The Seattle Kraken will have to keep waiting for their first organizational championship. The ECHL Kansas City Mavericks lost the Kelly Cup Finals to the Florida Everblades Monday in heartbreaking fashion.
For starters, the Everblades won 5-4 in Monday’s deciding Game-6 on a severe-angle Issac Nurse goal late in double overtime. The game only got to overtime because Florida scored the tying goal with 14 seconds left on a goal-mouth scramble with their goalie pulled. The Mavericks couldn’t hold a 4-1 lead with less than nine minutes to play.
Not heartbreaking enough yet? The drama played out – four hours and 45 minutes from opening faceoff to winning goal – before a standing-room only crowd of 5,786 stunned fans at Cable Dahmer Arena. Hard-luck Mavs goalie Jack LaFontaine made 51 saves in a losing cause, as Florida doubled Kansas City in shots, 56-28. The visitors held a 16-2 shots advantage in the pivotal 3rd period.
Heartbreak, part 3: the loss completed a four-game collapse after K.C. had won the first two games of the Finals. Three of those four straight losses came in overtime. Florida proved to be the Mavericks’ kryptonite for the second time in three years. In the 2024 Finals, Florida defeated K.C. in five games.
The Everblades won their fourth Kelly Cup in the last five years. It doesn’t help that the ‘Blades represent the other end of Missouri, as a St. Louis Blues farm team.
Failing to raise the Cup is especially painful for ECHL coach of the year – and one of the most lyrical names in all of sports – Tad O’had. Before taking the K.C. job in 2020, O’had spent seven seasons as assistant coach in Florida. A native of Yakima, O’had serves in the dual roles of coach and general manager.
Kraken Farm Team Almost Goes Wire-To-Wire
This marks the fourth time a Kraken farm team has reached the Finals without capturing a title. The AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds lost in the Calder Cup Championship round in 2023 and 2024.
Kansas City came two wins from wire-to-wire dominance during the 2025-26 season. With 115 points, K.C. won the Brabham Cup as the league’s top regular season team (55-12-5). The Mavs finished 3rd in offense and 2nd in defense, a goal differential of +96 (255-159). Highlights of the season included winning streaks of 14 and 12 games.
Defenseman Marcus Crawford won league MVP. Crawford led the ECHL in scoring with 86 points, including 72 assists. He became the first rearguard in league history to win the scoring title.
“Marcus is the definition of a complete player,” O’Had said to the K.C. Star earlier this season. “His impact on special teams, both the power play and the penalty kill, has been outstanding, and he continues to log major minutes at 5-on-5 without ever sacrificing consistency or compete level.”
The Mavericks’ momentum carried through to the postseason. Kansas City swept its 1st and 2nd round series, 4-0. They disposed of the Fort Wayne Komets in the Western Conference Finals, 4 games to 2.
Kraken-Mavericks Connection
The Mavericks are in their third season as developmental affiliate for the Kraken and AHL’s Firebirds. The franchise began life as the Missouri Mavericks in 2009; and along with six other teams from the now-defunct Central Hockey League, they joined the ECHL five years later.
Off the ice, says the league website, “The Mavericks have been a force in the community, earning numerous awards for their charitable efforts. Their signature event, Dinner on Ice, has raised nearly half a million dollars since its inception.”
Championships aren’t unfamiliar to Mavericks owner Lamar Hunt, Jr. If that name sounds familiar, he’s one of the owners of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, and son of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt. Hunt Jr. has owned the hockey team since 2015.
Earlier Kraken:
— Kraken Assistant Nearly Lost Desire to Coach
