The Dayton Bombers hockey team won their third playoff round in 7 games yesterday, beating the Florida Everblades 3-1 in front of nearly 7,000 fans at Florida’s Germain Arena (Dayton beat Trenton, NJ and Cincinnati in earlier playoff rounds). The ECHL player of the year, Dayton goalie Adam Berkhoel, stopped 29 of Florida’s 30 shots on goal… Dayton stopped Florida from scoring on their 7 power play opportunities. Dayton’s Paul Kelly (Mark’s cousin?) scored a goal and assisted on another for the Bombers.
This is obviously the year for sports teams playing in the “Nutt House” (Nutter Center Arena), with the Wright State Raiders basketball team going to the NCAA tourney, and the Dayton Bombers playing for the ECHL Championship… At least we now have one Ohio team that can beat a team from Florida.
This is fantastic success for the Dayton hockey team… For those of you not aware, the ECHL is a “AA” hockey league with 26 teams from around the nation (including locations such as Fresno, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Charlotte, etc). It appears that the Bombers are playing the Idaho Steelheads for the ECHL Championship (Ironically ECHL is supposed to mean “East Coast Hockey League”)… I think that Renaissance is going to have a company outing at the home game on May 29th.
This is the breakout year for teams representing Dayton (i.e. Wright St Raiders Basketball – went to the NCAA Tournament and Dayton Bombers Hockey – playing for the ECHL championship) that play their home games at the Nutter Center.