The 2022 Kelly Cup playoffs of the ECHL hockey league began on April 20, 2022, following the conclusion of the 2021–22 ECHL regular season and ended on June 11 with the Florida Everblades winning their second Kelly Cup over the Toledo Walleye in five games.
Playoff format The league announced its playoff format on January 21, 2022. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams in each division qualify for the 2022 Kelly Cup playoffs and are seeded one through four based on the highest points percentage earned in the season. Then the first two rounds of the playoffs are held within the division with the first seed facing the fourth seed and the second seed facing the third. The division champions then play each other in a conference championship. The Kelly Cup finals pit the Eastern Conference champion against the Western Conference champion. All four rounds are a best-of-seven format.
Playoff seeds After the regular season, 16 teams qualified for the playoffs. The Toledo Walleye were the first team to qualify during the regular season on March 26, with the Reading Royals qualifying shortly after on March 29. Due to the imbalanced scheduling during the pandemic, teams were seeded by points percentage.
Final seeds and points percentages:
Eastern Conference North Division Reading Royals – Division champions, .697 pts% Newfoundland Growlers – .664 pts% Trois-Rivières Lions – .536 pts% Maine Mariners – .514 pts%
South Division Florida Everblades – Division champions, .653 pts% Atlanta Gladiators – .632 pts% Jacksonville Icemen – .590 pts% Greenville Swamp Rabbits – .528 pts%
Western Conference Central Division Toledo Walleye – Brabham Cup winners, division champions, .708 pts% Fort Wayne Komets – .604 pts% Wheeling Nailers – .542 pts% Cincinnati Cyclones – .528 pts%
Mountain Division Utah Grizzlies – Division champions, .604 pts% Rapid City Rush – .576 pts% Allen Americans – .549 pts% Tulsa Oilers – .542 pts%
Playoff bracket
Division semifinals
North Division (1) Reading Royals vs. (4) Maine Mariners
(2) Newfoundland Growlers vs. (3) Trois-Rivières Lions
South Division (1) Florida Everblades vs. (4) Greenville Swamp Rabbits
(2) Atlanta Gladiators vs. (3) Jacksonville Icemen
Central Division (1) Toledo Walleye vs. (4) Cincinnati Cyclones
(2) Fort Wayne Komets vs. (3) Wheeling Nailers
Mountain Division (1) Utah Grizzlies vs. (4) Tulsa Oilers
(2) Rapid City Rush vs. (3) Allen Americans
Division finals
North Division (1) Reading Royals vs. (2) Newfoundland Growlers
South Division (1) Florida Everblades vs. (3) Jacksonville Icemen
Central Division (1) Toledo Walleye vs. (3) Wheeling Nailers
Mountain Division (1) Utah Grizzlies vs. (2) Rapid City Rush
Conference finals Eastern Conference (N2) Newfoundland Growlers vs. (S1) Florida Everblades
Western Conference (C1) Toledo Walleye vs. (M1) Utah Grizzlies
Kelly Cup finals (C1) Toledo Walleye vs. (S1) Florida Everblades
Statistical leaders
Skaters These are the top ten skaters based on points. Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIMBrandon Hawkins Toledo Walleye 21 15 18 33 +12 22Charle-Edouard D'Astous Utah Grizzlies 18 19 11 30 +5 44Benjamin Tardif Utah Grizzlies 18 5 25 30 +2 18T. J. Hensick Toledo Walleye 21 10 18 28 +4 6Tyler Boland Newfoundland Growlers 19 16 9 25 +7 4Ben Finkelstein Newfoundland Growlers 18 5 20 25 +3 12Trey Bradley Utah Grizzlies 18 6 13 19 +1 6Zach Solow Florida Everblades 19 9 9 18 +3 6Zach O'Brien Newfoundland Growlers 13 4 14 18 −1 0Noel Hoefenmayer Newfoundland Growlers 19 4 14 18 +8 14 GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Goaltending
This is a combined table of the top five goaltenders based on goals against average and the top five goaltenders based on save percentage, with at least 300 minutes played. The table is sorted by GAA, and the criteria for inclusion are bolded. Player Team GP W L OTL SA GA GAA SV% SO TOICam Johnson Florida Everblades 18 15 2 1 522 36 1.90 0.931 4 1,134Samuel Harvey Fort Wayne Komets 7 3 3 1 208 18 2.46 0.913 0 438Billy Christopoulos Toledo Walleye 21 13 5 3 626 54 2.48 0.914 1 1,305Michael Houser Cincinnati Cyclones 5 2 2 1 194 14 2.59 0.928 1 324Trent Miner Utah Grizzlies 13 7 6 0 439 35 2.80 0.920 0 749 GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime Losses; SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SV% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts; TOI = Time on ice (in minutes)
See also 2021–22 ECHL season List of ECHL seasons
References
External links ECHL website