The Idaho Steelheads have taken over Bruce Taylor Cup as ECHL Western Conference Champions on Saturday with a 5-1 victory over Toledo Whaley in Game Five of the Western Conference Finals.
Idaho wins the series 4 games to 1, and advances to the 2023 Kelly Cup Finals, where it will meet the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between Florida and Newfoundland. This series is tied 2-2, with Game 5 set for Sunday in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
After Toledo took a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the contest, Idaho went on to score five unanswered goals, including a pair of goals from Owen Hedrick. Adam Schell stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced to score the winning goal.
Ty Belton-Base scored four goals for Idaho while Hedrick led the way with eight points (2g-6a). Jordy Green led Toledo in goals by three, and was tied for the team lead on four points with Seth Barton and Brandon Hawkins.
This is the fourth time in team history that the Steelheads have qualified for the Kelly Cup Finals. Idaho claimed ECHL championships in 2004 against Florida and 2007 against Dayton, while falling to Cincinnati in 2010. The Steelheads He won the Brabham Cup as ECHL regular season champions, and seek to become the first team since Alaska in 2014 to win both regular season titles and playoffs.
The trophy is named in tribute to Bruce Taylor, the founding father of the West Coast Hockey League. In the early 1990s, Taylor bought teams in Fresno, Reno, and Bakersfield and in 1995 joined them with teams in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and San Diego to form the West Coast Hockey League. The Taylor Cup was presented to the WCHL playoff champion from the league’s inaugural season in 1995-96 until the league ceased operations after the 2002-03 season. Taylor’s hockey ownership began in 1983 with the purchase of the Burnaby Bluehawks of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League and went on to purchase the Richmond Sockeyes in the BCJHL and the New Westminster Royals in the BCJHL.