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28-676: The Everblades were founded in 1998. They play in the South Division of the Eastern Conference in the ECHL. They have failed to qualify for the playoffs just once in team history (2013–14) and have made seven appearances in the Kelly Cup finals, winning in 2012, 2022, 2023, and 2024; the latter three appearances constituted the first three-peat in ECHL history. The team was founded in 1998 by Craig Brush, Peter Karmanos Jr. , and Thomas Thewes and

56-470: A best-of-seven series. The format has changed often throughout the years. Since 2016–17, the top four point earners from each division qualify. The first two playoff rounds are played within each division, followed by the conference finals (contested between the four division winners), and ending with the Kelly Cup finals (featuring the two conference champions). Augusta Lynx The Augusta Lynx were

84-824: A minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Augusta, Georgia . The Lynx played their home games at the James Brown Arena . The Lynx, who played in the ECHL , had affiliations with the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL and the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL . The team was named for The Masters golf tournament held annually in Augusta, with the "Lynx" name a play on the golf term "hitting

112-466: 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. The Everblades won their first Kelly Cup on May 23, 2012, against the Las Vegas Wranglers . Brandon MacLean scored the championship-winning-goal in overtime during game five. Everblades goaltender, John Muse , was named

140-613: The Florida Panthers . On June 13, 2024, team president Craig Brush announced that the team would not be renewing its agreement with the Panthers. On July 10 of that year, the Everblades announced a new multi-year agreement with the St. Louis Blues . Through the Everblades' history, they have had five anniversary logos: the fifth anniversary logo in 2002–03 , the 10th anniversary logo in 2007–08 ,

168-622: The Idaho Steelheads . In 2024, the Everblades became the first team to win three straight Kelly Cups by defeating the Kansas City Mavericks 4 game to 1. 1998–99 : John Brophy Award (Bob Ferguson) 1999–00 : Brabham Cup John Brophy Award ( Bob Ferguson ) Plus Performer Award (Andy MacIntyre) 2000–01 : Executive of the Year (Craig Brush) 2003–04 : Gingher Memorial Trophy 2004–05 : Gingher Memorial Trophy Reebok Goaltender of

196-403: The NHL after playing for the club: Florida Everblades that played in the NHL before playing with the team: Individual records Individual streaks Former Florida Everblades goalie Marc Magliarditi was inducted into the ECHL's Hall of Fame on January 23, 2013. Magliarditi played for the Everblades from 1998 through 2001. Florida Everblades President and General Manager Craig Brush

224-500: The 15th anniversary logo in 2012–13 , the 20th anniversary logo in 2017–18 , and the 25th anniversary logo in 2022–23 . Playoff Appearances The 2008–09 team played 71 games because of scheduling changes caused by the Augusta Lynx and Fresno Falcons ceasing operations mid-season. Four of the five teams (Florida, Charlotte, South Carolina, Mississippi) played 71 games, with Gwinnett playing 72. The 2019–20 ECHL season

252-600: The ECHL Championship, with nine ( Alaska , Allen , Cincinnati , Colorado , Florida , Hampton Roads , Idaho , South Carolina , and Toledo ) winning multiple times. The Florida Everblades hold the record for most championships won with four. The Colorado Eagles , who won it in 2018 for their second consecutive title, moved to the American Hockey League in 2018–19. In 2019, the Eagles' ownership did not return

280-573: The Everblades dropped the Hurricanes affiliation for the first time and partnered with the Nashville Predators . It was then announced on August 5, 2019, that Karmanos had sold both the team and arena to David Hoffmann, a Naples, Florida , resident and real estate investor. Starting in the 2022–23 season, the Everblades ended their affiliation with the Predators and entered a multi-year agreement with

308-613: The Gingher Memorial Trophy by defeating the Kalamazoo Wings 4–1 in the Eastern Conference finals and went on to win the Kelly Cup over the Las Vegas Wranglers . In 2018, the Everblades went 12–2 through three rounds of conference playoffs and won the Gingher Memorial Trophy before losing the Kelly Cup in seven games to the Colorado Eagles . In 2022, the Everblades went 12–3 through three rounds of conference playoffs and won

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336-667: The Gingher Memorial Trophy by defeating the Newfoundland Growlers 4–1 in the Eastern Conference finals and went on to win the Kelly Cup in five games against the Toledo Walleye . In the 1999–00, 2008–09, 2017–18, and 2020–21 seasons, the Everblades won the Brabham Cup , a trophy given to the team that has the best regular season record in the league. The Everblades took the trophy with 108 points in 1999–2000 and 112 points in 2017–18. The 2008–09 and 2020–21 trophies were awarded to

364-708: The Kelly Cup coincidentally with its NHL affiliate winning the Stanley Cup: 2023 when the Florida Panthers and their ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades both won this also occurred with its AHL affiliate winning the Calder Cup: 2009 when the Hershey Bears and their ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays both won. The Kelly Cup playoffs is an elimination tournament, consisting of four rounds of

392-475: The Kelly Cup to the ECHL before the playoffs, leading to the league creating a replacement trophy for the 2019 Kelly Cup playoffs . The Eagles' ownership eventually returned the cup before the 2019–20 season, and the league returned its status to be the primary trophy. The 2019 Kelly Cup was the fourth copy of the trophy, but was allowed to be kept by the Newfoundland Growlers when the previous cup returned to circulation. On one occasions an ECHL club has won

420-512: The Year ( Chris Madden ) 2005–06 : Sportsmanship Award ( Steve Saviano ) Reebok Equipment Manager of the Year (John Jennings) 2008–09 : Brabham Cup CCM U+ Most Valuable Player ( Kevin Baker ) Leading Scorer (Kevin Baker) 2011–12 : Gingher Memorial Trophy Kelly Cup Kelly Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player ( John Muse ) 2012–13 : Leading Scorer ( Mathieu Roy ) 2015–16 : ECHL CCM Rookie of

448-650: The Year ( Matt Willows ) ECHL Community Service Award ( Rob Florentino ) 2017–18 : Brabham Cup Gingher Memorial Trophy John Brophy Award ( Brad Ralph ) 2020–21 : Brabham Cup Goaltender of the Year ( Jake Hildebrand ) Plus Performer Award (John McCarron) 2021–22 : Gingher Memorial Trophy Kelly Cup Kelly Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player ( Cam Johnson ) 2022–23 : Gingher Memorial Trophy Kelly Cup Kelly Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player (Cam Johnson) 2023–24 : Gingher Memorial Trophy Kelly Cup Kelly Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player ( Oliver Chau ) Kelly Cup The Patrick J. Kelly Cup goes to

476-463: The links". The Lynx folded midway through the 2008–09 season on December 2, 2008, when it was announced that they were suspending operations and voluntarily relinquishing their league membership. The Lynx failure marked the first time in the ECHL's history a franchise folded mid-season. The Augusta Lynx were formed in 1991 as the Raleigh IceCaps . The IceCaps moved to Augusta in 1998, a year after

504-452: The most valuable player of the 2012 Kelly Cup playoffs. Florida won the 2012 Kelly Cup playoffs with a 4–1 victory at home in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 7,290. The first period saw Las Vegas Wranglers goalie Joe Fallon beaten by Justin Shugg and Mike Ratchuk, but Las Vegas edged back to even the score by the third, with Ash Goldie and Peter MacArthur beating John Muse to force

532-567: The overtime. At 4:54 into the overtime, after Ryan Donald passed to Matt Beca , who in turn sent the puck to Brandon MacLean, who beat Fallon and secured the victory. The win earned Florida the 2012 Kelly Cup and secured a perfect home record of 11–0 in the postseason (two victories over Greenville and three each over Elmira , Kalamazoo , and Las Vegas ). Additionally, John Muse earned the Kelly Cup Finals MVP award. In April 2013, owner Peter Karmanos, Jr. announced he would be selling

560-479: The playoff champion of the ECHL . The Kelly Cup has been awarded to teams since 1997 . Prior to 1997, the playoff winner was awarded the Riley Cup , named after former American Hockey League president Jack Riley . The current cup is named after Patrick J. Kelly , the league's first commissioner. The cup is loaned to the winning team for one year and is returned at the start of the following year's playoffs, although

588-585: The rafters of Germain Arena. Hartlieb's number was retired in a ceremony before a game against the Orlando Solar Bears on October 19, 2012. Hartlieb was presented with an ECHL Championship ring (he filled in on with the team in the 2011–12 regular season, but did not appear in the playoffs), and hoisted the Kelly Cup. A banner made with his number was hung to the rafters of Germain Arena next to Berg and Buckley's. Florida Everblades alumni that advanced to play in

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616-402: The team along with Germain Arena to "simplify things" in his life, as he had just retired from the company he founded, Compuware . The team was made for sale and was being shopped by Park Lane, a sports investment-banking firm that specializes in the sale of sports teams. In 2018, Karmanos gave up majority control of the Hurricanes to new majority owner Thomas Dundon . After the 2018–19 season,

644-500: The team with the best points percentage due to imbalanced schedules, where the Everblades had 0.725 and 0.667 winning percentages, respectively. The Florida Everblades won the Kelly Cup in 2012 taking the series 4 games to 1 over the Las Vegas Wranglers . A decade later, they won the Cup in 2022 in another five game series, defeating the Toledo Walleye 4 games to 1. The Everblades would repeat as champions in 2023 4 games to none over

672-584: The trophy itself has been replaced three times with the first two iterations preserved in the Hockey Hall of Fame . The Kelly Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player award is also given out as part of the Kelly Cup Championship ceremonies. Nick Vitucci , Dave Gagnon and Cam Johnson (ice hockey) are the only players to win the award on multiple occasions, with Johnson the only player to win the award in consecutive years. Eighteen different teams have won

700-695: The trophy was given to the champion of the Eastern Conference; the Everblades beat the Reading Royals 3–2 to win the conference but lost the Kelly Cup to the Idaho Steelheads . In 2005, the Gingher trophy was given to the American Conference champion. The Everblades beat the Charlotte Checkers 4–2 to win the conference before losing to the Trenton Titans in the Cup finals. In 2012, the Everblades won

728-621: Was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame on February 5, 2016. Brush has served as the team's President and General Manager since the team's inception in 1998 and he oversees all aspects of both the hockey club and the sports complex. Brush also served as the Chairman of the ECHL Board of Governors for three seasons from 2003 through 2006. The Everblades have won the E.A. Gingher Memorial Trophy five times, in 2004 , 2005 , 2012 , 2018 and 2022 . In 2004,

756-624: Was named based on the Florida Everglades . 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 Jr. , 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

784-641: Was suspended on March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic , and the rest of the season was cancelled on March 14, 2020. Berg and Buckley's 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

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