2004–05 Victoria Salmon Kings season

The 2004–05 Victoria Salmon Kings season is the Salmon Kings' inaugural season in the ECHL. While the Victoria region has had a long and distinguished hockey history - the Victoria Cougars won the Stanley Cup in 1925 - the region was the largest Canadian region without either professional or Major-Junior hockey when the WHL Victoria Cougars (a team with no connection to the aforementioned Cougars) moved to Prince George in 1994. This was a crippling blow to Victoria hockey fans, whose highest-level remaining local team was the Tier II Junior 'A' Victoria Salsa.

2004-05 Victoria Salmon Kings
League28th ECHL
Division8th West
Conference16th National
2004-05 record15–52–5
Home record8–26–2
Road record7–26–3
Goals for178
Goals against298
Team information
General managerBryan Maxwell
CoachBryan Maxwell
Assistant coachGreg Batters
CaptainBrad Dexter
ArenaBear Mountain Arena
Average attendance2,289
Team leaders
GoalsRyan Wade (19)
AssistsRyan Wade (31)
PointsRyan Wade (50)
Penalty minutesBlue Bennefield (195)
Plus/minusKevin Hoffman/Scott Borders (+2)
WinsJason Stone (5)
Goals against averageDan Blackburn (3.54)
2005-06 →

By this time, it had become evident that the 50-year-old Victoria Memorial Arena, seating only 4,000 for hockey, would have to be replaced if Victoria expected to be able to attract a new hockey club. After several years of discussion, the construction of a new arena was approved by Victoria voters in a 2002 referendum, with one key condition being that its construction was dependent on Victoria securing a WHL team. When the private-sector partner, RG Properties, was unable to secure a WHL club, the company bought the rights to the defunct ECHL Baton Rouge Kingfish, formerly the Erie Panthers, a charter member of the ECHL, and announced that Victoria's new team would be named the Salmon Kings.

It became clear as the 2004–05 ECHL season approached that Victoria's new arena, now called the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, was not going to be ready in time for the season. In response, the ECHL scheduled the Salmon Kings to begin their inaugural season with an unheard-of 14 game road trip. This was not enough time for the arena to be completed, and in the summer of 2004 the Salmon Kings were forced to secure ice time in the Bear Mountain Arena in the suburban community of Colwood, which had been constructed with the needs of the junior 'A' Victoria Salsa and the Victoria Shamrocks box lacrosse club in mind.

Despite all this, the Salmon Kings took to the ice in their first regular-season game on October 22, 2004, in Bakersfield, California, against the Bakersfield Condors. Former University of Alberta player Ryan Wade scored the first goal in Salmon Kings history. They lost this game 7-2; the Salmon Kings would struggle during their 14-game road trip, only winning 3 games, losing 10 games in regulation and one in a shootout. Their first victory came at the expense of the Fresno Falcons on October 24, which the Salmon Kings won by a convincing 5-0 margin. David Brumby, the Kings' starting goaltender at the time, turned away 37 shots for the shutout.

As the NHL lockout progressed, Dale Purinton and Dan Blackburn of the New York Rangers and Mark Smith of the San Jose Sharks played for the Salmon Kings. Purinton, an enforcer, was suspended twice by the league, the first for a career-ending check into the boards of Condors player Krzysztof Wieckowski, and the second for returning to the ice to fight after being ejected during a bench-clearing brawl involving the Kings and the Falcons. After the latter suspension, Purinton was suspended indefinitely by the Salmon Kings and did not play again that season.

After the grueling 14-game road trip which lasted for over a month, the Salmon Kings finally played their first home game on December 5, 2004, at Bear Mountain Arena. The Salmon Kings lost this game 4-3 in overtime. They would continue to struggle during their first season, going only 15-52-5 over 72 games; notably, they set an ECHL record for a continuous winless streak, going 0-18-2 between December 31, 2004 and February 4, 2005.

The few positives for the team in their inaugural season was Ryan Wade who would be known by fans as "Mr. Salmon King" led the team in scoring (19g-31a) and team captain, Brad Dexter was voted a starter on the National Conference's All-Star Team.

Standings

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Division standings

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West Division GP W L T Pts GF GA
Alaska Aces (z) 72 45 19 8 98 233 187
Long Beach Ice Dogs 72 43 20 9 95 220 181
Idaho Steelheads 72 42 23 7 91 223 183
Bakersfield Condors 72 40 22 10 90 232 205
Fresno Falcons 72 39 25 8 86 204 217
San Diego Gulls 72 35 29 8 78 206 222
Las Vegas Wranglers 72 31 33 8 70 201 199
Victoria Salmon Kings 72 15 52 5 35 178 298

Conference standings

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National Conference GP W L T PTS GF GA
Alaska Aces (y) 72 45 19 8 98 233 187
Reading Royals (y) 72 43 22 7 93 220 161
Long Beach Ice Dogs 72 43 20 9 95 220 181
Trenton Titans 72 42 21 9 93 220 161
Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies 72 42 22 8 92 205 189
Idaho Steelheads 72 42 23 7 91 223 183
Bakersfield Condors 72 40 22 10 90 232 205
Toledo Storm 72 41 26 5 87 203 194
Fresno Falcons 72 39 25 8 86 204 217
Peoria Rivermen 72 38 26 8 84 213 177
Wheeling Nailers 72 38 29 5 81 171 173
San Diego Gulls 72 35 29 8 78 206 222
Las Vegas Wranglers 72 31 33 8 70 201 199
Johnstown Chiefs 72 22 36 14 58 191 258
Dayton Bombers 72 23 40 9 55 175 225
Victoria Salmon Kings 72 15 52 5 35 178 298

Schedule and results

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Regular season

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2004–05 Game log

Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

Player stats

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Skaters

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Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

Regular season
Player GP G A Pts +/- PIM
Ryan Wade 69 19 31 50 -29 98
Brad Dexter 49 7 28 35 -27 36
Seth Leonard 63 13 14 27 -21 14
Ryan Finnerty 52 13 13 26 -19 165
Mike Barrie 30 5 18 23 -28 42
Rob Voltera 41 15 7 22 -10 81
Jason Hegberg 56 10 12 22 -22 89
Blue Bennefield 39 8 13 21 0 195
Chris Corrinet 37 9 11 20 -31 66
Ryan Watson 33 12 7 19 -19 34
Scott Turner 18 10 7 17 -2 16
Alexei Glukhov 32 5 12 17 -13 12
Nathan Forster 53 5 11 16 -32 73
Mark Smith 20 6 9 15 -13 41
Adam Campbell 40 3 12 15 -30 78
Mike Josephson 45 4 9 13 -19 79
Dale Purinton 25 3 9 12 -4 192
Jeff Williams 25 6 5 11 -11 4
David Neale 32 3 7 10 -7 19
Kurtis Dulle 17 2 6 8 -3 8
Jim Gattolliat 43 2 4 6 -21 100
Aaron Plumb 26 0 5 5 -8 60
Peter Trumbley 33 0 5 5 -3 15
Jan Sochor 4 3 1 4 -1 0
Jeremy Cheyne 12 1 3 4 -7 6
Ryan Esselmont 8 0 4 4 -8 4
Scott Borders 3 1 1 2 +2 4
Dennis Mullen 9 1 1 2 -3 46
Trent Brandvold 7 0 2 2 -5 6
Brandon Elliott 13 0 2 2 -2 41
Craig Zubersky 17 0 2 2 -11 11
Mike Ikeda 2 1 0 1 +1 0
Robert Busch 3 1 0 1 +1 2
Rob MacGregor 9 1 0 1 -1 4
Tomas Micka 6 0 1 1 -3 10
Craig Strain 7 0 1 1 -4 6
Kristjan Jefkins 1 0 0 0 0 0
Kevin Hoffman 2 0 0 0 +2 0
Casey Bartzen 2 0 0 0 -2 0
Rob Simnor 3 0 0 0 0 4
Greg Keith 4 0 0 0 -3 2
Geoff Rollins 5 0 0 0 -6 2
Cole Byers 11 0 0 0 -8 37

Goaltenders

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Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; GAA= Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO= Shutouts

Regular season
Player GP TOI W L T GA GAA Sv% SO
Dean Whitney 1 18 0 0 0 1 3.21 .938 0
Dan Blackburn 12 695 3 9 0 41 3.54 .892 0
Jason Stone 38 1967 5 22 4 125 3.81 .878 0
Jamie McCaig 11 547 2 7 0 36 3.94 .875 0
Kelly Shields †‡ 6 302 0 4 1 21 4.17 .878 0
Robert Muntain 8 447 3 4 0 33 4.42 .879 0
David Brumby 8 332 2 6 0 28 5.05 .856 1
Grant Sjerven 1 14 0 0 0 5 20.16 .667 0

Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Victoria. Stats reflect time with the Salmon Kings only.
Denotes player no longer with the team. Stats reflect time with Salmon Kings only.

References

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