Henry Brabham Cup
| Brabham Cup | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Award details | |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Given for | ECHL team with the most points in the regular season |
| History | |
| First award | 1988–89 ECHL season |
| Most recent | Toledo Walleye |
The Henry Brabham Cup is the trophy awarded annually by the ECHL to the team which finishes with the most points in the league during the regular season. The Brabham Cup has been awarded 29 times to 16 different franchises since its debut in 1989.
Unlike the playoff championship, which was originally awarded with the Riley Cup and now the Kelly Cup, the trophy was introduced during the league's inaugural season in 1988 by the league's Board of Governors and was named after in recognition of the honorable Henry Brabham, who founded the ECHL in 1988–89 with five teams in four states. Brabham, who was the first inductee into the ECHL Hall of Fame in 2008, owned three of the original five teams. The dedication of the Virginia businessman was crucial to the league surviving to span from coast-to-coast while advancing 465 players and countless coaches, on-ice officials and front office personnel to the National Hockey League.
While only three Brabham Cup winners have gone on to win the ECHL Championship (One of which, the Alaska Aces, won the Kelly Cup twice while also winning the Brabham Cup) in their respective years, it remains the most likely position to produce the Kelly Cup winner, because the Brabham Cup winner is guaranteed home-ice advantage in all rounds of the Kelly Cup playoffs, provided the team advances to each round.
Six franchises — the Alaska Aces/Portland team, Florida Everblades, Louisiana IceGators, Pee Dee Pride/Knoxville Cherokees, Toledo Walleye/Storm, and the Wheeling Nailers/Thunderbirds/Winston-Salem Thunderbirds have won the Brabham Cup on multiple occasions, with the Aces winning five times, the Walleye winning four, the Nailers and former Pride franchise winning three each, and the others with two.
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