The 2014–15 ECHL season was the 27th season of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

. The regular season schedule ran from October 17, 2014, to April 11, 2015,"ECHL releases 2014-15 schedule"
,

, June 4, 2014. (accessed 15 June 2014) with the

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 ...

playoffs following. Twenty-eight teams in 20 states and one Canadian province each played a 72-game schedule. Ten days prior to the start of the season, the league was significantly expanded on October 7, 2014, after the ECHL had accepted the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

's remaining seven teams as members for the 2014–15 season. "ECHL Accepts Seven New Members"
,

, October 7, 2014. (accessed 13 October 2014)

League business

Team changes

* The expansion

Indy Fuel The Indy Fuel are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2014–15 season. Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Fuel play their home games at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum on the Indiana State Fairgrounds. They are a ...

began play at the

Fairgrounds Coliseum The Indiana Farmers Coliseum (originally Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum and formerly Pepsi Coliseum and Fairgrounds Coliseum) is a 6,500-seat indoor multi-use arena, located on the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. The Indiana Farm ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

.Wilson, Phillip B
"Indy Fuel sign affiliation deal with Chicago Blackhawks"
''

The Indianapolis Star ''The Indianapolis Star'' (also known as ''IndyStar'') is a morning daily newspaper that began publishing on June 6, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It has been the only major daily paper in the city since 1999, when the ''Indianap ...

'', April 1, 2014. (accessed 15 June 2014) * The

Las Vegas Wranglers The Las Vegas Wranglers were a professional ice hockey team based in Las Vegas Valley. The Wranglers were members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League). The Wranglers were founded a ...

voluntarily suspended operations in May 2014 to allow the team time to secure a new home arena. The team's lease with the

Orleans Arena Orleans Arena is a 9,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Paradise, Nevada, in the Las Vegas Valley. It is located at the Orleans Hotel and Casino and is operated by Coast Casinos, a subsidiary of Boyd Gaming Corporation. The arena is the home to ...

in Las Vegas was not renewed after the 2013–14 season.Guillermo, Matt
"Venue flux to sideline Las Vegas Wranglers next season"
,

KVVU-TV KVVU-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Henderson, Nevada, United States, serving the Las Vegas area as an affiliate of the Fox network. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios at the Broadcast Center on West Sunse ...

, May 20, 2014. (accessed 15 June 2014) In January 2015, the team announced that they would not be returning and had withdrawn their membership from the ECHL at the Mid-season Board of Governors Meeting. * Shortly before the season began on October 17, 2014, the ECHL expanded with seven new teams as a result of accepting the

's remaining seven teams as members. The

Allen Americans The Allen Americans are a professional ice hockey team headquartered at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, which currently plays in the ECHL. The team was founded in 2009 in the Central Hockey League (CHL) where they played ...

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 ...

Missouri Mavericks The Kansas City Mavericks are an ice hockey team in the ECHL. Founded in 2009 as the Missouri Mavericks of the Central Hockey League, CHL, the team plays in Independence, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, at the Cable Dahmer Arena. H ...

Quad City Mallards The Quad City Mallards were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa that competed in the International Hockey League, Central Hockey League and ECHL. They were named after the Mallards team ...

Rapid City Rush The Rapid City Rush are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL based in Rapid City, South Dakota, and play their home games at The Monument. The Rush are currently a minor affiliate of the Calgary Flames NHL franchise. History On June 2, 2 ...

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tuls ...

and

Wichita Thunder The Wichita Thunder are a minor league hockey team based in Wichita, Kansas. The team played in the Central Hockey League from 1992 until 2014, and then in the ECHL since the 2014–15 season. From 1992 until December 2009, the Thunder played in ...

formed a new Central Division in the Western Conference. This entirely replaced a previously planned Midwest Division, which in turn reassigned the

Colorado Eagles The Colorado Eagles are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Loveland, Colorado. The Eagles play in the Pacific Division of the American Hockey League. The Eagles were founded as an expansion franchise in 2003 in the Central Hoc ...

to the Western Conference's Pacific Division and sent

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in S ...

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

and Indy to the Eastern Conference's North Division. Within the Eastern Conference the

Elmira Jackals The Elmira Jackals were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Elmira, New York. They were members of the United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007 and the ECHL from 2007 to 2017. The Jackals played their home games at First Arena. On ...

and

Reading Royals The Reading Royals are a professional ice hockey team that currently plays in the ECHL. The team participates in the North Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. The Royals play their home games at the Santander Arena located in downtown Re ...

were reassigned to the former South Division, which was renamed the East Division.

New affiliations and changes

Annual Board of Governors meeting

The annual ECHL Board of Governors meeting was held at the

Monte Carlo Resort and Casino The Park MGM, formerly Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, is a megaresort hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel, with a height of , has 32 floors, including a casino floor with 1,400 slot machines, 6 ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, in June 2014. Conferences were significantly re-aligned in light of recent team changes. In the Eastern Conference, the three-team Atlantic Division was eliminated while the Mountain Division in the Western Conference was eliminated to make way for a new Midwest Division. The

Evansville IceMen The Evansville IceMen were a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL in Evansville, Indiana. The franchise was originally a member of the United Hockey League before it merged into the Central Hockey League in 2010. The franchise has won four po ...

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original Inte ...

and

Kalamazoo Wings The Kalamazoo Wings, nicknamed the K-Wings, are a mid-level professional ice hockey team in Kalamazoo, Michigan. A member of the ECHL's Western Conference, Central Division, they play in the 5,113-seat Wings Event Center. They are the affiliate ...

were moved to the Western Conference to compete in the Midwest Division with the

and expansion Indy Fuel."Annual ECHL Board of Governors Meeting concludes"
,

, June 24, 2014. (accessed 24 June 2014) This was significantly revised after the CHL merger in October 2014, with the newly created Midwest Division eliminated in favor of a Central Division consisting of the former CHL teams. Along with Indy, Evansville, Fort Wayne and Kalamazoo were moved back to the Eastern Conference. The ECHL Board of Governors also re-elected

Gwinnett Gladiators The Atlanta Gladiators are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Duluth, Georgia. The Gladiators play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at Gas South Arena, approximately northeast of ...

president Steve Chapman as chairman and approved changes to the icing rule similar to those previously implemented by the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

All-star game

The annual ECHL All-Star Classic was held on January 21, 2015, at the

Amway Center Amway Center is an indoor arena located in Downtown Orlando, Florida. The arena is home to the Orlando Magic of the NBA, the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, and the Orlando Predators of the National Arena League. Amway Center hosted the 2012 N ...

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. The format for the 2015 All-star Game featured the

Orlando Solar Bears The Orlando Solar Bears are a professional ice hockey team that plays their home games at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. They play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference and are affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning of t ...

taking on the ECHL All-stars."2015 CCM/ECHL ALL-STAR CLASSIC PRESENTED BY VISIT ORLANDO"
,

. (accessed 15 June 2014) The ECHL All-stars won the game with a score of 8-4 and the game had the largest ECHL all-star game attendance since 2000.

2015 Kelly Cup Playoffs format

At the end of the regular season the top four teams in each division qualified for the 2015 Kelly Cup Playoffs. The first two playoff rounds were played entirely within the divisions, with the divisional playoff champions facing each other in the conference championships. The Kelly Cup final pitted the Eastern Conference champion against the Western Conference champion. All four rounds were a best-of-seven format.

Standings

Due to accepting the Central Hockey League's remaining seven teams as members, the league's conference alignment changed on October 9, 2014, moving the Colorado Eagles to the Pacific Division and moving the seven former CHL squads into the Western Conference as the Central Division. The Midwest Division dissolved, with its remaining teams joining the North Division. To make room for the four Midwest teams, the Reading Royals and Elmira Jackals left the North Division for the South, which was then renamed the East Division.

Final Regular Season Standings ;Eastern Conference

;Western Conference - clinched playoff spot, - clinched regular season division title, -

Brabham Cup The Henry Brabham Cup is the trophy awarded annually by the ECHL to the team that finishes with the most points in the league during the regular season. The Brabham Cup has been awarded 33 times to 16 different franchises since its debut in 1989. ...

(regular season) champion

Postseason

Awards

All-ECHL Teams

All-First Team * Jeff Jakaitis (G) – South Carolina Stingrays *

Mike Little Mike Little (born 12 May 1962) is an English web developer and writer. He is the co-founder of the free and open source web software WordPress along with Matt Mullenweg. Biography Mike Little was born in 1962 to a Nigerian father who was a musi ...

(D) – Florida Everblades * Matthew Register (D) – Ontario Reign *

Chad Costello Chad Costello (born July 22, 1986) is an American professional ice hockey player and coach. He is currently the head coach of the Allen Americans in the ECHL. Playing career Costello played junior hockey with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders where h ...

(F) – Allen Americans * Wade MacLeod (F) – Idaho Steelheads *

Shawn Szydlowski Shawn Szydlowski (born August 5, 1990) is an American professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), Winger who is currently playing with the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL. Playing career Prior to turning professional, Szydlowski played four se ...

(F) – Fort Wayne Komets All-Second Team *

Jeff Lerg Jeff Lerg (born April 9, 1986) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the North American minor league, most notably for the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL, and in Europe. Playing career Prior to his college hockey care ...

(G) – Toledo Walleye * Cameron Burt (D) – Florida Everblades * Aaron Gens (D) – Allen Americans *

Adam Brace Adam Brace (born 1980, London, England) is a British playwright and director. Brace is the resident associate dramaturg of Soho Theatre in London. His play ''Stovepipe'', performed in promenade, premiered at the HighTide festival in Suffolk befo ...

(F) – Florida Everblades * Brendan Connolly (F) – Alaska Aces * Gary Steffes (F) – Allen Americans All-Rookie Team *

Roman Will Roman Will (born 22 May 1992) is a Czech professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing with HC Dynamo Pardubice of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He has formerly appeared in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Colorado Avalanche. Playin ...

(G) – Fort Wayne Komets * Justin Baker (D) – Allen Americans * Steven Shamanski (D) – Elmira Jackals * Derek Army (F) – Wheeling Nailers * Tyler Barnes (F) – Toledo Walleye *

Jason Bast Jason Bast (born June 2, 1989) is a Canadian-German professional ice hockey player currently under contract with Kölner Haie in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Playing career After a junior career with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the Western ...

(F) – Idaho Steelheads