ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — If the Newfoundland Growlers defeat the Toledo Walleye this week at Mile One Centre, they’ll get to lift the ECHL championship trophy for the first time.
It will also be the first time this particular trophy will be hoisted in triumph.
ECHL teams play for the Kelly Cup, named after former league commissioner Patrick Kelly, but Kelly said Friday the trophy that’s in Toledo is a replica, because the original is still in possession of the Colorado Eagles, who won the ECHL crown in 2017 and 2018.
“I don’t know if I should say this or not, but Colorado kept the trophy, if you can believe it,” Kelly said on a radio show, the Morning Blitz on WCWA Fox 1230 in Toledo. “They still have it. This is a new trophy.”
The Eagles moved to the American Hockey League last summer to become the primary farm team of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.
“They won it two years in a row and one of their owners said, ‘fine, we’ll keep it,’ said ” Kelly, now the ECHL’s commissioner emeritus.
Kelly didn’t say if he knew the reasons the Eagles didn’t return the trophy, although a story in the Denver Post mentioned the possibility of a dispute over the exit fees the Eagles paid the ECHL for changing leagues.
However, the Eagles claim they are not holding the original Kelly Cup hostage and instead suggested the fact the original trophy wasn’t in Toledo is the fault of the ECHL.
“The management of the ECHL has full knowledge of the situation with the Kelly Cup,” Eagles owner Martin Lind said in a prepared statement on Friday.
“We have made numerous attempts to return it. They have chosen to ignore our requests, therefore the Kelly Cup remains in Colorado. This is all that will be released regarding this matter.”
The ECHL released its own statement refuting Lind’s view of the matter.
“Despite a confirmed plan with Eagles’ management to return the Kelly Cup to the ECHL in December 2018, the arrangement was not fulfilled,” said the league Saturday.
The Eagles had actually returned the trophy to the league — just to have the players’ names engraved — but it went back to Colorado, where it was supposed to have remained until the end of last year.
When it wasn’t returned, the league commissioned a new trophy, and that’s the one that will be at Mile One Centre this week. It’s actually the fourth version of the Kelly Cup. Two previous ones are on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Growlers lead the Toledo Walleye 3-2 in the best-of-seven league final, with Game 6 Tuesday at Mile One Centre in St. John's. If a Game 7 is required, it will be Wednesday at Mile One. Both games have 7 p.m. starts.
Twitter: @telybrendan
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