Florida Everblades

The Florida Everblades are an ECHL ice hockey team playing in the Southeast Division. The team is based in Estero, Florida and plays at Hertz Arena (Formerly Germain Arena and previously the Teco Arena). The team has existed since 1998. The Everblades are affiliated with the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League (AHL) and with the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Everblades have made four appearances in the Kelly Cup Finals winning in 2012.

History
The team was founded by current owner Craig Brush in 1998. Prior to the building of the Germain Arena (now Hertz Arena), the arena sat on an empty cow pasture on what is now Everblades Parkway near Interstate 75 in Estero. Brush was said to be reading a free copy of a National Geographic magazine that featured articles on the Florida Everglades, when he envisioned the idea to bring a minor-league hockey team to Southwest Florida. The team's name derives from the former Kentucky Thoroughblades AHL franchise.

In April 2013, owner Peter Karmanos, Jr. announced he would be selling the team along with Germain Arena to "simplify things" in his life, as he had just retired from the company he founded, Compuware. The team was made for sale and was being shopped by Park Lane, a sports investment-banking firm that specializes in the sale of sports teams. Since that time, no formal announcements have taken place on the progression of the sale. In 2018, Karmanos gave up majority control of the Hurricanes to new majority owner Thomas Dundon. After the 2018–19 season, the Everblades dropped the Hurricanes affiliation for the first time and partnered with the Nashville Predators. It was then announced on August 5, 2019, that Karmanos had sold both the team and arena to David Hoffmann, a Naples, Florida, resident and real estate investor.

Logo
The Everblades' logo features a gator-head design fused in the form of an ice skate. The logo was designed by a Vancouver graphic design company affiliated with Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos, who came up with the idea of choosing the Everblades colors as blue and green, in tribute to the Hartford Whalers team that Karmanos moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. The Everblades' inaugural home opener featured a pre-game ceremony in which a large alligator was brought onto the ice to pay tribute to the team's name and logo, as well as Florida's vast population of reptile species.

E.A. Gingher Memorial Trophy
The Everblades have won the E.A. Gingher Memorial Trophy in 2004,2005, and 2018. In 2004, the trophy was given to the champion of the Eastern Conference and to the American Conference champion in 2005. In both years, the Everblades lost to the winners of the Bruce Taylor Trophy. In 2004 the loss was to the Idaho Steelheads of the Western Conference and to the Trenton Titans of the National Conference in 2005.

Brabham Cup
In the 1999–2000 season, the Everblades won the Brabham Cup. This trophy is given to the team that has the best position in the standings for the entire league. The Everblades took the trophy with 108 points (53-15-2), but fell in the first round to the Augusta Lynx. In the ECHL in 2000, there was no overtime period, with play going directly to a shootout. Therefore all losses in a shootout are designated as ties. The team would win the award again in 2018 when they finished atop the league standings with 112 points.

2004 American Conference finals
In game five of the 2004 American Conference finals, the Everblades faced the Reading Royals in the final game of an epic series. Florida won the first two games at home, but Reading evened the series at home, the next two of the best-of-five series. In game five, the score was tied at the end of regulation, 2–2, so the game was sent to overtime. John McNabb of the Everblades scored on a breakaway to defeat the Royals in front of a record crowd of 7,080 fans at Hertz Arena.

2005 Playoff Brawl
One famous event that stands out among Blades' fans was during the 2005 ECHL playoffs.

With the Everblades hosting the Greenville Grrrowl on April 22, 2005 for the first game of the American Conference Semifinals, the Everblades and Grrrowl would engage in a third-period line brawl that would see both teams combine for 197 minutes in penalties.

The brawl stemmed from previous incidents throughout the game. Prior to the brawl, then-Everblades forward Greg Hornby checked Greenville's Vladimir Gusev hard into the boards behind the net. Gusev would leave the game injured, and as a result, the pace of the game as well as checking, would pick up.

With the Blades up 4-1 with under six minutes to play in the third period, then-Greenville pest Krys Barch would screen the net during a Greenville shooting attempt. Everblades defenceman Tim O'Connell checked Barch from behind numerous times, hoping to clear him from in front of the net. Barch, having been fed up with being pressured, turned around hoping to sucker-punch O'Connell. Instead, O'Connell quickly skated away from the crease before Barch turned around, and Barch would end up punching Everblades goalie Tyler Mackay. O'Connell jumped on top of Barch, resulting in a dog pile.

All players on the ice dropped the gloves for a wild line brawl that would see Florida goalie Tyler Mackay and others getting ejected for fighting.

After all the mayhem, Craig Kowalski would take Mackay's place as netminder. Shortly thereafter, the Everblades' Simon Tremblay would scrap with Greenville's Adam Nightingale to end the fiasco. The Everblades would go onto win the game, 4-1, and sweep the series, three games to none.

Ironically, game 2 featured no fights as the Everblades won an overtime thriller by a score of 3-2.

2012 Kelly Cup finals
Florida won the 2012 Kelly Cup playoffs with a 4-1 victory at home in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 7,290. The first period saw Las Vegas Wranglers goalie Joe Fallon beaten by Justin Shugg and Mike Ratchuk, but Las Vegas edged back to even the score by the third, with Ash Goldie and Peter MacArthur beating John Muse to force the overtime. At 4:54 into the overtime, after Ryan Donald passed to Matt Beca, who in turn sent the puck to Brandon MacLean, who beat Fallon and secured the victory.

The win earned Florida the Kelly Cup, and secured a perfect home record of 11-0 in the postseason (two victories over Greenville and three each over Elmira, Kalamazoo, and Las Vegas). Additionally, John Muse earned the Kelly Cup finals MVP award.

Season-by-season record

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 * * The 2008–09 team played 71 games because of scheduling changes caused by the Augusta Lynx and Fresno Falcons ceasing operations mid-season. Four of the five teams (Florida, Charlotte, South Carolina, Mississippi) played 71 games, with Gwinnett playing 72.

Current roster
Updated February 24, 2021.

Retired numbers
Berg and Buckley's numbers were retired during a pre-game ceremony on October 19, 2007, as the Everblades hosted the Mississippi Sea Wolves, in what would be the Sea Wolves' first official regular season game after being placed on a two-year hiatus due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Banners made with their jersey numbers were hung to the rafters of Germain Arena.

Hartlieb's number was retired in a ceremony before a game against the Orlando Solar Bears on October 19, 2012. Hartlieb was presented with an ECHL Championship ring (he filled in on with the team in the 2011-12 regular season, but did not appear in the playoffs), and hoisted the Kelly Cup. A banner made with his number was hung to the rafters of Germain Arena next to Berg and Buckley's.

Notable players
Florida Everblades alumni that advanced to play in the NHL after playing for the team:


 * Mike Angelidis
 * Keith Aucoin
 * Clark Bishop
 * Patrick Bordeleau
 * Eric Boulton
 * David Brine
 * Brett Carson
 * Scott Darling
 * Kristers Gudlevskis
 * Matt Hendricks
 * Tanner Jeannot
 * Ty Jones
 * Anton Khudobin
 * Connor Knapp
 * Greg Koehler
 * Greg Kuznik
 * Drew Larman
 * Chad LaRose
 * Martin Lojek
 * Steven Lorentz
 * Brett Lysak
 * Eric Manlow
 * Kenndal McArdle
 * Jason Morgan
 * Alex Nedeljkovic
 * Doug O'Brien
 * Ryan O'Byrne
 * Justin Peters
 * Justin Shugg
 * Cole Smith
 * Dalton Smith
 * Jared Staal
 * Mark Stuart
 * Damian Surma
 * Brody Sutter
 * Rob Zepp



Florida Everblades that played in the NHL before playing with the team:


 * Akim Aliu
 * Ken Appleby
 * Justin Auger
 * Chris Beckford-Tseu
 * Brad Brown
 * Kevin Brown
 * Barry Brust
 * Brett Bulmer
 * Mike Card
 * Brad Church
 * Matt Corrente
 * Kevin Czuczman
 * Stefan Della Rovere
 * Nicolas Deschamps
 * Jon DiSalvatore
 * David Dziurzynski
 * Brad Fast
 * Paul Healey
 * Riku Helenius
 * Shane Hnidy
 * Brayden Irwin
 * Bryce Lampman
 * Pat MacLeod
 * Tom McCollum
 * Grant McNeill
 * Mike Morrison
 * Kevin Quick
 * Brian Rafalski
 * Remi Royer
 * Richard Shulmistra
 * Matthew Spiller
 * Nick Tarnasky
 * Kris Vernarsky
 * Allen York

For Further information
busleaguehockey website article on the orgins of the organization