The 2021–22 ECHL season was the 34th season of the ECHL. The regular season was scheduled to run from October 21, 2021, to April 17, 2022, with the Kelly Cup playoffs to follow. Twenty-seven teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces were each scheduled to play 72 games. The Florida Everblades were the 2022

Kelly Cup The Patrick J. Kelly Cup goes to the playoff champion of the ECHL. The Kelly Cup has been awarded to teams since 1997. Prior to 1997, the playoff winner was awarded the Riley Cup, named after former American Hockey League president Jack Riley. Th ...

champions when they defeated the Toledo Walleye in five games in the Kelly Cup championship.

League business

League changes

Following the delayed and COVID-19 pandemic affected season that led to 12 teams going on hiatus before starting the season, the league returned to its typical season start date in October with 27 teams participating. The league also returned to a two-conference, four-division alignment.

Team changes

*Eleven of the twelve teams that opted out of participating in the previous season returned: the

Adirondack Thunder The Adirondack Thunder are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2015–16 season. The team is based in Glens Falls, New York, and affiliated with the NHL's New Jersey Devils. The Thunder play their home games at the ...

, Atlanta Gladiators,

Cincinnati Cyclones The Cincinnati Cyclones are a professional ice hockey team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The team is a member of the ECHL. Originally established in 1990, the team first played their games in the Cincinnati Gardens and now play at Heritage Bank Cen ...

, Idaho Steelheads, Kalamazoo Wings,

Maine Mariners Maine Mariners may refer to: * Maine Mariners (AHL), an ice hockey team in Portland, Maine, which operated from 1977 to 1992 * Maine Mariners (ECHL) The Maine Mariners are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2018 ...

, Newfoundland Growlers, Norfolk Admirals, Reading Royals, Toledo Walleye, and

Worcester Railers The Worcester Railers (also called Worcester Railers HC) are a professional ice hockey team based in Worcester, Massachusetts. The team began play in the 2017–18 ECHL season, and is a member of the North Division of the Eastern Conference of ...

. *The

Brampton Beast The Brampton Beast were a professional ice hockey team based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. The team originally played in the Central Hockey League for one year during the 2013–14 season prior to the league's folding before joining the ECHL f ...

announced the team had ceased operations entirely on February 18, 2021, after originally opting out of the season. *The league added two expansion teams: the Iowa Heartlanders in Coralville, Iowa, and the Trois-Rivières Lions in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

Affiliation changes

All-star game

During the 2019–20 season, the league had awarded the Jacksonville Icemen the 2021 All-Star Game, but the Jacksonville-hosted event was deferred to 2022. The All-Star Game returned to its previous format of an ECHL All-Star team playing against the host team. Additionally, there was a skills competition composed of fastest skater, hardest shot, and accuracy shooting events. Similar to the 2020 All-Star festivities, players from the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) and the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League 2021, participated in both the skills events and as members of the All-Star team in the game. The selected players were the PWHPA's

Sophia Shaver Sophia means "wisdom" in Greek. It may refer to: * Sophia (wisdom) * Sophia (Gnosticism) *Sophia (given name) Places *Niulakita or Sophia, an island of Tuvalu *Sophia, Georgetown, a ward of Georgetown, Guyana *Sophia, North Carolina, an unincor ...

and

Loren Gabel Loren Gabel (born July 24, 1997) is a Canadian women's ice hockey player, formerly of the Clarkson Golden Knights. She made her debut for the Canada women's national ice hockey team at the 2018 4 Nations Cup. She won the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2 ...

from the PWHPA and

Allie Thunstrom Allison Thunstrom (born April 20, 1988) is an American ice hockey forward for the Boston Pride in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She currently holds the PHF record for goals scored in a single season. She has also played for the U ...

and

Jillian Dempsey Jillian T. Dempsey (born January 19, 1991) is an American ice hockey player who currently captains the Boston Pride in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She currently holds the all-time PHF records for games played, goals, assists, and points ...

from the PHF. The All-Star Classic was held on January 17, 2022. The skills competition took place during the All-Star Game with the winner of each competition earning a goal toward their team's final score. Jacksonville earned all three points with Ben Hawerchuk winning the fastest skater, Croix Evingson winning the hardest shot, and Derek Lodermeier winning the accuracy shooting event. The ECHL All-Star team went on to defeat Jacksonville 14–7. The Kansas City Mavericks' Marcus Crawford was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player by scoring three goals and an assist.

Standings

Due to the imbalanced schedule and canceled games during the pandemic, teams are ranked on

points percentage Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

. Final standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

- clinched playoff spot, - clinched regular season division title, - Brabham Cup (regular season) champion

Postseason

Playoffs format

The league announced its playoff format on January 21, 2022. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams in each division qualify for the

2022 Kelly Cup playoffs The 2022 Kelly Cup playoffs of the ECHL hockey league began on April 20, 2022, following the conclusion of the 2021–22 ECHL season, 2021–22 ECHL regular season and ended on June 11 with the Florida Everblades winning their second Kelly Cup ove ...

and are seeded one through four based on the highest

earned in the season. Then the first two rounds of the playoffs are held within the division with the first seed facing the fourth seed and the second seed facing the third. The division champions then play each other in a conference championship. The Kelly Cup finals pit the Eastern Conference champion against the Western Conference champion. All four rounds are a best-of-seven format.

Bracket

References

External links

ECHL website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Echl Season 2021-22 2021–22 3 3