The 2012–13 ECHL season was the 25th season of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

. The regular season schedule ran from October 12, 2012 to March 30, 2013, 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 to follow. The

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...

, not held in 2011-12, was brought back and held on January 23, 2013 at Budweiser Events Center in

Loveland, Colorado Loveland is a List of cities and towns in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality and the List of cities and towns in Colorado, second most populous municipality in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Loveland is situated n ...

, home of the

Colorado Eagles The Colorado Eagles are a professional 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 Hockey League and ...

League business

Team changes

On September 21, 2011, the ECHL Board of Governors approved the membership of the San Francisco Bulls for the 2012–13 season. The Bulls will play in the

Cow Palace The Cow Palace (originally the California State Livestock Pavilion) is an indoor arena and events center located in Daly City, California, situated on the city's northern border with neighboring San Francisco. Because the border passes through t ...

, which was the home of the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Con ...

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

for their first two seasons. On November 1, 2011, the ECHL Board of Governors approved the membership of the reincarnation of the

Orlando Solar Bears The Orlando Solar Bears are a professional ice hockey team that plays their home games at Kia Center (formerly Amway Center) in Orlando, Florida. They play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference and are affiliated with the Tampa ...

for the 2012–13 season. The Solar Bears will play in the

Amway Center Kia Center (formerly Amway Center) is an indoor arena located in the Downtown Orlando, downtown core of Orlando, Florida. The arena is home to the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, ...

which is currently home to the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

. The league announced on April 6, 2012, that the expansion franchise Chicago Express had withdrawn from the ECHL, effective immediately. The Express finished their inaugural season ninth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 34 wins, 26 losses, 8 overtime losses, and 4 losses in shootouts, eliminating them from playoff contention. The team also finished last in the league for attendance, averaging 2,508 fans per game (compared to the league average of 4,282 fans per game). On May 17, 2012, the ECHL announced the addition of two expansion franchises - the Evansville IceMen and the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team, which currently plays in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In all of North American professional hockey, only the Orig ...

, both located in Indiana and both former

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 ...

markets. The IceMen will play home games at the Ford Center and the Komets at the

Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is a 13,000-seat multi-purpose arena located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States, near present-day Johnny Appleseed Park. It opened in 1952 with a construction cost of nearly $3 million. The Allen County Wa ...

. The league also indicated that 23 teams would play in the 2012–13 season, making these two franchises the last to be added.

Annual Board of Governors meeting

The league's annual Board of Governors meeting concluded on June 25, 2012. Announcements included the re-election of Steve Chapman, president of the

Gwinnett Gladiators Gwinnett County ( ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, being located about northeast of Atlanta city limits. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the ...

, to his seventh term as board president, capping of league membership at 26 teams, adoption of a two-referee system for the conference finals and

finals, and the league re-alignment for the 2012–13 season. The San Francisco Bulls joined the Western Conference's Pacific Division, while in the Eastern Conference, the

joined the South Division and the

and Evansville IceMen joined the North Division following the departure of the Chicago Express. The league also voted to table any decision regarding the playoff format until the Board of Governors' preseason meeting.

Preseason Board of Governors meeting

The preseason Board of Governors meeting was held on September 27, 2012. Announcements included changes to the Kelly Cup playoff format and a change to the league's reserve list policy. The 3-day and 7-day injured reserve spots were changed to two generic reserve spots with no minimum stay required. No change was made to the 21-day reserve list policy.

All-star game

The 2013 ECHL All-Star Game was played on January 23, 2013, and was hosted by the

at Budweiser Events Center. The format featured the host team Eagles taking on the ECHL All-Star Team. The ECHL All-Stars won the game 7–3, scoring five unanswered goals in the second period to tie an ECHL All-Star Game record.

Regular season

Standings

By division

Eastern Conference Western Conference

By conference

* - Division leader; y - Won division; z - Won conference (and division) * - Division leader; y - Won division; b - Won Brabham Cup, best record in the league

2013 Kelly Cup playoffs

Format

The 2013 Kelly Cup playoffs format represented a significant departure from previous years. Eight teams qualified in the Eastern Conference: the three division winners plus the next five teams in the conference. With the addition of the expansion franchise in the San Francisco Bulls, the Board of Governors changed the Western Conference seeding such that eight teams qualified: two division winners and the next six teams in the conference. This eliminated the Western Conference first-round bye. Similar to the

, the division winners were seeded as the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference and the top two seeds in the Western Conference; the conference winner faces the eighth seed, second faces seventh, third faces sixth, and fourth faces fifth in the conference quarterfinal round. The winner of the 1st/8th series plays the winner of the 4th/5th series while 2nd/7th winner plays against the 3rd/6th winner in the conference semifinal series. The Board of Governors also elected to change the playoff format such that all rounds of the playoffs were best of seven series. For 2013, the conference finals and Kelly Cup finals used a two-referee system.

Bracket

Awards

All-ECHL First Team

* Michael Forney (F),

* Casey Pierro-Zabotel (F),

* Mathieu Roy (F),

Florida Everblades The Florida Everblades are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Estero, Florida, in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area. They play in the ECHL and are affiliat ...

* Matt Case (D),

Idaho Steelheads The Idaho Steelheads are an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Boise, Idaho, and a member of the ECHL. The Steelheads play in the Mountain Division of the ECHL's Western Conference since the 2016–17 season. In 1996, t ...

* Sacha Guimond (D),

* Ryan Zapolski (G),

South Carolina Stingrays The South Carolina Stingrays are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in North Charleston, South Carolina. The Stingrays play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at the North Charleston ...

References

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