As the Florida Panthers hosted and won Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night, a pair of former New York Islanders prospects took home a championship for their ECHL club.
As the Florida Panthers hosted and won Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night, a pair of former New York Islanders prospects took home a championship for their ECHL club.
The Florida Everblades captured their third-straight Kelly Cup championship with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Kansas City Mavericks on Saturday, with Josh Ho-Sang and Bobo Carpenter earning a taste of championship glory.
They are the first team to ever win three straight ECHL championships.
Carpenter, a member of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for three years, is now a three-time champion. He was phenomenal in the series-clinching game for the Everblades, tallying a goal and two assists in the win.
He got Florida on the board in the second period, leveling the score one at a time.
The Mavericks responded to Carpenter's strike with two straight goals, but the forward had his hand in a Florida comeback, tallying a primary assist on Nick Senden's shorthanded goal, earning a secondary on Senden's second of the game late in the third period to force overtime.
In the extra session, Matt Wedman completed the "three-peat."
Carpenter finished the postseason with 12 red lights to lead the team, alongside 11 assists for 23 points.
As the Everblades won the title, it was the completion of a comeback story for Ho-Sang.
The former 28th-overall pick by the Islanders joined the team back in March following the release of his new rap album, "SAME." After getting back on the ice, the forward immediately became a contributor.
He tallied 15 points in 11 regular-season games, with two goals and 13 assists, and kept his strong play going in the postseason.
After playing 22 games for the Everblades this postseason, he finished with a goal and a team-best 17 helpers, four of them coming in the final.
The win caps off a dominating postseason run for the club.
After falling behind 3-1 in their First-Round series to the Jacksonville Icemen, the Everblades rallied three straight wins to keep their title defense alive.
The team then knocked off the Orlando Solar Bears and Adirondack Thunder to reclaim the Eastern Conference title before meeting the Mavericks in the final.