With the 1998/1999 ECHL season about to reach its climax, action in the Trenton Titans front office is about to kick into high gear. Team officials have recently inked deals for radio and television coverage and will now focus on building the team. The Titans have reportedly narrowed their head coach search to four candidates and expect to announce a selection by June 1st. Also around the start of June, the ECHL is expected to unveil the schedule for the 1999/2000 season. Team affiliation deals for the Titans should also be announced in early June with the expiration of the 1998/1999 season's affiliation contracts. And then come the players: June 17th will be Draft Day for the ECHL with the dispersal draft of players from the Columbus Chill, Miami Matadors, and Chesapeake Icebreakers, and the expansion draft for the Trenton Titans and the Arkansas RiverBlades.
May 14th - It's five alive in the East Coast Hockey League as both fifth-seeded teams in the playoffs emerge from their respective conferences to faceoff in the 1998/1999 Kelly Cup Finals.
The Richmond Renegades have lost only one game en route to their second franchise appearance in the finals, representing the Northern Conference. The Renegades dropped their first playoff game this season to the defending Kelly Cup Champion Hampton Roads Admirals 6-1, but they fought back with a 9-0 humiliation of the Admirals in the second game of the conference quarterfinals series. With a 5-2 victory in game three and a 4-3 victory in game four, the Renegades captured the best-of-five series, upsetting the fourth-seeded defending champs. While the sixth-seeded Toledo Storm won their quarterfinals series in a similar style, upsetting the third-seeded Peoria Rivermen, they were no match for Richmond in the conference semifinals. The Renegades swept the series in three games (4-3, 5-3, and 4-1) to advance to the conference finals.
The top-seeded Roanoke Express earned their conference finals berth by dispatching the eighth-seeded Dayton Bombers and the seventh-seeded Chesapeake Icebreakers, both 3 games to 1. Game one of the conference finals went into double-overtime, with the Renegades emerging with a 3-2 victory. In both of the next two games, Richmond shutdown and shutout the Roanoke Express 3-0. The Renegades wrapped up the series sweep with a 4-2 victory in game four to earn their second chance at the Cup.
The Renegades failed to qualify for the playoffs last season and were eliminated in the second round the two previous seasons. In 1994/1995, Richmond defeated the Columbus Chill (3 games to 0), the Roanoke Express (3-1), the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks (3-2), and the Greensboro Monarchs (4-1) to win the Riley Cup. Before that season, the Renegades made never survived the second round of playoffs.
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The Mississippi SeaWolves were equally impressive in conquering the Southern Conference. In the conference quarterfinals, the Sea Wolves needed triple-overtime (the ECHL's longest game in history) for a 4-3 victory to complete a three-game sweep of the fourth-seeded South Carolina Stingrays. Mississippi had won the first two games 3-2 and 4-1, respectively. The third-seeded Florida Everblades had swept the seventh-seeded Birmingham Bulls for an impressive showing in their first franchise playoff series to earn a showdown against the Sea Wolves in the conference semifinals. The Everblades put up a fight, losing game one to the Sea Wolves 4-3, and holding on until double-overtime for a 5-4 loss in game two. However, the Sea Wolves turned vicious in the third game of the series with a 5-0 victory to complete another series sweep.
After the Pee Dee Pride dominated the ECHL in the regular season and dispatched both the eleventh-seeded Baton Rouge Kingfish and eighth-seeded New Orleans Brass 3 games to 1, Mississippi expected a difficult task in getting past them in the conference finals. Game one went into overtime before the Sea Wolves broke the scoreless tie. Game two was another nail-biter, with the Pride winning 4-3 in another triple-overtime marathon. The Sea Wolves then took charge of the series, defeating the Pride 7-5 in game three, 3-1 in game four, and 3-2 in overtime for game five and a berth in the Kelly Cup Finals.
The Mississippi Sea Wolves also sat home during the playoffs last season. In 1996/1997, their inaugural season, Mississippi was swept by the Birmingham Bulls in three games in the first round.
Complete and Current ECHL Playoff Scores.
After eleven seasons of rapid growth, the East Coast Hockey League has finally needed to take one big step backwards. The ECHL started the 1988/1989 season with only 5 teams but expanded in each of the following three seasons to a total of 15 teams. After two seasons of 15 teams, the league added four more for the 1993/1994 season. The only step back in the ECHL's growth came in 1994/1995 when it dropped to 18 teams. However, new teams were added in each of the four seasons that followed to arrive at 1998/1999's tally of 27 teams.
For the 1999/2000 season, the ECHL had hoped to expand to 29 teams with the expansion Trenton Titans and Arkansas RiverBlades beginning this October. Initially, there was thought that the net gain might be just one team with the Hampton Roads Admirals departing for the American Hockey League. During the season, it was announced that the Admirals would play one more season in the ECHL before moving on. However, it became clear early in the season that the Columbus Chill would be closing shop at the end of this season due to the pending arrival of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets for the 2000/2001 season. Hope that the Chill would relocate in time for next season faded quickly and their franchise's fate still remains a mystery.
While the Chill's departure was a calculated move by the ECHL, two other departures came about far more abruptly. The move of the Louisville RiverFrogs to Miami for the 1998/1999 season looms as a huge blunder by the ECHL. The Miami Matadors suffered the league's worst attendance at the much maligned Miami Arena, and became a huge money pit for the franchise owners. Months before the season ended, the franchise began seeking permission to cease operations for the 1999/2000 season to come up with the yet-to-be-determined 'Plan B'.
The Chesapeake Icebreakers were another mistake by the ECHL, but managed to survive for two seasons before ceasing operations. Desperate to expand towards the northeast, the ECHL allowed the expansion Icebreakers to set up camp right in the backyard of the NHL's Washington Capitals. After decreasing attendance (second to last only to the Matadors) and a towering pile of bills, Chesapeake also asked the league to cease operations for the 1999/2000 while they decide what to do.
So as of the moment, a potential net gain of two teams has morphed into a net loss of one team for 1999/2000. What does 2000/2001 have in store for the East Coast Hockey League? Well, the Admirals will be gone for one. It remains uncertain whether any of the three teams in limbo will re-emerge. And other teams may encounter major headaches. The expansion Arkansas RiverBlades will need to fight for market share with the one-year-old Arkansas GlacierCats of the Western Professional Hockey League. The 'Cats were fourth in their league with an average attendance of 4236 fans per game. Little Rock is an unlikely market to support two teams for very long, so the RiverBlades will have to work hard to become the favored team. Meanwhile, one of the ECHL's oldest franchises will be getting close competition in 2000/2001 when the American Hockey League's Adirondack Red Wings relocate to Rossford, Ohio, a stone's throw away from the Toledo Storm. ECHL officials have already acknowledged that the competition could be diasterous for the Storm, whose attendance is already mediocre. The only thing that remains certain is that the ECHL must carefully plan every move. Things should be interesting at the ECHL's league meetings June 11th - June 13th in the Bahamas. Might the Bahama Breeze join the ECHL next season?
The Trenton Titans have inspired another fine fan web site: Tim Snyder's Trenton Titans Fan Source at www.trentontitans.cjb.net. Tim's site made it's debut on the internet in late March and appears ready to follow the Titans very closely when the action begins this fall. The site is designed to contain information on the players, the games, team news, and other Titans information. The Sight and Sound section looks especially promising.
After twenty seasons in the National Hockey League and several pages in the league's record books, Wayne Gretzky has decided to hang up his skates. Check out our Wayne Gretzky Tribute.
