Touching tributes, great performances, fights... Fans around the ECHL were treated to a little bit of everything on Opening Weekend.
Opening weekend of the ECHL’s 37th season is in the books. Fans were treated to the usual highs and lows that come with rooting for their favorite team. There were other highlights, too, including physical fireworks and a tribute to a former player.
Here are five takeaways from the three-day slate of action.
Gone, But Not Forgotten
Tributes continue to pour in around the hockey landscape in remembrance of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who both lost their lives in a biking accident in early September.
Prior to their game against the Reading Royals Saturday night, the Worcester Railers paid tribute to Matthew who played for both teams while spending four seasons in the ECHL from 2017-22.
Matty debuted with the Railers and played his last ECHL game with Reading. Clips of several of his goals with Worcester were shown to a hushed crowd on the video board inside the DCU Center.
The moment was made more somber with the play-by-play of the late Eric Lindquist being heard over the tribute. Lindquist, who was the voice of both the Worcester Railers and Worcester Sharks, passed away at the age of 43. The crowd then honored Gaudreau with a moment of silence before the opening faceoff.
The Royals went on to take a tight 2-1 victory that night, despite being outshot 26-16 by the Railers. Connor Welsh scored first for Worcester, but the Royals took the lead for good at the 12:59 of the third period on Tyler Gratton’s goal.
The game certainly counted in the standings, but seemed secondary considering the gravity of the evening.
Off With The Gloves
At the other end of the scale, physical fireworks were aplenty over the weekend.
Two different fights occurred on separate nights in Portland, Maine, between the Mariners and Wheeling Nailers. On Friday, the game was barely three minutes old when Maine defenseman Justin Bean dropped the gloves with Wheeling forward Matthew Quercia for some spirited fisticuffs. Less than two minutes later, Gabe Klassen scored his first professional goal to put Wheeling ahead 1-0 and quiet the Mariner crowd.
Saturday started out in similar fashion. Quercia was once again involved, delivering a punishing clean hit on Maine's Turner Ripplinger. Wyllum Deveaux challenged Quercia to a fight, which ended when Quercia landed a powerful uppercut.
The teams split the weekend series, each winning by identical 4-1 scores. The two fights equaled the combined number of goals (2) between the losing teams.
In Saturday’s 7-1 loss in Tulsa, Rush rookie forward Connor Mylymok dropped the gloves with Oilers veteran Mike McKee during the third period. It was Mylymok who scored Rapid City’s lone goal on a wrister in the first period.
Mylymok wasn’t done with the fist action. Six minutes into Sunday's game, he more than held his own against the Oilers' Paxton Leroux, who was playing in his first ECHL game in eight years.
Both of Mylymok's opponents were taller, but the rookie clearly wasn't intimidated by going up against professional players. With two fights in two games, he's currently on pace to drop the gloves 70 more times during the regular season.
Protect those hands, Connor; you'll need them to score, too.
New Faces Shine For Mavericks
Last season, the Kansas City Mavericks scored 305 goals, a new regular-season high for the franchise. They lost leading scorer Patrick Curry (87 points), Jacob Hayhurst (76 points) and Jeremy McKenna (54 points).
After the first two games of the 2024-25 season, the Kelly Cup Finalists still look like an offensive machine after sweeping the Wichita Thunder with five goals in each of the two games.
The Mavericks fell behind early in Wichita on Friday but scored three unanswered goals in the second period for an eventual 5-3 victory, giving them three consecutive opening wins for the first time in franchise history.
Saturday saw the two teams switch to Cable Dahmer Arena, with the Mavericks scoring four goals in the first two periods for a 4-0 lead. Wichita tried to make a game of it by scoring three goals in less than a minute to cut the margin to 4-3. Wichita tied the score before Kansas City found the net late in the game for a 5-4 win.
The Mavericks returned 11 players from last year’s squad, but it was the new faces who contributed to the sweep. Rookie forward Luke Loheit scored his first professional goal in the first game, followed by a second on Saturday. Cam Morrison also got his first tally in a K.C. uniform just nine seconds into the second period on Friday, then Landon McCallum potted his first as a pro two minutes later.
Morrison scored his second goal of the weekend in Saturday’s victory on a power play early in the first period. After Cade Borchardt increased the lead to 2-0, then Pascal Laberge celebrated his first goal late in the frame for a 3-0 lead.
With 70 seconds left in the third and the score tied 4-4, Loheit kept the game from going into overtime with his second goal of the weekend.
It’s early, but the Mavericks already look like they’ve reloaded their offense for another run at a Kelly Cup.
Gladiators Dominate With Consecutive Shutouts
Defense and goaltending were the name of the game for the Atlanta Gladiators against the Indy Fuel this weekend. Atlanta allowed nothing but goose eggs with 1-0 and 3-0 victories in their two-game series.
The netminders for both teams sparkled Saturday night. Atlanta’s lone goal came late in the first period, when Cody Sylvester notched a goal just eight seconds into a power play.
The game was more physical in the second period, but Indy failed to convert on two power play attempts. The third period saw 12 minutes’ worth of penalties, but neither the Gladiators’ Drew DeRidder nor Indy’s Peyton Jones would give in.
Atlanta swept the back-to-back home series with a 3-0 victory on Sunday, despite being outshot by the Fuel 31-27. At 1:30 of the second period, Jackson Pierson scored the game’s first goal at even strength with the help of Cody Sylvester and Easton Armstrong.
At the 15:10 mark of the third period, Sylvester scored to put the Gladiators up 2-0 with assists by Derek Topatigh and Armstrong, his second assist of the game. Ryan Cranford scored an empty-netter for the third and final goal.
It's doubtful the Gladiators will go 72-0 with a 0.00 goals-against average, but a 2-0 start with two shutouts isn't too shabby.
A First In Bloomington
Bryce Montgomery will forever be the answer to a trivia question: Who scored the first regular-season goal in Bloomington Bison history?
It was about all the Bison and their fans had to cheer about, as the team lost both games in Bloomington to the Toledo Walleye, 2-0 on Saturday and 4-2 on Sunday.
It took until the 3:31 mark of the second period in Sunday’s game before Montgomery scored the first goal for the Bison.
Chongmin Lee and Jaime Engelbert assisted on the defenseman’s goal, bringing the Bloomington crowd to their feet.
Toledo was assessed a two-man penalty at 13:46 of the third period, and Case McCarthy took advantage of the 5-on-3 power play chance by scoring his first goal of the season and second for the Bison. It would be the last one the team would get, as the Walleye shut the door the rest of the way.
No matter how the first season turns out, hockey fans in the Bloomington area finally have something to cheer about after the sport’s five-year absence.