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The Kelly Cup will be in Kansas City on Monday. It will be up to the Florida Everblades to bring it back to Estero.
They set themselves up to do just that on Saturday night, June 13, beating the Kansas City Mavericks 5-2 at Hertz Arena to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Kelly Cup Finals. Florida needs one more win to clinch its fourth Kelly Cup in five years and an ECHL record fifth overall.
“I think we understand the job’s not done,” Everblades coach Brad Ralph said. “We’ve got a veteran group in there, so it’s on us to make sure we stay humble and stay hungry and reset and recover for Monday night.”
Game 6 will be on Monday night at 8:05 in Independence, Missouri. If Kansas City wins to force a Game 7, that game will be on Wednesday night at 8:05.
After a rough start to the series, losing 6-0 and 5-2 in the first two games at Kansas City, they channeled their inner student. It was not a matter of soul-searching as much as looking at what went wrong and fixing it.
“Coming back here watching some video, resetting,” said defenseman Cole Moberg, who had 2 assists Saturday. “We haven’t seen those guys this year, so going in there for the first time we can watch video, but you don’t really know exactly how they’re going to play until we get on the ice with them, so just being able to get a couple of games under our belt, realize the mistakes we made in 1 and 2 and come home with our crowd we were able to do what we did.”
And they applied that learning. They won three straight games at home, continuing a streak of 10 straight home wins in the Finals and ensuring that they will finish this postseason undefeated in all nine games at Hertz Arena.
The Everblades have to finish the job on somebody else’s ice, and the Mavericks are already looking ahead to making a physical game even more physical.
“This is for the Kelly Cup Finals,” said Kansas City coach Tad O’Had, who spent seven years with the Everblades as the associate and assistant head coach. “It’s not nearly physical enough. We need to be more physical, the team that wants it the most. We’ve got to be hands-down the most physical team in this series.”
The Everblades are equally motivated, and they have the momentum on their side, especially after fighting an uphill battle to get to the brink of a championship. And since they have learned how to beat Kansas City, they know what they have to do.
“The same thing we’ve been doing the last couple of games, just working hard and being smart, staying out of the penalty box, being disciplined, and sticking to our systems,” forward Jesse Lansdell said.
The Blades’ power play is playing its best at a crucial time. After scoring one goal with the man advantage in Game 4, they scored another three in Game 5.
“We’re working hard, that’s the thing,” said forward Carson Gicewicz, who scored one of the three power-play goals on Saturday. “We’re treating it like a 5-on-5 shift and the dividends are paying off right now.”
One thing both teams have learned is how important a first goal is. The Everblades are 14-1-1 when scoring first, while the Mavericks are 10-0-1.
The Everblades took the importance of that to heart on Saturday by getting on the board in 15 seconds. The puck was loose at the red line near the benches when Jett Jones chased it down and skated with it into the slot. He sent a drop pass back to Isaac Nurse, who fired through the slot and scored his second goal of the postseason.
The chippiness from Friday night continued into Saturday night, as four penalties were called over the next 12 minutes, with the Everblades killing two of them. The power play unit, which was successful the night before, got its first crack after Kansas City forward Lucas Sowder shoved Oliver Cooper in the back and was called for interference.
Not only did Florida cash in on the penalty, but a comedy of errors committed by Kansas City defenseman Ryan Jones helped make it happen. With less than a minute left in the power play, Jones wrestled Florida captain Oliver Chau to the ice, drawing a delayed roughing call. In the process, he broke his stick, Chau got right back up, and found a shooting lane right past the empty-handed Ryan to score.
With that, the Everblades ended up with an insurance goal and another power play heading into the first intermission, up 2-0. With the Mavericks owning the second period this postseason, that turned out to be crucial.
Five minutes into the second period, the Mavericks reminded the Everblades that they have a potent power play themselves by turning a Gianfranco Cassaro interference call into a Sowder goal from the slot.
But the Florida power play continued to exploit the man advantage. In the 10th minute, Carson Gicewicz redirected a Cole Moberg shot into the net to give the Everblades back a two-goal lead.
“We actually made eye contact,” Gicewicz said. “And I kind of just held my stick out in front of myself, as in, ‘Shoot at this stick, right here,’ and he put it right where I needed him to. I think it went off the shaft of my stick.”
Then after a drop pass from Hudson Elyniuk, Moberg fired another laser, which Reid Duke somehow got into the net for a three-goal lead.
“They’ve got some good hand-eye coordination in front of the net,” Moberg said of Gicewicz and Duke. “I was just getting pucks on net, and they were in the right place and good hand-eye and were able to tip it in.”
Kansas City forward Jakov Novak got the Mavericks back to within two goals with a wrister from point-blank range, sending both teams into the locker room with Florida holding a 4-2 lead.
The third period had an air of inevitability. When Chau scored an empty-netter on a breakaway to make it 5-2, the crowd was chanting “We want the Cup!”
If the Everblades continue to play as they have the last three games, those fans may get what they want.
Florida Everblades lead Kansas City Mavericks3-2
Game 1: Kansas City 6, Florida 0
Game 2: Kansas City 5, Florida 2
Game 3: Florida 2, Kansas City 1 (OT)
Game 4: Florida 3, Kansas City 2 (OT)
Game 5: Florida 5, Kansas City 2
Game 6: Monday, June 15 at Kansas City, 8:05 p.m.
Game 7:* Wednesday, June 17 at Kansas City, 8:05 p.m.
* — If Necessary
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Everblades take Kelly Cup Finals lead with Game 5 win over KC Mavericks
Continue reading...
They set themselves up to do just that on Saturday night, June 13, beating the Kansas City Mavericks 5-2 at Hertz Arena to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Kelly Cup Finals. Florida needs one more win to clinch its fourth Kelly Cup in five years and an ECHL record fifth overall.
“I think we understand the job’s not done,” Everblades coach Brad Ralph said. “We’ve got a veteran group in there, so it’s on us to make sure we stay humble and stay hungry and reset and recover for Monday night.”
Game 6 will be on Monday night at 8:05 in Independence, Missouri. If Kansas City wins to force a Game 7, that game will be on Wednesday night at 8:05.
After a rough start to the series, losing 6-0 and 5-2 in the first two games at Kansas City, they channeled their inner student. It was not a matter of soul-searching as much as looking at what went wrong and fixing it.
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“Coming back here watching some video, resetting,” said defenseman Cole Moberg, who had 2 assists Saturday. “We haven’t seen those guys this year, so going in there for the first time we can watch video, but you don’t really know exactly how they’re going to play until we get on the ice with them, so just being able to get a couple of games under our belt, realize the mistakes we made in 1 and 2 and come home with our crowd we were able to do what we did.”
And they applied that learning. They won three straight games at home, continuing a streak of 10 straight home wins in the Finals and ensuring that they will finish this postseason undefeated in all nine games at Hertz Arena.
The Everblades have to finish the job on somebody else’s ice, and the Mavericks are already looking ahead to making a physical game even more physical.
“This is for the Kelly Cup Finals,” said Kansas City coach Tad O’Had, who spent seven years with the Everblades as the associate and assistant head coach. “It’s not nearly physical enough. We need to be more physical, the team that wants it the most. We’ve got to be hands-down the most physical team in this series.”
The Everblades are equally motivated, and they have the momentum on their side, especially after fighting an uphill battle to get to the brink of a championship. And since they have learned how to beat Kansas City, they know what they have to do.
“The same thing we’ve been doing the last couple of games, just working hard and being smart, staying out of the penalty box, being disciplined, and sticking to our systems,” forward Jesse Lansdell said.
The Blades’ power play is playing its best at a crucial time. After scoring one goal with the man advantage in Game 4, they scored another three in Game 5.
“We’re working hard, that’s the thing,” said forward Carson Gicewicz, who scored one of the three power-play goals on Saturday. “We’re treating it like a 5-on-5 shift and the dividends are paying off right now.”
You must be registered for see images attach
One thing both teams have learned is how important a first goal is. The Everblades are 14-1-1 when scoring first, while the Mavericks are 10-0-1.
The Everblades took the importance of that to heart on Saturday by getting on the board in 15 seconds. The puck was loose at the red line near the benches when Jett Jones chased it down and skated with it into the slot. He sent a drop pass back to Isaac Nurse, who fired through the slot and scored his second goal of the postseason.
The chippiness from Friday night continued into Saturday night, as four penalties were called over the next 12 minutes, with the Everblades killing two of them. The power play unit, which was successful the night before, got its first crack after Kansas City forward Lucas Sowder shoved Oliver Cooper in the back and was called for interference.
Not only did Florida cash in on the penalty, but a comedy of errors committed by Kansas City defenseman Ryan Jones helped make it happen. With less than a minute left in the power play, Jones wrestled Florida captain Oliver Chau to the ice, drawing a delayed roughing call. In the process, he broke his stick, Chau got right back up, and found a shooting lane right past the empty-handed Ryan to score.
With that, the Everblades ended up with an insurance goal and another power play heading into the first intermission, up 2-0. With the Mavericks owning the second period this postseason, that turned out to be crucial.
Five minutes into the second period, the Mavericks reminded the Everblades that they have a potent power play themselves by turning a Gianfranco Cassaro interference call into a Sowder goal from the slot.
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But the Florida power play continued to exploit the man advantage. In the 10th minute, Carson Gicewicz redirected a Cole Moberg shot into the net to give the Everblades back a two-goal lead.
“We actually made eye contact,” Gicewicz said. “And I kind of just held my stick out in front of myself, as in, ‘Shoot at this stick, right here,’ and he put it right where I needed him to. I think it went off the shaft of my stick.”
Then after a drop pass from Hudson Elyniuk, Moberg fired another laser, which Reid Duke somehow got into the net for a three-goal lead.
“They’ve got some good hand-eye coordination in front of the net,” Moberg said of Gicewicz and Duke. “I was just getting pucks on net, and they were in the right place and good hand-eye and were able to tip it in.”
Kansas City forward Jakov Novak got the Mavericks back to within two goals with a wrister from point-blank range, sending both teams into the locker room with Florida holding a 4-2 lead.
The third period had an air of inevitability. When Chau scored an empty-netter on a breakaway to make it 5-2, the crowd was chanting “We want the Cup!”
If the Everblades continue to play as they have the last three games, those fans may get what they want.
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2026 Kelly Cup Finals
Florida Everblades lead Kansas City Mavericks3-2
Game 1: Kansas City 6, Florida 0
Game 2: Kansas City 5, Florida 2
Game 3: Florida 2, Kansas City 1 (OT)
Game 4: Florida 3, Kansas City 2 (OT)
Game 5: Florida 5, Kansas City 2
Game 6: Monday, June 15 at Kansas City, 8:05 p.m.
Game 7:* Wednesday, June 17 at Kansas City, 8:05 p.m.
* — If Necessary
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Everblades take Kelly Cup Finals lead with Game 5 win over KC Mavericks
Continue reading...
