Kelly Cup Tour begins Saturday in Bloomington

The ECHL announced on Wednesday the launch of the 2025 Kelly Cup Tour with the first stop on Saturday, Feb. 22 in Bloomington. Every team begins the season with the goal of winning the Patrick J. Kelly Cup, presented annually to the Postseason Champion of the ECHL and won in 2024 by the Florida Everblades, who made ECHL history by capturing their third consecutive title.
 
The tour will travel to six ECHL cities, making appearances at games, schools, sponsors, radio and television stations and other community events. The Kelly Cup will travel 6,828 miles during the tour, with the longest trek encompassing 2,394 miles from Reading Pennsylvania on March 15 to Boise, Idaho on March 21.
 
After its stop in Bloomington this weekend the Kelly Cup Tour will head to Cincinnati on Feb. 28, Maine on March 7 and 8, Reading on March 14 and 15, Idaho on March 21 and 22 and Iowa on March 30 before concluding in Fort Wayne on April 6.
 
The Kelly Cup Tour offers ECHL fans the opportunity to view the coveted Patrick J. Kelly Cup, which has been awarded to the ECHL postseason champion since 1996-97. The ECHL retired its playoff championship trophy, the Jack Riley Cup, in 1996 and replaced it with the Kelly Cup, first awarded to the playoff champion in 1997. Standing 28 inches tall and weighing 19 pounds, the Kelly Cup features the names of players, coaches and support staff from each of the 35 ECHL champions. Accompanying the Kelly Cup will be a special display that highlights the intensity and excitement of the Kelly Cup Playoffs.
 
The Kelly Cup is named in recognition of Patrick J. Kelly, who is one of the founding fathers of the ECHL. Kelly served as Commissioner of the ECHL for the first eight seasons before being named Commissioner Emeritus in 1996, a title which he continues to hold. Kelly celebrates his 72nd season in hockey in 2024-25, having begun his career with the St. Catherine Teepees of the Ontario Junior Hockey League in 1952. He played professionally for the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League, the Troy Bruins of the International Hockey League, and the Greensboro Generals of the Eastern Hockey League. Kelly coached in the Eastern Hockey League from 1965-73 and was head coach and general manager of Charlotte in the Southern Hockey League from 1973-76. He coached the Colorado Rockies in the NHL in 1977-78 and is the only coach to lead the Rockies to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Following coaching stops in the American Hockey League, he went to Peoria in the International Hockey League where he led the Rivermen to the Turner Cup in his first season in 1984-85. In 2016, Kelly received the Lester Patrick Trophy from the National Hockey League for outstanding service to hockey in the United States.  
 
Kyle Neuber is the only player to have his named engraved on the Kelly Cup four times. Neuber won his first championship with Allen in 2016 before capturing three consecutive titles with Florida in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Florida Everblades' President Craig Brush also has his name on the Kelly Cup four times from Florida's victories in 2012, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
 
Nine individuals - Jared Bednar, Scott Burt, Riley Gill, Cam Johnson, Louis Mass, Joe Pendenza, Brad Ralph, Matt Register and Patrick Wellar - have their name engraved on the Kelly Cup three times. Bednar won as a player with South Carolina in 1997 and 2001, and was the head coach of the Stingrays for their win in 2009; Burt won championships with Idaho in 2004 and 2007 and Alaska in 2011; Gill won titles with Reading in 2013 and with Allen in 2015 and 2016; Mass won as a player with Alaska in 2006 and as the Aces’ assistant coach in 2011 and 2014; Neuber won titles as a player with Allen in 2016 and Florida in 2023; Register was the first person in ECHL history to win three consecutive titles, winning with Allen in 2016 and Colorado in 2017 and 2018 while Wellar won titles with Alaska in 2006, South Carolina in 2009 and Reading in 2013. Johnson and Pendenza were players, while Ralph was head coach, for each of Florida’s three consecutive Kelly Cup titles in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
 
Forty-nine players whose name appears on the Kelly Cup have played in the National Hockey League: Sebastien Charpentier (Hampton Roads, 1998); Chris Schmidt and Travis Scott (Mississippi, 1999); Cody Rudkowsky and Cam Severson (Peoria, 2000); Zdenek Blatny, Tyrone Garner, Simon Gamache and Luke Sellars (Greenville, 2002); Kevin Colley and Matt Yeats (Atlantic City, 2003); Dan Ellis, Zenon Konopka, Warren Peters (Idaho, 2004); Chris Beckford-Tseu, Barrett Heisten, Doug Lynch, Chris Minard and Matt Underhill (Alaska, 2006); Jay Beagle, B.J. Crombeen, Greg Rallo and Francis Wathier (Idaho, 2007); David Desharnais, Cedrick Desjardins and Ryan Russell (Cincinnati, 2008); Travis Morin and James Reimer (South Carolina, 2009); Jeremy Smith and Mark Van Guilder (Cincinnati, 2010); Gerald Coleman (Alaska, 2011 and 2014) and Brian Swanson (Alaska, 2011); Kevin Quick and Justin Shugg (Florida, 2012); Stanislav Galiev (Reading, 2013); Turner Elson and John Ramage (Alaska, 2014); Darryl Bootland, Mason Geertsen and Kent Simpson (Colorado, 2017); Alex Belzile (Alaska, 2014 and Colorado, 2017); Drayson Bowman, J.C. Beaudin and Nicolas Meloche (Colorado, 2018); Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, Adam Pardy and Kristians Rubins (Newfoundland, 2019); Dylan Ferguson (Fort Wayne, 2021) and Josh Ho-Sang (Florida, 2024).
 
Jared Bednar and Jay Beagle are the only two individuals to win a Kelly Cup, Calder Cup and Stanley Cup championship during their career. Bednar, who won Kelly Cups as a player with South Carolina in 1997 and 2001 and as head coach in 2009, led Lake Erie to Calder Cup title in 2016 and Colorado to Stanley Cup title in 2022, and is the only coach to win championships in the ECHL, AHL and NHL. In addition to winning the Kelly Cup with Idaho in 2007, Beagle won the Calder Cup with Hershey in 2009 and 2010 and the Stanley Cup with Washington in 2018.
 
Mike Haviland, Al MacIsaac and Davis Payne each have their names engraved on both the Kelly Cup and Stanley Cup. Haviland coached Atlantic City to the 2003 Kelly Cup title and Trenton to the 2005 title and won the Stanley Cup as an assistant coach with Chicago in 2010; MacIsaac was an assistant coach for Hampton Roads’ Kelly Cup title in 1998 and captured titles as Chicago’s vice president of hockey operations in 2010, 2013 and 2015 while Payne was head coach for Alaska in 2006 and was an assistant coach with Los Angeles in 2014.      
 
2025 Kelly Cup Tour
 
February 22                 Grossinger Motors Arena                   Bloomington, Illinois
February 28                 Heritage Bank Center                         Cincinnati, Ohio
March 7 and 8             Cross Insurance Arena                        Portland, Maine
March 14 and 15         Santander Arena                                 Reading, Pennsylvania
March 21 and 22         Idaho Central Arena                           Boise, Idaho
March 30                     Xtream Arena                                     Coralville, Iowa
April 6                         Memorial Coliseum                            Fort Wayne, Indiana
 
About the ECHL
 
Formed in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 29 teams in 22 states and one Canadian province for its 37th season in 2024-25. There have been 762 players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after starting their careers in the ECHL, including 10 who have made their NHL debuts in the 2024-25 season. The ECHL has affiliations with 29 of the 32 NHL teams in 2024-25, marking the 27th consecutive season that the league has affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com.