BEST SEASON IN MAVERICKS HISTORY COMES TO AN END

ESTERO, Fla. – After capturing the Brabham Cup as the ECHL’s best regular season team, winning their first-ever Mountain Division title and securing the Taylor Trophy as the Western Conference champions, the Kansas City Mavericks season came to an end on Saturday night in southwest Florida after a 4-3 overtime loss in Game 5 of the Kelly Cup Finals to the Florida Everblades.

Kansas City entered the Kelly Cup Finals after sweeping the Tulsa Oilers in the first round, beating the defending Western Conference champion Idaho Steelheads in the Mountain Division Finals and topping the Toledo Walleye in six games in the Western Conference Finals.

The 13 postseason wins accomplished by the Mavericks this season were the most in franchise history. It also marked the first conference title in the team’s 15-year history.

The Mavericks entered the playoffs after dominating the ECHL’s regular season, going 54-12-4-2 as the league’s best regular season team. The 54 wins were the most in franchise history and the fourth-most in ECHL history. Kansas City’s 114 points ranked as the fifth-best in the 36-year history of the ECHL. 

Additionally, the Mavericks set the ECHL record for road wins in a single season with 29 wins away from home, breaking the previous record by three games.

Kansas City’s season was also buoyed by numerous individual record-breaking performances. Patrick Curry set the Mavericks ECHL franchise record in goals (39) and points (87) en route to a second-place finish in MVP voting and a place on the All-ECHL First Team.

Rookie forward Max Andreev set Kansas City’s ECHL franchise record with 54 assists and was joined by fellow rookie Cade Borchardt in the 50-assist club. Borchardt, the Minnesota State-Mankato alum finished the regular season with 53 assists. Both rookies were named to the ECHL All-Rookie Team.

In his fourth season behind the bench, General Manager and Head Coach Tad O’Had became the franchise’s winningest ECHL head coach, winning 151 games through four seasons. O’Had has increased the club’s win total each season in charge. 

The Mavericks had five players finish in the top-six in franchise history in points in a single ECHL season: Curry (87), Borchardt (77), Jacob Hayhurst (76) and Andreev (73).

Kansas City found the back of the net 305 times in the 72-game regular season, setting a new franchise record for goals in a season, surpassing the previous record by 67 goals.

It wasn’t all offense that led Kansas City to this point. Behind Jack LaFontaine (16), Dillon Kelley (16) and Cale Morris (21), the Mavericks became the first team in ECHL history to have three goaltenders each win 16 or more games in a single season.

Kansas City’s defensemen also played a huge part in the team’s record-breaking season. The Mavericks had three of the four top defensemen in plus-minus in the regular season: Jake McLaughlin and Ryan Jones (+30) and Marc-Olivier Duquette (+29). The Mavericks had eight of the top 20 players overall in plus-minus.

The Mavericks 67 combined wins between the regular season and postseason are the fifth-most in ECHL history.

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