# 2021 Kelly Cup playoffs

The 2021 Kelly Cup playoffs of the ECHL began on June 7 following the conclusion of the 2020–21 ECHL regular season, and ended on July 2 with the Fort Wayne Komets winning their first Kelly Cup over the South Carolina Stingrays in four games.

## Playoff format

The qualification and with the top four teams from each conference at the end of the regular season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 14 of the 26 member teams participated in the season, the playoff field was cut from 16 teams to eight, and there were no divisions. As the start of the season was delayed and extended to later in the year than normal, each playoff series is a best-of-five tournament, down from the previous 2019 playoffs and planned 2020 playoffs that consisted of best-of-seven series.
Due to the postseason being pushed later into the year than typical, both the South Carolina Stingrays and Wichita Thunder were forced to play home games out of their practice rinks over scheduling conflicts with their normal home arenas.

## Playoff seeds

After the regular season, eight teams qualify for the playoffs. The Wichita Thunder were the first team to qualify during the regular season on May 16. Due to the imbalanced scheduling during the pandemic, teams were seeded by points percentage.
Final seeds and points percentages:

### Eastern Conference

* Florida Everblades – Brabham Cup winners, conference champions, .667 pts%
* Greenville Swamp Rabbits – .632 pts%
* Indy Fuel – .594 pts%
* South Carolina Stingrays – .579 pts%

### Western Conference

* Allen Americans – Conference champions, .653 pts%
* Wichita Thunder – .634 pts%
* Fort Wayne Komets – .618 pts%
* Utah Grizzlies – .563 pts%

## Playoff bracket

Final results.
| Conference Semifinals | Conference Semifinals | Conference Semifinals | Conference Finals | Conference Finals | Conference Finals | Kelly Cup Finals | Kelly Cup Finals | Kelly Cup Finals |
| E1 | Florida Everblades | 2 | | | | | | |
| E4 | South Carolina Stingrays | 3 | | | | | | |
| E4 | South Carolina Stingrays | 3 | E4 | South Carolina Stingrays | 3 | | | |
| Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | E4 | South Carolina Stingrays | 3 | | | |
| Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | E2 | Greenville Swamp Rabbits | 1 | | | |
| E2 | Greenville Swamp Rabbits | 3 | E2 | Greenville Swamp Rabbits | 1 | | | |
| E3 | Indy Fuel | 1 | | | | | | |
| E3 | Indy Fuel | 1 | | | | E4 | South Carolina Stingrays | 1 |
| | | | | | | W3 | Fort Wayne Komets | 3 |
| W1 | Allen Americans | 3 | | | | | | | W3 | Fort Wayne Komets | 3 |
| W4 | Utah Grizzlies | 0 | | | | | | |
| W4 | Utah Grizzlies | 0 | W1 | Allen Americans | 1 | | | |
| Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | W1 | Allen Americans | 1 | | | |
| Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | W3 | Fort Wayne Komets | 3 | | | |
| W2 | Wichita Thunder | 2 | W3 | Fort Wayne Komets | 3 | | | |
| W3 | Fort Wayne Komets | 3 | | | | | | |

## Conference semifinals
### Eastern Conference
#### (1) Florida Everblades vs. (4) South Carolina Stingrays

* South Carolina won series 3–2

#### (2) Greenville Swamp Rabbits vs. (3) Indy Fuel

* Greenville won series 3–1

### Western Conference
#### (1) Allen Americans vs. (4) Utah Grizzlies

* Allen won series 3–0

#### (2) Wichita Thunder vs. (3) Fort Wayne Komets

* Fort Wayne won series 3–2

## Conference finals
### Eastern Conference
#### (2) Greenville Swamp Rabbits vs. (4) South Carolina Stingrays

* South Carolina won series 3–1

### Western Conference
#### (1) Allen Americans vs. (3) Fort Wayne Komets

* Fort Wayne won series 3–1

## Kelly Cup finals

Note: Italics signify games to be played only if necessary.

### (W3) Fort Wayne Komets vs. (E4) South Carolina Stingrays

* Fort Wayne won series 3–1

## Statistical leaders
### Skaters

These are the top ten skaters based on points.
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
| Anthony Nellis | Fort Wayne Komets | 13 | 8 | 5 | 13 | +3 | 8 |
| Stephen Harper | Fort Wayne Komets | 12 | 6 | 7 | 13 | +3 | 0 |
| Cole Ully | South Carolina Stingrays | 13 | 4 | 8 | 12 | +2 | 0 |
| Matthew Weis | South Carolina Stingrays | 13 | 3 | 9 | 12 | −4 | 6 |
| Brandon Hawkins | Fort Wayne Komets | 13 | 6 | 5 | 11 | +2 | 6 |
| Alan Lyszczarczyk | Fort Wayne Komets | 11 | 3 | 8 | 11 | +6 | 0 |
| Shawn Szydlowski | Fort Wayne Komets | 9 | 2 | 9 | 11 | +5 | 4 |
| Dan Desalvo | South Carolina Stingrays | 13 | 5 | 5 | 10 | +1 | 6 |
| A. J. Jenks | Fort Wayne Komets | 13 | 4 | 6 | 10 | +3 | 18 |
| Max Novak | South Carolina Stingrays | 13 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 6 |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

### Goaltending

This is a combined table of the top five goaltenders based on goals against average and the top five goaltenders based on save percentage, with at least 240 minutes played as of June 30. The table is sorted by GAA, and the criteria for inclusion are bolded.
| Player | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
| Ryan Bednard | Greenville Swamp Rabbits | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 154 | 11 | 2.44 | 0.929 | 1 | 271 |
| C. J. Motte | Allen Americans | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 119 | 11 | 2.74 | 0.908 | 0 | 241 |
| Evan Buitenhuis | Wichita Thunder | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 152 | 14 | 2.79 | 0.908 | 0 | 301 |
| Dylan Ferguson | Fort Wayne Komets | 13 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 399 | 37 | 2.93 | 0.907 | 1 | 757 |
| Jake Hildebrand | Florida Everblades | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 131 | 15 | 3.28 | 0.885 | 0 | 274 |
GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime Losses; SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SV% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts; TOI = Time on ice (in minutes)