The Maine Mariners clinched a spot in the 2024 ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs last Sunday afternoon on an overtime game winning powerplay goal by Alex Kile to beat the Adirondack Thunder 4-3 in Glen Falls, New York. Maine will head back to New York to face that same Thunder team in a best of seven Eastern Conference North Division semifinal series that begins Friday night.
Maine finished as the #4 seed in the North Division of the Eastern Conference by win percentage. The Mariners (32-32-8) needed the victory Sunday to clinch, and did so on the goal by Kile with 1:29 left in the extra session. Adirondack (43-18-7) had the fourth best record in the league in the regular season, and is the top seed in that Eastern Conference North Division.
Adirondack and Maine played 13 times in the regular season, with the Thunder winning eight of those matchups but most of those were really competitive games. The final three that finished out the regular year were all one goal contests with Adirondack taking two of them and two also going to overtime. Kile, who has been with the Maine Mariners during the entire history of the franchise (fifth year) has been head and shoulders the best player during this run to postseason, putting up 83 points with 37 goals and 46 assists. Brad Arvanitis has been the guy in net and has a record of 20-10-3, with a 2.71 goals against average, a .920 save percentage, and one shutout. Maine has lost in the Kelly Cup Eastern Conference North Division semifinals in each of the last two seasons, both years eliminated in Game 6 by the Reading Royals. The other North Division semifinal series is between the #2 Norfolk Admirals and the #3 Trois-Rivieres Lions, with Norfolk already up 1-0 in that best of seven playoff.
Here is the Maine-Adirondack series schedule below (best of seven)-
Game 1- Maine at Adirondack- Friday, April 19 @ 7 p.m.
Game 2- Maine at Adirondack- Sunday, April 21 @ 5 p.m.
Game 3- Adirondack at Maine- Friday, April 26 @ 7:15 p.m.
Game 4- Adirondack at Maine- Saturday, April 27 @ 6 p.m.
Game 5 (if necessary)- Adirondack at Maine- Sunday, April 28 @ 3 p.m.
Game 6 (if necessary)- Maine at Adirondack- Tuesday, April 30 @ 7 p.m.
Game 7 (if necessary)- Maine at Adirondack- Wednesday, May 1 @ 7 p.m.
The game winner in overtime on the powerplay by Alex Kile on Sunday that sent the @MarinersOfMaine back to the Kelly Cup Playoffs for a third straight season #mesportspic.twitter.com/8dlcGP6cof
— Eastern Maine Sports (@EasternMESports) April 15, 2024
Written by Chris Lessner
