Storms rolled through Estero on Saturday, June 20, but nothing was going to rain on the Florida Everblades’ parade.
The Everblades, winners of the 2026 Kelly Cup Championship, held a celebration at Hertz Arena. The floor of the arena was filled with fans looking for autographs, see the Kelly Cup, or to take in the moment.
The championship, which was won in Game 6 on Monday night June 15 against the Kansas City Mavericks in Independence, Missouri, was the first of the Blades’ ECHL-record five titles won away from home. In a way, the celebration was also a homecoming of sorts.
In some ways, this championship is particularly special. It was the fourth in five years, the fourth in head coach and general manager Brad Ralph’s tenure with the team, and the second time that an ECHL team came back from being down two games to none to win the Finals. Everblades goalie Cam Johnson, who carried out the Cup when his name and number were announced to the crowd, set an ECHL record by winning the June M. Kelly Playoffs MVP Award for the third time.
It is definitely special for right wing Isaac Nurse, who scored the championship-winning goal in double overtime, his first time winning a game in overtime in his professional career.
“This is the biggest goal, for sure,” Nurse said. “I mean, it’s not every day you get to score a game-winning goal to win a championship. So to be the one to do that, that’s awesome. But at the end of the day, it’s a group effort. Not one man can do it alone in a hockey game.”
It is special for the players winning a Kelly Cup for the first time, including Nurse, Anthony Romano, Craig Needham, Gianfranco Cassaro, Carson Gicewicz, and several others, some of whom were in their rookie seasons. It was also the first championship for assistant coach Kyle Mountain, who was popular with the players in his first season with the team.
“I think it’s still sinking in for me,” Mountain said. “It’s just pure elation. It’s just, you dream about moments like that as a player and a coach, and to see how happy the guys were and just being on the ice and the guys are in tears, and they’re hugging, and those embraces, it’s like, you’re lucky if you get that one chance, let alone a bunch of chances.”
For those who were not celebrating their first rodeo, such as Ralph and Johnson earning their fourth rings, it does not get old.
After rolling through the Eastern Conference by losing only two games in the first three rounds of the playoffs, the Everblades ran into trouble in Kansas City. The Mavericks’ ability to gain points off the rush helped get them win 6-0 and 5-2 in the first two games of the Finals.
But when the series moved to Estero, they Blades flipped the script. In front of huge, boisterous crowds, they buckled down on defense, and the power play unit emerged as a force. They swept at home – continuing a streak of 10 straight home wins in the Kelly Cup Finals dating back to 2023 – forcing the Mavericks to host Game 6 on the brink of elimination. Team founder and president Craig Brush thanked the fans in a video image that he recorded ahead of time because he was out of town on team business.
“The atmosphere that you created here for the three games was unbelievable,” Brush said. “We didn’t go 9-0 at home without you. We’re forever indebted to what you’ve done for our team.”
Back in Independence, it looked like the narrative was going to be, ‘Here we go again.’ The Mavericks, who had dominated the second period throughout the postseason, took a 4-1 lead at the second intermission, making a Game 7 seem all but certain.
Then, in the final nine minutes, goals by Cassaro and Romano made it a one-goal game. With Johnson pulled for an extra attacker, captain Oliver Chau scored the game-tying goal with 13 seconds left in intermission.
“There were just a number of events that happened in that third period that led to us believing we could do it, and that’s half the battle,” Ralph said.
The first overtime period and the 15:24 of the second made the game the longest finals game of the Kelly Cup era, which started in 1997. Johnson and Kansas City goalie Jack LaFontaine put on a clinic until Nurse’s sharp-angle shot put his name into franchise lore.
“I thought his skating and his work ethic really stood out to me in the game, and usually when you see that, good things are going to happen for those players,” Ralph said. “Gicewicz made a diving play to extend that last possession and (Cole) Moberg put it in the corner, and next thing you know, it’s in the back of the net, so an unbelievable shot. I think his gloves were off before it even went in the net.”
The Everblades will raise the championship banner when they open the 2026-27 season hosting the Orlando Solar Bears on Oct. 17.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Florida Everblades hold celebration at Hertz Arena for 2026 ECHL title
