2021 Minor League Hockey Champions

With Ft. Wayne's win this week, hockey's minor league seasons have come to a close. Two leagues - the American Hockey League and Western Hockey League decided not to have a postseason due to lingering COVID-19 restrictions. Other leagues put together some sort of season with some teams opting out. Here are the final results from each league:

American Hockey League: None. 

The league allowed each division the choice to hold a divisional postseason. On April 29, it was announced that only the Pacific Division had elected to hold a postseason tournament to name a division champion, with the other four divisions awarding their champions via regular season records.

ECHL: Ft. Wayne Komets

Fort Wayne, which was appearing in the Kelly Cup Finals for the first time in its nine ECHL seasons, has captured 10 championships in its 69 seasons of existence across the ECHL, Central Hockey League, United Hockey League and International Hockey League.  Komets' forward Stephen Harper earned the June M. Kelly Playoffs Most Valuable Player Award. Harper, who scored two goals in the Game 4 victory, shared the playoff lead with 13 points and was tied for second with six goals. Brandon Hawkins led Fort Wayne in the Kelly Cup Finals with four goals and seven points.  The Komets’ Game 4 series-clinching win was in front of a capacity crowd of 10,477 fans at Memorial Coliseum which made it the sixth largest crowd in finals history.

Federal Prospects Hockey League:  Columbus (GA) River Dragons

The River Dragons won the Ignite Cup sweeping the Elmira Enforcers, 3 games to 0, to win their first title.  The start of the FPHL season was delayed until February 19 this season and only four teams:  Carolina Thunderbirds, Columbus River Dragons, Elmira Enforcers and Port Huron Prowlers participated.  The top two teams with the best record after playing at least 16 regular season games qualified for the Ignite Cup final. This was the first title for Columbus since the former Cottonmouths won the 2011-12 Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) championship. 

Southern Professional Hockey League:  Pensacola Ice Flyers

Pensacola finished the regular season as the #3 seed but got hot during the playoffs sweeping Knoxville and Macon to win their fourth President’s Cup in team history.  Pensacola won Game #1 at home breaking a 2-2 tie in the third period for a 4-2 win going back to Macon on Saturday night.  Pensacola jumped on the Mayhem early in Game #2 with goals from Jordan Ernst just 6:54 into the game.  Eddie Matsushima scored less than two minutes later.  Alec Hagaman added another goal in the period for a 3-0 lead.  Jake Kupsky stopped 29 of 30 shots in goal for the Ice Flyers.  Macon was never able to get out of the hole, losing 4-1 to complete the sweep for the Ice Flyers in front of 3,984 fans at the Macon Centreplex.  Pensacola last won the title in 2016.

Junior Leagues

North American Hockey League:  Shreveport Mudbugs

The Shreveport Mudbugs got the game-winning goal early in the 3rd period from Joe Mack to help them get past the Aberdeen Wings, to win the 2021 Robertson Cup for the second time in three years.  Shreveport goalie Cole Hudson finished the playoffs with a 9-0 record making just 18 saves on the night.  The Mudbugs won nine straight games to end their postseason and win the title..

United States Hockey League:  Chicago Steel

Chicago defeated the Fargo Force 3-1 in Game 4 to take their second Clark Cup title in team history winning the series 3 games to 1.  Forward Adam Fantilli was awarded the Clark Cup Playoffs MVP, finishing the postseason with nine points (8G, 1A) including a two-goal performance in the Clark Cup-winning game.  Fantilli scored twice and Jackson Blake netted a goal while Steel netminder Simon Latkoczy turned away 27 shots from the Force to earn the Clark Cup-clinching victory.  

Western Hockey League:  None

The league made the decision that there would be no playoffs or Memorial Cup this season due to COVID-19.  The Edmonton Oil Kings finished with the league’s best-regular season record at 20-2-0-1.  

Other leagues:

National Women’s Hockey League:  Boston Pride

After the pandemic wiped out the 2020 season and a COVID-19 issue in the 2021 season, the Boston Pride finally claimed their second Isobel Cup over the Minnesota Whitecaps.  The Pride became the first team in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) to hoist two Isobel Cups. Lexie Laing and Taylor Wenczkowski scored power-play goals for Boston.  Wenczkowski's scored with 6:28 in the third period to give the Pride a 4-2 lead.  The Pride rallied from an early deficit with a three-goal second period to take their second NWHL title. The Pride held a two-goal lead late in the game, but had to hold off a power play, as the Whitecaps cut the deficit in the final seconds after a boarding major against Boston revived the Whitecaps’ hopes with a power-play goal with 19 seconds left in the game. The Pride held on to win the Cup in front of a national television audience broadcast on NBCSN.

Semi-Pro Leagues:

U.S. Premier Hockey League: Jersey Hitmen

Luke Aquaro scored the game-winner near the end of the opening period as the Jersey Hitmen carried a 3-2 lead out of the opening 20-minutes and never looked back. They captured the 2020-21 Dineen Cup Championship with a 5-2 win over the Rockets Hockey Club at the Revolution Ice Centre, in Pittston, Pa. 

 

NA3HL:North Iowa Bulls

The Bulls defeated Rochester to win the Fraser Cup championship.  Bulls goalie Carsen Stokes made 31 saves to earn the MVP award and lead his team to the title.  It was their fourth Fraser Cup title.  After giving up an early goal to the rival Grizzlies in the Fraser Cup Final, the Bulls ended their season with five unanswered goals, including three in the second period alone. Newpower’s empty-net goal with 1:47 remaining ran the final margin to 5-1 and touched off the biggest celebration in North Iowa junior hockey since 2016.