The 2018–19 ECHL season was the 31st 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 was scheduled to run from October 12, 2018, to April 7, 2019, 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. Twenty-seven teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces each play a 72-game schedule. The

was won by the Newfoundland Growlers in their inaugural season over the

Toledo Walleye The Toledo Walleye are a professional ice hockey team based in Toledo, Ohio. The Walleye are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the ECHL. The Walleye were founded in 1991 as the Toledo Storm and play their home games at ...

League business

League changes

After serving as league commissioner for 16 seasons, Brian McKenna, stepped down from the position following the 2017–18 season. He was replaced by Ryan Crelin, who had most recently been serving as the ECHL's chief operating officer.

Team changes

*The Colorado Eagles ownership left the ECHL, bought an expansion franchise and joined the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

as the affiliate of the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

to bring the AHL up to 31 teams to match the size of 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 ...

to continue the one-to-one NHL/AHL affiliations. *The

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 ...

in Portland, Maine, were added after purchasing the franchise from the folded Alaska Aces. The Mariners were the fifth team to replace a recently relocated

(AHL) team, in this case the

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks fr ...

, since 2015. *The Newfoundland Growlers in

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

, were added, replacing the recently relocated

St. John's IceCaps The St. John's IceCaps were a professional ice hockey team based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. They were members of the North Division of the Eastern Conference of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team was originally aff ...

and becoming the sixth ECHL team to replace an AHL team since 2015. *The Quad City Mallards ceased operations after the 2017–18 season. The Mallards were the first of the teams added in the 2014 merger with 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 ...

to cease operations.

Conference realignment

As the new ECHL teams in Portland, Maine, and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, were added to the North Division of the Eastern Conference, the

Wheeling Nailers The Wheeling Nailers are a professional ECHL ice hockey team based in Wheeling, West Virginia. They are the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey Lea ...

were moved to the Western Conference and Central Division. With the Colorado Eagles joining the

, the

Kansas City Mavericks The Kansas City Mavericks are an ice hockey team in the ECHL. Founded in 2009 as the Missouri Mavericks of the CHL, the team plays in Independence, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, at the Cable Dahmer Arena. History On April 16, 2 ...

moved back to the Mountain Division from the Central.New York-New York Hotel and Casino in

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 ...

, from June 18 to 22, 2018.

All-star game

The 2019 CCM/ECHL All-Star Classic was held on January 21, 2019, at the Huntington Center in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. The All-Star Classic retained the four team, 3-on-3 player tournament style used the previous season, but featured two teams made from the

(named Team Hooks and Team Fins) and one team for each conference's All-Star players. In the round-robin, the Western Conference and Team Fins each went 2–1, while the Eastern Conference and Team Hooks went 1–2. In the semifinal round, the Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference 4–3 and Team Fins defeated the Team Hooks 3–1. The Eastern Conference All-Star team then defeated Team Fins 2–1 following a shootout. 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 ...

's David Pacan was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. The skills competition took place in between rounds of the tournament. The

's Bryan Moore won the fastest skater event, the Walleye's A.J. Jenks won the hardest shot event, and the

's David Pacan won the accuracy shooting event.

Standings

Final standings:

;Eastern Conference

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

Postseason

Playoffs format

At the end of the regular season, the top four teams in each division qualifies for the

2019 Kelly Cup playoffs The 2019 Kelly Cup playoffs of the ECHL began in April 2019 following the conclusion of the 2018–19 ECHL regular season. The Kelly Cup was won by the expansion Newfoundland Growlers in six games over the Toledo Walleye. Playoff format At the e ...

and be seeded one through four based on highest point total 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 pits the Eastern Conference champion against the Western Conference champion. All four rounds are a best-of-seven format.

Bracket

Awards

All-ECHL teams

First Team * Michael Houser (G) – Cincinnati Cyclones * Eric Knodel (D) – Cincinnati Cyclones * Matt Petgrave (D) – Brampton Beast * Caleb Herbert (F) – Utah Grizzlies * Adam Pleskach (F) – Tulsa Oilers *

Jesse Schultz Jesse Schultz (born September 28, 1982) is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger. He is currently an unrestricted free agent who most recently played under contract with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. Playing career Junior Schu ...

(F) – Cincinnati Cyclones Second Team * Tomas Sholl (G) – Idaho Steelheads * Matt Register (D) – Toledo Walleye * Derek Sheppard (D) – Florida Everblades * Joe Cox (F) – Florida Everblades *

Chris McCarthy Christopher McCarthy (June 21, 1931 – April 22, 2009) was an American race walker. He competed for Team USA at the 1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi ...

(F) – Reading Royals *

Zach O'Brien Zachary O'Brien (born June 29, 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger currently playing for HC Slovan Bratislava of the Slovak Extraliga. Prior to turning professional, O'Brien played three seasons with the Acadie–Bathurst Titan ...

(F) – Newfoundland Growlers Rookie Team * Tomas Sholl (G) – Idaho Steelheads * Alex Breton (D) – Allen Americans * Derek Sheppard (D) – Florida Everblades * Chris Collins (F) – Kalamazoo Wings * Steven Iacobellis (F) – Wichita Thunder *