Walleye News and Notes

Brabham Cup is back: By winning all three games this week, the Walleye have clinched the Brabham Cup as the league’s top team. That means the Walleye will have home ice advantage for all four rounds of the playoffs. Jake Paterson turned aside 24 shots from the Fuel Saturday in the Cup clinching win, his team record 7th shutout of the season and the second most in ECHL history. Paterson was also the goaltender (32 saves) when the Walleye won the Brabham Cup in 2014-15 in an 8-2 victory over the Kalamazoo Wings April 12, 2015. That was the first professional start for Paterson. The 51st win on Saturday is also a new single season record. Let's make it 20: Saturday's game attendance of 8,020 marked the 20th sellout crowd of the season for Walleye (a record). It also set a new single-season record with 254,660 fans for the year. Toledo’s average of 7,074 per game is the first time that a Toledo team has averaged over 7,000 fans per game in a single season. Offense returns to form: After scoring just seven goals over a four game winless skid, Toledo found its legs again over this past week scoring 19 goals over the three games. The highlight was a season best 10 goal outburst in a 10-0 win over Indy in the home and season finale. Toledo finished the season with a league best and new Walleye record 302 goals scored over the 72 games season. Five is just about right: Forward Dane Walters scored four straight goals in the second period and finished Saturday night with a Walleye record-tying five strikes in Toledo’s 10-0 win. He ties forward Evan Rankin for the most goals scored in a single game and became the 30th player in ECHL history to score that many. The 28-year-old also had an assist in the game and tied Alden Hirschfeld (February 22, 2015 vs. Gwinnett) for the most points (6) in a single contest. A league first for the Walleye: This year’s Walleye has done something that no other team in ECHL history (the league started play in 1988) by leading the league in goals for (4.19 per game) with 302, goals allowed (2.65 per game) with 191, overall power play percentage (25.1%) and penalty kill percentage (86.8%). Only Knoxville in 1990-91 and Louisiana in 2001-02 are the only other teams in ECHL history to lead the league in both goals for and against in the same season. New scoring champ: With his four assist night Saturday, Shane Berschbach became the Walleye all-time leader in points with 216 (57G, 159A). He finished the season on a torrid pace, collecting at least a point in 18 of his last 20 games played with 35 points (8G, 27A) in that time. His 159 assists is also the most for any Walleye career and he set single season records this year for most assists (68) and points (86). Toledo’s all-time goal scoring leader Evan Rankin is second the list with 214 (111G, 103A). Central Division Semi-Finals start Friday: Toledo will open the Kelly Cup playoffs Friday night at the Huntington Center featuring one of the best rivalries in the ECHL against the Kalamazoo Wings. The Walleye started up in the ECHL in the 2009-10 season, the same season that the Kalamazoo Wings joined the league. Since that time, Toledo owns an all-time record of 44-42-10 vs. the Michigan rivals including a mark of 6-3-1 this year. This is the first time ever that these two will face each other in the playoffs.

Walleye Player of the Week: Dane Walters (6 goals – 2 assists = 8 points)

Walleye Goaltender of the Week: Jake Paterson (2-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .963 save %)