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Florida Everblades

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Florida Everblades
CityEstero, Florida
LeagueECHL
ConferenceEastern Conference
DivisionSouth Division
Founded1998
Home arenaGermain Arena
ColorsNavy blue, green and white
     
Owner(s)Peter Karmanos
General managerCraig Brush
Head coachGreg Poss
MediaAlex Reed
AffiliatesCarolina Hurricanes / Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL), Charlotte Checkers / Norfolk Admirals (AHL), Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
Franchise history
1998–presentFlorida Everblades
Championships
Regular season titles1999–00, 2008–09
Division titles1999–00, 2006–07, 2008–09
Conference titles2003–04, 2004–05
Kelly CupsNone
Swampee, the mascot of the Florida Everblades

The Florida Everblades are an ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play in Estero, Florida, Florida at Germain Arena.

History

Jared Staal warming up during the 2010-2011 season

The team was founded in 1998, when current GM Craig Brush was inspired to to bring a minor-league hockey team to Southwest Florida while reading a free copy of a National Geographic magazine that featured articles on the Florida Everglades. The team's name derives from the former Kentucky Thoroughblades AHL franchise.

The Everblades have not missed the playoffs in any of their thirteen seasons and have made two appearances in the Kelly Cup Finals. The franchise has finished first in the league in attendance 5 times, and never lower than fourth.[1]

The Everblades' logo features a gator-head design fused in the form of an ice skate. Barnstorm Creative Group, a Vancouver graphic design company designed the logo. Barnstorm was contacted by Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos, who came up with the idea of choosing the Everblades colors as blue and green, in tribute to the Hartford Whalers team that Karmanos moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. The Everblades' inaugural home opener featured a pre-game ceremony in which a large alligator was brought onto the ice to pay tribute to the team's name and logo, as well as Florida's vast population of reptile species.

2005 Playoff brawl

One famous event that stands out among Blades' fans was during the 2005 ECHL playoffs. With the Everblades hosting the Greenville Grrrowl on April 22, 2005 for the first game of the American Conference Semifinals, the Everblades and Grrrowl would engage in a third-period line brawl that would see both teams combine for 197 minutes in penalties.

The brawl stemmed from previous incidents throughout the game. Prior to the brawl, Everblades forward Greg Hornby checked Greenville's Vladimir Gusev hard into the boards behind the net. Gusev would leave the game injured, and as a result, the pace of the game as well as checking, would pick up.

With the Blades up 4-1 with under six minutes to play in the third period, then-Greenville pest Krys Barch would screen the net during a Greenville shooting attempt. Everblades defenceman Tim O'Connell checked Barch from behind numerous times, hoping to clear him from in front of the net. Barch, having been fed up with being pressured, turned around hoping to sucker-punch O'Connell. Instead, O'Connell quickly skated away from the crease before Barch turned around, and Barch would end up punching Everblades goalie Tyler Mackay. O'Connell jumped on top of Barch, resulting in a dog pile.

All players on the ice dropped the gloves for a wild line brawl that would see Florida goalie Tyler Mackay and others getting ejected for fighting.

After the mayhem, Craig Kowalski took Mackay's place as netminder. Shortly thereafter, the Everblades' Simon Tremblay fought Greenville's Adam Nightingale as the last fight of the evening. The Everblades would go onto win the game, 4-1, and sweep the series, three games to none.

Ironically, game 2 featured no fights as the Everblades won in overtime, 3-2.

2004 American Conference Finals

In Game 5 in the 2004 American Conference Finals, the Everblades faced the Reading Royals the final game of an epic series. Florida won the first 2 games at home, but Reading evened the series at home, the next 2 of the best-of-five series. In Game 5, the score was tied at the end of regulation, 2-2, so the game was sent to overtime. Jon McNabb of the Everblades scored on a breakaway goal to defeat the Royals in front of a record crowd of 7,080 fans at Germain Arena.

Affiliations

The Everblades are affiliated with the Charlotte Checkers and the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League (AHL), and with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Current roster

Staff
Title STAFF MEMBER
Head Coach Greg Poss
Assistant Coach Brad Tapper
Athletic Trainer Dustin Flynn
Equipment Manager Jason Berger

Template:Florida Everblades Roster

Mathieu Roy of the Everblades and Ryan Murphy of the Charlotte Checkers await a faceoff during a game on March 9, 2009. Roy is wearing the alternate green uniform of the Everblades.


Awards and trophies

E.A. Gingher Memorial Trophy

The Everblades have won the E.A. Gingher Memorial Trophy in both 2004 and 2005. In 2004, the trophy was given to the champion of the Eastern Conference and to the American Conference champion in 2005. In both years, the Everblades lost to the winners of the Bruce Taylor Trophy. In 2004 the loss was to the Idaho Steelheads of the Western Conference and to the Trenton Titans of the National Conference in 2005.

Brabham Cup

In the 1999–2000 and 2008-2009 seasons, the Everblades won the Brabham Cup. This trophy is given to the team that has the most points in the entire league. The Everblades took the trophy with 108 points in '99-'00, and 103 points in '08-'09. [2]

Records

Season-by-season record

Season Conference Division Regular Season Post Season Result Individual & team honors
GP W L OTL SOL Pts Pct GF GA Coach
1998-99 Southern Southeast 70 45 20 0 5 95 0.679 253 180 Bob Ferguson Won Conference Qarterfinals 3-0 vs. Birmingham
Lost Conference Semifinals 0-3 vs. Mississippi 		John Brophy Award (Bob Ferguson)[3][4]
1999-00 Southern Southeast 70 53 15 0 2 108 0.771 277 181 Bob Ferguson Lost Conference Quarterfinals 2-3 vs. Augusta Brabham Cup[5]

John Brophy Award (Bob Ferguson)[3][4]
Plus Performer Award (Andy MacIntyre)[6][7]

2000-01 Southern Southeast 72 38 26 0 8 84 0.583 236 242 Bob Ferguson Lost Conference Quarterfinals 2-3 vs. Pee Dee Executive of the Year (Craig Brush)[8]
2001-02 Southern Southeast 72 37 27 0 8 82 0.569 207 221 Gerry Fleming Won Division Wildcard 1-0 vs. South Carolina

Lost Conference Quarterfinals 2-3 vs. Greenville

2002-03 Southern Southeast 72 35 23 0 14 84 0.583 239 243 Gerry Fleming Lost Division Wildcard 0-1 vs. Greenville
2003-04 Eastern Southern 72 37 25 0 10 84 0.583 239 221 Gerry Fleming Won Division Semifinals 3-2 vs. Roanoke
Won Division Finals 3-0 vs. South Carolina
Won Conference Finals 3-2 vs. Reading
Lost Kelly Cup Finals 1-4 vs. Idaho 		Gingher Memorial Trophy[9]
2004-05 American South 72 42 20 4 6 94 0.653 237 192 Gerry Fleming Won in Conference Quarterfinals 3-1 vs. South Carolina
Won in Conference Semifinals 3-0 vs. Greenville
Won in Conference Finals 4-2 vs. Charlotte
Lost in Kelly Cup Finals 2-4 vs. Trenton 		Gingher Memorial Trophy[9]
Reebok Goaltender of the Year (Chris Madden)[10]
2005-06 American South 72 48 20 3 1 100 0.694 267 208 Gerry Fleming Won Division Semifinals 3-1 vs. Greenville
Lost Division Finals 1-3 vs. Charlotte 		Sportsmanship Award (Steve Saviano)[11][12]
Reebok Equipment Manager of the Year (John Jennings)[13]
2006-07 American South 72 44 22 4 2 94 0.653 272 212 Gerry Fleming Won Divisional Semifinals 3-0 vs. Charlotte
Won Divisional Finals 4-2 vs. Texas
Lost Conference Finals 3-4 vs. Dayton
2007-08 American South 72 39 25 4 4 86 0.597 230 198 Gerry Fleming Lost in Division Quarterfinals 0-3 vs. Columbia
2008-09 American South 71 49 17 2 3 103 0.725 269 187 Malcolm Cameron Won Division Semifinals 4-1 vs. Gwinnett
Lost Division Finals 2-4 vs. South Carolina 		Brabham Cup[5]
CCM U+ Most Valuable Player (Kevin Baker)[14]
Leading Scorer (Kevin Baker)[15]
2009-10 American South 72 38 25 4 5 85 0.590 234 221 Malcolm Cameron Won Conference Quarterfinals 3-2 vs. Elmira
Lost Conference Semifinals 0-4 vs. Reading
2010-11 American South 72 37 30 1 4 79 0.549 236 222 Greg Poss Lost Conference Quarterfinals 1-3 vs. Kalamazoo
2011-12 American South 72 39 26 2 5 85 0.590 260 218 Greg Poss Won Conference Quarterfinals 3-0 vs. Greenville
Won Conference Semifinals 3-1 vs. Kalamazoo
Totals 1003 581 321 24 77 3456 2946 63-53 in playoffs 2 Brabham Cups
2 Gingher Memorial Trophies
2 John Brophy Awards
5 individual player awards
2 off-ice personnel awards
  • NOTE: The 2008-09 team played 71 games because of scheduling changes caused by two teams ceasing operations in December 2008. Four of the five teams (Florida, Charlotte, South Carolina, Mississippi) played 71 games, with Gwinnett playing 72.

All-time recordholders

Individual records and stresks

Individual records

  • Most goals - Game: 4 (4 times, last by Steve Saviano, Mar. 31, 2006 vs. Pensacola)
  • Most assists - Game: 4 (11 times, last by Rob Hennigar, Nov. 14, 2009 vs. Toledo)
  • Most Points - Game: 6 (twice, both by Jacob Micflikier, last on Nov. 5, 2009 at Charlotte)
  • Most shots - Game: 12 (3 times, last by Kevin Baker, Jan. 13, 2009 at Charlotte)
  • Most penalty minutes - Game: 37 (Kyle Kos Mar. 22, 2003 at South Carolina)
  • Most saves - game: 58 (Rob Zepp, Dec. 27, 2003 at Gwinnett)
  • Most saves - period: 25 (2 times, last by Zepp, Dec. 27, 2003 at Gwinnett (1st))

Individual streaks

  • Consecutive game goal scoring streak: 9 (Keith Anderson (10/18/03 - 11/8/03))
  • Consecutive game assist streak: 10 (Daniel Sisca (12/9/05 - 12/28/05))
  • Consecutive game point streak: 16 (Tom Buckley (10/26/01 - 12/7/01))
  • Consecutive games started streak: 15 (twice, last by Kowalski (2/10/07 - 3/10/07))
  • Longest winning streak: 9 (Tyler MacKay (2/25/05 - 3/19/05))
  • Longest unbeaten streak: 11 (Tyler MacKay (2/19/05 - 3/19/05) (9-0-2))
  • Shutout streak: 163:43 (Randy Petruk (11/3/01 - 12/14/01))[17]

Retired numbers

  • Reggie Berg- played with Blades from 1999–2007, sweater # 10 is retired.
  • Tom Buckley- played with Blades from 1999–2004, sweater # 14 is retired.

Both players' numbers were retired during a pre-game ceremony on October 19, 2007, as the Everblades hosted the Mississippi Sea Wolves, in what would be the Sea Wolves' first official regular season game after being placed on a two-year hiatus due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Banners made with their jersey numbers were hung to the rafters of the Germain Arena.

References

  1. ^ "ECHL stats archive". {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  2. ^ "Premier 'AA' Hockey League | ECHL Stats Archive". The Echl. 2010-10-08. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  3. ^ a b "John Brophy Award Winners". ECHL. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Bob Ferguson Career Stats". Eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Brabham Cup Champions". ECHL. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Plus Performer Winners". ECHL. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  7. ^ "Andy MacIntyre Career Stats". Eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  8. ^ "Executive of the Year Winners". ECHL. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Gingher Trophy Winners". ECHL. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  10. ^ "Reebok Goaltender of the Year Winners". ECHL. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  11. ^ "Sportsmanship Award Winners". ECHL. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  12. ^ "Steve Saviano Career Stats". Eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  13. ^ "Reebok Equipment Manager of the Year Award Winners". ECHL. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  14. ^ "Florida's Baker Is CCM U+ ECHL Most Valuable Player". ECHL. April 9, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-06-10. Retrieved 2009-04-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "Kevin Baker Career Stats". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  16. ^ "Everblades All-Time Player Records". Florida Everblades. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  17. ^ "Individual Records". Florida Everblades. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Text "http://www.floridaeverblades.com/history/individual/" ignored (help)

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Florida_Everblades&oldid=490839159"