Grrrowl Sweeps Dayton in Four Games to Win First-Ever ECHL Championship May 12, 2002

The Greenville Grrrowl won their first-ever East Coast Hockey League Championship with a 5-2 win at Dayton on Friday completing a four-game sweep in the Kelly Cup Finals.

Making its first-ever finals appearance, Greenville becomes only the third team in history to record a sweep in the ECHL Finals. The Grrrowl, who has qualified for the postseason twice in its four-year history, joins Charlotte, who beat Jacksonville in four games to win the Riley Cup in 1996, and Hampton Roads, who swept Louisville in the 1992 Riley Cup Finals. The Riley Cup was awarded to the ECHL Champion from 1988-89 to 1995-96 when it was replaced by the Kelly Cup named for Patrick Kelly, one of the founding fathers on the ECHL. With a hockey career that spanned four decades as a player, coach and general manager, Kelly is the Commissioner Emeritus of the ECHL and the only Commissioner in league history.

Greenville's John Marks becomes the first coach in history to lead two different teams to the ECHL championship, having led Charlotte to the title in 1996. It is the fifth ECHL title for Grrrowl assistant coach Nick Vitucci who won four championships - Carolina (1989), Greensboro (1990), Toledo (1994) and Charlotte (1996) - and was the playoff MVP twice (1989 and 1996) in his 13 seasons as a player in the ECHL.

The Grrrowl's Colin Pepperall led the Kelly Cup Playoffs with 13 assists while ranking second with eight goals and 21 points. Greenville finished with the top five scorers including Steve Rymsha, who was second with 12 assists and 18 points, and Martin Masa, who tied for third with 11 assists and ranked fourth with 17 points. The Grrrowl's Jonathan Roy tied with teammate Ryan Stewart for the postseason lead with two short-handed goals and Roy tied for third with seven goals and tied for fifth with 16 points while Roger Trudeau was fifth with 10 assists. Greenville's Luke Sellars led all defensemen in the postseason with seven goals and four power-play goals while tying with Dayton's Tom Nemeth, who led all defensemen with nine assists, for the scoring lead with 13 points.

Tiger Sharks alumni Simon Tremblay appeared in 13 playoff games with the Grrowl, recording three goals and 7 assists for 10 points while logging 8 penalty minutes.

The Bombers have qualified for the postseason in each of their 11 seasons, tying the ECHL records for most appearances and consecutive appearances set by Hampton Roads from 1989-2000. Dayton made its first-ever appearance in the finals having advanced past the first round only twice in its previous 10 postseason appearances.

2002 KELLY CUP FINALS RESULTS

Game 1 -- May 3 GREENVILLE 6, Dayton 2
Garner makes 30 saves, Bell scores game winner
Game 2 -- May 5 GREENVILLE 4, Dayton 1
Garner records 25 saves, Whitten scores game winner
Game 3 -- May 8 Greenville 3, DAYTON 2 (OT)
Sellars has 2 goals, including game winner in overtime
Game 4 -- May 10 Greenville 5, DAYTON 2
Rymsha scores 2 goals, Garner has 29 saves

Greenville's Simon Gamache and Tyrone Garner shared the Most Valuable Players honors for the 2002 Kelly Cup Playoffs. Gamache led the playoffs with 15 goals, six power-play goals and 24 points while his three game-winning goals tied him with teammate Colin Pepperall and Mississippi's Jerome Marois for the postseason lead. Gamache scored a point in the last 11 postseason games (11g-6a) and also had a seven-game goal-scoring streak in the playoffs. The Grrrowl's Garner was 4-0 with a 1.75 goals against average and a .945 save percentage in the Kelly Cup Finals, and led the postseason with 12 wins and 417 saves.