2004–05 ECHL season
The 2004–05 ECHL season was the 17th season of the ECHL. The Brabham Cup regular season champions were the Pensacola Ice Pilots and the Kelly Cup playoff champions were the Trenton Titans.
| 2004–05 ECHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | ECHL |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Regular season | |
| Brabham Cup | Pensacola Ice Pilots |
| Season MVP | Scott Gomez (Alaska) |
| Top scorer | Scott Gomez (Alaska) |
| Playoffs | |
| American champions | Florida Everblades |
| American runners-up | Charlotte Checkers |
| National champions | Trenton Titans |
| National runners-up | Alaska Aces |
| Playoffs MVP | Leon Hayward (Trenton) |
| Finals | |
| Champions | Trenton Titans |
| Runners-up | Florida Everblades |
During this season, the National Hockey League cancelled its season due to the player lockout. This led to many players who would normally be in the American Hockey League pushed out of roster spots by the younger NHL players back into the ECHL. Some NHL players also found work in the ECHL, some as a way to return to their hometowns (or their wives'), and others to give back to the league which gave them a start. Scott Gomez chose to return home to his Anchorage roots and played for the Alaska Aces. Curtis Brown played for his wife's hometown in San Diego. Jeremy Stevenson, who played his first professional season with Greensboro ten years before, returned to the Carolinas with the South Carolina Stingrays. Stevenson's NHL teammate Shane Hnidy, who played 21 games with the former Baton Rouge Kingfish as a rookie, returned to the South playing for the Florida Everblades. Hnidy and Stevenson would find themselves playing against each other in the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Bates Battaglia joined his younger brother Anthony on the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL.