ST. JOHN’S, NFLD – The 2018-19 hockey season was filled with firsts for the ECHL expansion Newfoundland Growlers. First game, first goal, first win, first North Division title and first Eastern Conference championship. Tuesday night at the Mile One Centre in front of their fans, they added one more first:
The first ECHL Kelly Cup champions to call Canada home.
2019 ECHL Kelly Cup champion Newfoundland Growlers (Photo courtesy of Newfoundland Growlers)
Led by two goals from rookie Giorgio Estephan and 23 saves from goalie Michael Garteig, the Growlers finished off the Toledo Walleye with a nail-biting 4-3 win in front of an announced sellout crowd of 6,329 to take the best-of-seven series by a count of four wins to two. Newfoundland became just the second ECHL team in the 31-year history of the league to win the title in its first season, joining the 1990 Greensboro Monarchs who were the first to accomplish it. The victory was also the first professional league championship for the city of St. John’s and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Growlers forward Zach O’Brien was named the winner of the June M. Kelly trophy as the playoff Most Valuable Player. During the postseason, O’Brien scored 16 goals and added 13 assists for 29 points. O’Brien’s 16 tallies is the second most ever in league history, sitting behind only Blaine Moore (1995 Richmond) and J.F. Boutin (2000 Peoria) who each netted 17 goals.
By no means was it an easy victory. The Western Conference champion Walleye gave everything they had, closing a 4-1 deficit after two periods to just one with less than four minutes left in the third period. Toledo threw everything at the Growlers but Garteig and his teammates held on for dear life to complete a most improbable season.
With a lot riding on the game, the Growlers controlled much of the first forty minutes of game six. They allowed Toledo just four shots on net in the opening frame with three of those coming in the final nine minutes of play.
Newfoundland played a patient game, looking to force the Walleye into turnovers and take advantage. That was the case on the game-opening tally when a mistake by the visitors during a four-on-four sequence became a goal. The error put the puck on the stick of O’Brien who drove to the net and finished with a backhanded pass across the slot to Matt Bradley who beat Toledo goalie Pat Nagle for his fourth score of the playoffs with 1:29 to go before the intermission.
That margin became two just 63 seconds into the middle period when yet another turnover became fatal for the Walleye. This time it was Josh Kestner getting hold of the loose puck and coming off the half boards. He sent it to Hudson Elynuik who went to the net, forcing Nagle to make a save. The rebound came out to the low slot where Kestner picked it up and fired it through traffic into the cage for his ninth of the post-season and third of the series.
Toledo needed to respond and it did. The Walleye spent most of the next 90 seconds buzzing around the Newfoundland end, firing numerous shots that Garteig had to fend off. Finally, Shane Berschbach threaded a pass back to the point to Kevin Tansey. Tansey drifted in and as a shooting lane opened up, he let loose with a drive that avoided some traffic and beat Garteig for his third playoff goal to cut the margin to 2-1.
Seeing that the Walleye were not going to quietly fade away, the Growlers turned on their offense again, dominating the back half of the second period. Just past the midpoint of the stanza, Newfoundland had a three-on-two rush into the Toledo defensive zone with Kestner carrying the puck. Kestner crossed a feed to the other side of the ice to Estephan who laced a wrist shot home from the faceoff circle to Nagle’s left for his eighth post-season score.
Three and a half minutes – and a sparkling save by Garteig on a clean break-in by Berschbach – later, another four-on-four chance came up and again it was turned into gold by the home team. Coming in with Elynuik on an even-up counterattack, Estephan lugged the puck in and faked a drop pass to his teammate. The fake bought him enough space to cross the mid-slot area from Nagle’s right to left. As he got to the hash marks of the faceoff circle, Estephan loaded up and snapped a wrister that glanced off the goalie’s arm and settled into the back of the net for the rookie forward’s second of the game and ninth of the playoffs.
Faced with a do-or-die fate, the Walleye made a strong push in the third period in a desperate attempt to extend their season to a game seven. A little over five minutes into the final frame, they cut into the lead when Hunter Smith cashed in the rebound of a shot by Ben Storm for his first playoff goal. Toledo continued to press and when A.J. Jenks grabbed a loose puck, walked out in front and buried a shot with 3:36 remaining for his sixth of the playoffs, the lead was down to just one.
If there was any nervousness in the Growlers or their fans, it sure did not show. With the crowd on its feet yelling and chanting for the entire time, the players fed off the energy and went into full protect mode. They hustled hard, clearing pucks and blocking shots wherever they could and when they could not stop the puck, Garteig did. As the final seconds ticked away, the volume inside the Mile One Centre became so loud that it probably could be heard from Montreal to Vancouver and all points in between.
As the horn sounded, the celebration on the ice matched the level of the fans as the players poured off the bench. The roar subsided long enough for league commissioner Ryan Crelin to award the MVP award, which is named after the wife of ECHL Commissioner Emeritus Patrick J. Kelly, to O’Brien and then grew again when team captain James Melindy was called to center ice to take the Kelly Cup from the man whose name is on the trophy itself.
The championship had extra special meaning for O’Brien, Melindy and veteran defenseman Adam Pardy as all three are natives of Newfoundland with O’Brien being from St. John’s itself. Pardy, who finished his 14th year of professional hockey by winning his first title, announced his retirement prior to the game making the victory that much sweeter.
It was also a big moment for Growlers Head Coach John Snowden, who became a Kelly Cup champion in his first time running the bench. Snowden, who began his coaching career as an assistant for the Orlando Solar Bears in 2015, took over for Ryane Clowe who was forced to resign because of health issues in January. Snowden and Darryl Williams provided stability in the changeover and guided the team the rest of the way.
Notes: Final shots in the game were 27-26 in favor of Newfoundland… Both teams went 0-for-1 on the power play in the contest. For the series, Toledo went 4-for-22 on the power play while the Growlers were 2-for-20… The sellout crowd in St. John’s was the fourth consecutive game in the series that was played in front of a full house. Games 3, 4 and 5 in Toledo were all sellouts with attendance over 8,000 each night… More than 3,000 Walleye fans were at Fifth-Third Bank Field in Toledo for a watch party on the Jumbotron at the home of the Toledo Mud Hens… Bershcbach (4 goals, 3 assists) and defenseman Matt Register (7 assists) led the Walleye in scoring during the series… The Growlers were led by Elynuik (2 goals, 6 assists) and Kestner (3 goals) in the final series… Newfoundland finished the playoffs with a record of 16-6-1 including an outstanding 10-2 record at home. The home mark was anchored by a 3-0 record in game 6’s during the post season… Toledo was just as good at home, going 8-4 at the Huntington Center as part of its 14-6-4 mark in the playoffs… The Growlers rookies held six of the top seven spots on the scoring list for first year players in the playoffs, led by Brady Ferguson (7 goals, 17 assists) and Estephan (9 goals, 15 assists). Scott Pooley (9 goals, 8 assists) was third, Kestner (9 goals, 7 assists) tied for fourth and Marcus Power (4 goals, 11 assists) and Elynuik (6 goals, 9 assists) tied for sixth on the list… Toledo’s Register led all defensemen during the post-season with 4 goals and 15 assists for 19 points Register’s teammate Tansey was second in points from the blueline with 3 goals and 11 assists for 14 points… Toledo’s Nagle (1481 minutes) and Newfoundland’s Garteig (1423 minutes) were numbers one and two in playoff minutes played. Nagle finished with a 2.03 goals against average and a .931 save percentage in the post-season while Garteig posted a 2.19 goals against average and a save percentage of .928… Newfoundland’s series win was the first by an Eastern Conference team since 2013 when the Reading Royals won the Kelly Cup by beating Stockton.
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