2004–05 ECHL season
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2004–05_ECHL_season".

2004–05 ECHL season
League	ECHL
Sport	Ice hockey
Regular season
Season MVP	Scott Gomez (Alaska)
Top scorer	Scott Gomez (Alaska)
Playoffs
American champions	Florida Everblades
American runners-up	Charlotte Checkers
National champions	Trenton Titans
National runners-up	Alaska Aces
Playoffs MVP	Leon Hayward (Trenton)
Finals
Finals champions	Trenton Titans
Runners-up	Florida Everblades
ECHL seasons
← 2003-04	2005-06 →

The 2004-05 ECHL Season was the 17th season of the ECHL. This season marked uncharted territory for the ECHL as they established their first Canadian franchise, the Victoria Salmon Kings.

The league also adopted a "Mason-Dixon" format, as the conferences were split on the Mason-Dixon line, with the National Conference teams being north of the famed line, and American Conference teams south of the line -- in effect, all teams in states of the Confederacy, creating a "North vs South" format.

The ECHL All-Star Game was held at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania and was hosted by the Reading Royals. The National Conference All-Stars defeated the American Conference All-Stars 6:2, with Idaho's Frank Doyle named Most Valuable Player.

At the end of the season the Pee Dee Pride and Louisiana IceGators franchises ceased operations, with the Florence-based Pride announcing a move to nearby Conway (in the Myrtle Beach area), awaiting completion of the new Atlantic Center Arena. The Peoria Rivermen folded when replaced by an AHL team, and the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies relocated to Stockton, California.

As a result of the NHL Lockout, players who would be in the AHL found themselves in the ECHL for another year, while some NHL stars found work in the ECHL, some as a way to return to their hometowns (or their wives'), and others to give back to the league which gave them a start. Scott Gomez (Alaska) chose to return home to his Anchorage roots, Curtis Brown played for his wife's hometown in San Diego, while Jeremy Stevenson, who played his first professional season as a Greensboro Monarch ten years ago, returned to the Carolinas as a member of a rival club, the South Carolina Stingrays. Stevenson's NHL teammate Shane Hnidy, who played 21 games with the former Baton Rouge Kingfish as a rookie, also rediscovered his roots, playing for the Florida Everblades. Hnidy and Stevenson would find themselves playing against each other in the second round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Bates Battaglia joined his younger brother Anthony on the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL for the 2004-05 season on February 21, 2005. This was the first time that he had played on the same team with his younger brother.

Regular Season

Final Standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L= Loses; T = Ties; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against; PTS = Points; Green shade = Clinched Playoff Spot; Blue shade = Clinched Division; (z) = Clinched Home-Ice Advantage

American Conference

National Conference

Scoring Leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Leading Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games Played; Mins = Minutes Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals Allowed; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals Against Average

Kelly Cup Playoffs

1st Round

American Conference Quarterfinals

North Division Semifinals

West Division Semifinals

2nd Round

American Conference Semifinals

National Conference Division Finals

Conference Finals

Kelly Cup Finals

ECHL Awards

See also: ECHL awards

See also

• ECHL All-Star Game
• Kelly Cup