Everblades play for Kelly Cup in front of sellout crowd - The News-Press

news-press.com will have live updates from tonight's game at Germain Arena. Check back after the game for further coverage, including photos and video.

Follow reporter Craig Handel @scoops81 as he tweets from tonight's Everblades Kelly Cup Finals game!

8:10 p.m.

Everblades lead 2-0. Mike Ratchuk scores off a teammate's blocked shot. 1:14 left in first period.

7:56 p.m.

7:53 left in 1st: Justin Shugg takes a great set-up pass from Matt Beca and blasts a shot high.

Blades lead 1-0. Shugg is playing at such a high level right now.

7:51 p.m.

Blades penalty on Sebastien Piche puts LV on PP with 14:13 left.

Muse makes key save and Blades dump puck three times while MacLean kills time by stealing puck and taking shot.

Penalty killed.

7:42 p.m.

Shugg just misses on a breakaway and Bruess cranks a hard shot in opening minutes MacLean also just misses.

Few more empty seats around the arena than I thought there would be. But the crowd still is loud.

7:35 p.m.

We're just about set for Game 1.

Forward Eric Lampe, tied with Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll as top ECHL playoff scorer, was not in the Las Vegas Wranglers' lineup. That's a huge loss for Vegas.

7:10 p.m.

With the song Edge of Glory playing in the background, the Florida Everblades skate onto the ice.

Game 5 of the Kelly Cup Finals, which the Everblades lead 3-1, will start at about 7:35 p.m.

With all seats sold out by around 2 p.m. today, a crowd of about 7,500 will watch Florida try to win its first Kelly Cup in its 14-year history. A limited number of standing-room only tickets remain.

4:37 p.m.

Loose, relaxed Florida Everblades hockey players watched TV and played ping pong after a short workout this morning.

Leading 3 games to 1, the Everblades will aim to win their first ECHL championship in franchise history tonight. Game 5 with the Las Vegas Wranglers will start at 7:30 p.m. at Germain Arena.

“We talked about staying in the moment and not getting caught up in everything else,” Everblades coach Greg Poss said. “You only can concentrate on thing at a time. Keep both eyes on the process and the results will take care of themselves.”

Many Everblades have been through this process before, winning championships at various levels of youth, junior, college and pro hockey. Forward Justin Shugg, who won two Memorial Cups with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, said the common denominator with those teams and this one is team unity.

“I think it’s the guys,” he said. “(Assistant coach Brad Tapper) said this is closest team he’s been part of. The one championship team I was part of was down 0-3 in the conference finals and there were no ifs, ands, buts or doubt that we’d win. I get the same feeling here.”

Forward David Rutherford, who has been part of six championship teams, said he told players he had a teammate who went to the finals his rookie season, then he never went again until his 17th season as a pro.

“I said this opportunity doesn’t come around much,” he said. “There’s still a lot of work to be done. It’s the same result as when we walked into training camp. I still think we’ve got room to improve.”