BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…May 31, 2007, 15 years ago today:
The Idaho Steelheads complete their second improbable run to an ECHL championship in four years by beating Dayton 4-1 to win the Kelly Cup Finals. The Steelheads had gone into the postseason as the fourth seed in the National Conference and started with a first round series win over Stockton. Then they knocked off the best team in the league, Las Vegas, in six games—and the second-best team, Alaska, in five. The Steelies took the Kelly Cup Finals over the Bombers four games-to-one, with goalie Steve Silverthorn winning MVP honors.
The Steelheads, with coach Derek Laxdal winning his second title as well, were led in the regular season by Marty Flichel’s 39 goals and 87 points, and by Silverthorn’s 36 victories between the pipes. Flichel was one of three Steelies to repeat as Kelly Cup champions, as he, Scott Burt and Darrell Hay were all part of the 2003-04 team. The Steelheads would return to the Kelly Cup Final in 2010, falling to Cincinnati four games-to-one. They’ve notched nine winning seasons in 11 campaigns since but haven’t been back.
Jay Beagle, currently a member of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, also has his name etched on the 2007 Kelly Cup. Four years ago, Beagle became the first player in pro hockey history to win a Stanley Cup, a Calder Cup in the American Hockey League, and a Kelly Cup in the ECHL. He was also the first Steelheads alumnus to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup after the Washington Capitals beat the Vegas Golden Knights to win the NHL title four games to one.
The 2007 trip to the championship series run marked the fourth time in seven seasons that the Steelheads played in a league final—they had also made the Taylor Cup Final in the old West Coast Hockey League in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, the WCHL was absorbed by the ECHL and folded. The Steelheads and six other WCHL organizations, the Alaska Aces, Bakersfield Condors, Fresno Falcons, Las Vegas Wranglers, Long Beach Ice Dogs and San Diego Gulls, all became members of the ECHL.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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