Much like the Stanley Cup, the ECHL’s Kelly Cup is a traveling trophy, passed from one champion to the next.
But that shiny silver dish the Toledo Walleyes or Newfoundland Growlers are going to hoist at the conclusion of their best-of-seven Kelly Cup series next week? It’s an imposter.
The real thing? It’s back in Colorado — and it’s not supposed to be.
Friday morning on a sports talk show in Toledo, Ohio, Patrick Kelly, the former ECHL commissioner who the cup is named after, said the Eagles never returned the trophy after winning it in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018.