conference final last season and now the Kelly Cup.
 
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
 

Leave a Comment