ECHL Kelly Cup Conference Finals Set

By www.echl.com  Published on: Thursday April 29, 2010

American Conference Preview

Cincinnati Wins Series 4-3
Cyclones Edge Checkers 2-1

Cincinnati Cyclones forward Mark Van Guilder had a pair of goals and Jeremy Smith stopped 33 shots in giving the club a 2-1 win over the Charlotte Checkers on Wednesday night.

With the win, the Cyclones capture this series, four games to three and will advance to the American Conference Finals for the third straight season. Their opponent in the third round of the USA Collision Center playoff run will be the Reading Royals. The series will begin Friday night (April 30) at U.S. Bank Arena at 7:30pm.

Royals sweep into conference finals

The Reading Royals beat Florida by one goal for the fourth straight time to sweep the ECHL American Conference semifinals. Reading forward Ben Gordon scored the game-winning goal with 8:59 left in the game.

"I had three or four good scoring chances earlier in the game," said Gordon, who beat Florida goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu one-on-one. "I came in and tried to make a move and it worked out. I think he thought I'd make a pass across the crease. I beat him on the short side.

Royals goaltender Matt Dalton made 30 saves to outduel Beckford-Tseu, who made 28 stops, many of them brilliant. Reading will have 10 days off before starting the conference finals.

"It was a tough series," said the coach of the No. 7 seed. "We were having a pretty good season and then we had a lot of AHL call-ups. We were first in our division by 11 points, then lost 10-15 players for two months. Then we lost seven in a row." But many of those players were back for Reading in the playoffs.

National Conference Finals Preview

Stockton Wins Series 4-1
as Thunder Beat Condors 7-4

The Stockton Thunder's potent offense has led it into the ECHL National Conference championship series for the first time in franchise history. It pounded the second-seeded Bakersfield Condors 7-4 on Saturday at Stockton Arena to win its second-round series in five games.

Now sixth-seeded Stockton moves on to play the Idaho Steelheads, the No. 1 seed in the conference who swept the Utah Grizzlies in their second-round matchup. The series begins in Boise, Idaho, at 6:05 p.m. Friday.

Thunder coach Matt Thomas said Stockton will begin preparing for the Steelheads in a day or two, but on Saturday, the coaches, players, office staff and the 4,608 fans in attendance enjoyed the fact that the Thunder has advanced to the ECHL's version of the frozen four.

"It's quite an accomplishment to beat a team like Bakersfield, who we've had such a great rivalry with this season," Thomas said. "We're going to take some time to enjoy this."

Idaho Wins Series 4-0
Steelheads Down Grizzlies 4-1

The Idaho Steelheads finished their series against the Utah Grizzlies the same way they began it: with a thoroughly convincing victory.

 Idaho goaltender Richard Bachman stymied Utah until the third period as the Steelheads closed out their ECHL National Conference semifinal series with a 4-1 win in West Valley City, Utah.

"Richard Bachman was absolutely outstanding," Idaho coach Derek Laxdal said. "He made some phenomenal saves." 

Idaho will play Stockton in the National Conference finals.

The schedule for the 2010 National Conference Finals between the Stockton Thunder and Idaho Steelheads is as follows:



• Game 1 - 
Friday, April 30 at Idaho (7:10 p.m. MT)


• Game 2
 - Saturday, May 1 at Idaho (7:10 p.m. MT)


• Game 3
 - Wednesday, May 5 at Stockton (7 p.m. PT)


• Game 4
 - Friday, May 7 at Stockton (7:30 p.m. PT)


• Game 5 (if necessary) - 
Saturday, May 8 at Stockton (7:30 p.m. PT) 



• Game 6 (if necessary)
 - Tuesday, May 11 at Idaho (7:10 p.m. MT)


• Game 7 (if necessary) - 
Wednesday, May 12 at Idaho (7:10 p.m. MT)