The Premier team swept the New England Wolves 2-0 to earn its third championship in five seasons. The EHL team took down the New Hampshire Avalanche in a winner-take-all Game 3, earning its second title.

Both teams also clinched the championship with overtime goals, as Sean Elbrecht scored the winning goal for the Premier team while Nate McFarlane was the OT hero for the EHL squad. Goaltender Frankie Smith was named EHLP Frozen Finals MVP and Alexander Legkov was named the EHL Frozen Finals MVP.

Premier Team Sweeps the Wolves

The EHLP Frozen Finals was a showdown between the two best teams in the league; the Wolves won the regular-season championship by finishing two points ahead of the 87’s.

In the first period of Game 1, both teams struck 25 seconds apart. Sultan Kulumbek opened the scoring for New Jersey by intercepting a pass and firing home a wrist shot. The Wolves made it 1-1 shortly after with a goal from Robert Horejs.

New Jersey took over the game from there, however, and never looked back. Chris Erasmus scored a pair of goals later in the period while Luke Glover added one to give the 87’s a 4-1 lead. Erasmus completed the hat trick in the second period and netted one more in the third, completing a four-goal performance. His 13 goals in a single postseason stands as an EHLP record.

“I give huge credits to my teammates including (Anthony) O’Brien, they’re able to find where I am on the ice and they put the puck right onto my sweet spot,” Erasmus said following his Game 1 performance.

Game 2 took place on Friday, and goals were much harder to come by. The Wolves took a 1-0 lead as their leading scorer, Cam Plumb, slipped a backhander past Smith in the first period.

The game took a wild turn in the second period with multiple challenges and a game-tying goal by Ryan Burtnick. Early in the frame, Wolves’ forward David Klaus rang a shot off the crossbar, and the team challenged the play. The call on the ice stood, costing the Wolves their timeout.

Later on, the 87’s started a four-on-three power play as Burtnick won a puck battle off a faceoff, drove towards the net and snapped a sharp-angle shot by Wolves’ goaltender Sumner Wood for his third goal of the playoffs.

It appeared the 87’s took the lead minutes later as defenseman Alex Krish scored on a shot from the point, but the goal was waved off for goaltender interference, and an official review confirmed the call.

Neither side scored in the third period and sent the game to overtime. Six and a half minutes into the extra session, Glover slipped a pass to the slot right to Elbrecht. His initial shot was blocked, but the puck went right back to him as he fired a shot under the blocker of Wood to clinch the series and deliver the 87’s its third EHLP championship.

As a bonus for Sean, his older brother, Aidan, was watching prior to the EHL team’s Game 2 matchup against the Avalanche.

“Yeah, I saw him,” Sean said with a smile. “I looked right to him there. During the celebration I came over and gave him a big hug, it’s pretty special seeing him here.”

Smith, who was named playoff MVP, finished the postseason with an 8-1 record, a 1.55 goals against average and a .950 save percentage.

The championship also ends a remarkable first season for EHLP head coach Cam Pape, who was named the interim coach at the end of last season and took on the job full-time for the 2024-25 campaign.

EHL Team Prevails Over Avalanche in Three

The 87’s EHL team faced the New Hampshire Avalanche in the championship round, a team they had beaten earlier this season for the first time since 2019.

Game 1 took place on Thursday, and New Hampshire took the lead by scoring a goal apiece in the first and second periods. Legkov got one back for New Jersey to make it a 2-1 game, but the Avs responded with a quick goal to make it 3-1, and the score held to give New Hampshire a lead in the series.

New Jersey bounced back in Game 2 and took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a power-play goal from Ivan Kulagin. He hammered a one-timer from the right faceoff circle for his fifth goal of the postseason.

The Avalanche responded with the tying goal a few minutes later, but the 87’s would take the lead in the opening minute of the third period. McFarlane picked up the puck behind the New Hampshire goal and slid a quick pass to the front of the net to Aidan Lasky. He took the puck across the goalmouth and shoved a wrister over the glove of Avs goaltender Alex Gerard for his second goal of the postseason. The score held for the remainder of the game as the 87’s held the Avalanche to just 24 shots.

Lasky spoke about his goal shortly after their Game 2 win. “Coach Matt (Kiernan) said the game is going to be won in the blue paint, and what a goal to have right there in the blue paint. It just goes to show we can be good in all areas of the ice, but we need to execute in that blue paint,” he said.

In the winner-take-all Game 3, New Hampshire struck first at the end of the first period on a goal from Danny Storella for his third goal of the championship round.

New Jersey had multiple Grade-A chances throughout the first and second periods, but were unable to find the back of the net as Gerard stood on his head with a 38-save effort in Game 3. In the first period, Dominic Bertolino took a whack at a loose puck in the crease, and Gerard reached out to make an incredible stick save at the goal line. In the second period, he made a flashy glove save on a wrist shot from Legkov right in the slot.

The 87’s finally broke through and tied the game on a pretty passing play that resulted in Mulholland’s first playoff goal. Dominic Bertolino entered the zone and made a drop pass to Daniel Cardozo, and he slid a pass to middle for Mulholland as he lofted a shot over the glove of Gerard. It was a timely goal for the young defenseman, scoring his first EHL goal in the regular season or postseason.

Just as the game reached the midway point of overtime, Nikita Sobolev chipped the puck out of the 87’s zone to start a three-on-two rush. Bertolino slid a pass to Tyler Chafe on the left side, and he dropped it to McFarlane as he ripped a shot under the blocker of Gerard for his second goal of the postseason while securing the team's second EHL title.

“It was pretty surreal, actually, I blacked out. Once I got the puck in the slot, I just looked and saw a little space there and just fired it and it went in,” McFarlane said. “I didn’t even know what to do, I just threw everything and it was insane to be honest.”

The championship win was also a testament to the 87’s depth. Dale Campbell missed Game 3 due to an injury while top-line center J.D. Shoniker was suspended for Saturday’s matchup. The team also won while Legkov and Landon Adams were held off the score sheet.

Head coach Adam Houli spoke about the team’s depth after the OT win.

“Our top line got us here, there’s no doubt about that. For them to be held off the scoresheet and we have role players go in and get that, it was just something else,” Houli said. “The depth of the team truly carried us the entire season. We have some big hitters, sure, but at the end of the day, shift after shift and wave after wave, you have to defend us, and it’s a difficult thing to do.”

This was the third consecutive playoff matchup in which the 87’s lost the first game in a best-of-three series and came back to win two straight. Lasky spoke about the team’s resilience and their ability to bounce back after losses throughout the postseason.

“I’ve been saying the whole series; one thing I’ve learned from this team is that we were never out of the fight. Being on the bench and knowing when the tide changed, I just knew we were going to take it. Everyone in the group just kept on going and gave it their all, and I’m nothing but proud of them,” he said.

Houli also reflected on the series and gave high praise to New Hampshire coach, Chris Cerrella. The two coaches are in close contact with each other and have had numerous close games in the regular season dating back to the 2018-19 season when the 87’s first joined the EHL.

“There’s really not much more you can say, it was one of the best series I’ve ever been a part of, just three really impressive games,” Houli said. “Chris is one of the best coaches this league has had and will ever have. I know how hard he works; we both battled each other and it was rewarding.”

Additional Notes

• In addition to sweeping the Frozen Finals, this has been one of the best seasons on record for the 87’s organization.
• The EHLP team set a record with 66 goals against in the regular season; the previous record was 80.
• The Premier team also smashed the record for best penalty kill at 94.1 percent; the previous record was 91.0 percent.
• Alexander Legkov had the best EHL season in history, recording 40 goals, 79 assists for 119 points in 49 games between the regular-season and playoffs.
• Both teams were unstoppable on home ice. The Premier team went a perfect 19-0-0 at Jersey Shore Arena in the regular and postseason while the EHL team went a combined 18-3-0 on home ice.