2004–05 Victoria Salmon Kings season

==Season summary==
The 2004–05 Victoria Salmon Kings season is the Salmon Kings' inaugural season in the ECHL. While the Victoria region has had a long and distinguished hockey history - the Victoria Cougars won the Stanley Cup in 1925 - the region was the largest Canadian region without either professional or Major-Junior hockey when the WHL Victoria Cougars (a team with no connection to the aforementioned Cougars) moved to Prince George in 1994. This was a crippling blow to Victoria hockey fans, whose highest-level remaining local team was the Tier II Junior 'A' Victoria Salsa.
By this time, it had become evident that the 50-year-old Victoria Memorial Arena, seating only 4,000 for hockey, would have to be replaced if Victoria expected to be able to attract a new hockey club. After several years of discussion, the construction of a new arena was approved by Victoria voters in a 2002 referendum, with one key condition being that its construction was dependent on Victoria securing a WHL team. When the private-sector partner, RG Properties, was unable to secure a WHL club, the company bought the rights to the defunct ECHL Baton Rouge Kingfish, formerly the Erie Panthers, a charter member of the ECHL, and announced that Victoria's new team would be named the Salmon Kings.
It became clear as the 2004–05 ECHL season approached that Victoria's new arena, now called the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, was not going to be ready in time for the season. In response, the ECHL scheduled the Salmon Kings to begin their inaugural season with an unheard-of 14 game road trip. Unfortunately, even this was not enough time for the arena to be completed, and in the summer of 2004 the Salmon Kings were forced to secure ice time in the Bear Mountain Arena in the suburban community of Colwood, which had been constructed with the needs of the junior 'A' Victoria Salsa and the Victoria Shamrocks box lacrosse club in mind.
Despite all this, the Salmon Kings took to the ice in their first regular-season game on October 22, 2004, in Bakersfield, California, against the Bakersfield Condors. Former University of Alberta player Ryan Wade scored the first goal in Salmon Kings history. Unfortunately, they lost this game 7-2; the Salmon Kings would struggle during their 14-game road trip, only winning 3 games, losing 10 games in regulation and one in a shootout. Their first victory came at the expense of the Fresno Falcons on October 24, which the Salmon Kings won by a convincing 5-0 margin. David Brumby, the Kings' starting goaltender at the time, turned away 37 shots for the shutout.
As the NHL lockout progressed, Dale Purinton and Dan Blackburn of the New York Rangers and Mark Smith of the San Jose Sharks played for the Salmon Kings. Purinton, an enforcer, was suspended twice by the league, the first for a career-ending check into the boards of Condors player Krzysztof Wieckowski, and the second for returning to the ice to fight after being ejected during a bench-clearing brawl involving the Kings and the Falcons. After the latter suspension, Purinton was suspended indefinitely by the Salmon Kings and did not play again that season.
After the grueling 14-game road trip which lasted for over a month, the Salmon Kings finally played their first home game on December 5, 2004, at Bear Mountain Arena. Unfortunately, the Salmon Kings lost this game 4-3 in overtime. They would continue to struggle during their first season, going only 15-52-5 over 72 games; notably, they set an ECHL record for a continuous winless streak, going 0-18-2 between December 31, 2004 and February 4, 2005.
The few positives for the team in their inaugural season was Ryan Wade who would be known by fans as "Mr. Salmon King" led the team in scoring (19g-31a) and team captain, Brad Dexter was voted a starter on the National Conference’s All-Star Team.
==Standings==
===Division standings===
West Division 	GP	W 	L 	T 	Pts	GF 	GA
Alaska Aces (z) 	72	45	19	8 	98 	233	187
Long Beach Ice Dogs 	72	43	20	9 	95 	220	181
Idaho Steelheads 	72	42	23	7 	91 	223	183
Bakersfield Condors 	72	40	22	10	90 	232	205
Fresno Falcons 	72	39	25	8 	86 	204	217
San Diego Gulls 	72	35	29	8 	78 	206	222
Las Vegas Wranglers 	72	31	33	8 	70 	201	199
Victoria Salmon Kings	72	15	52	5 	35 	178	298
===Conference standings===
National Conference 	GP	W 	L 	T 	PTS	GF 	GA
Alaska Aces (y) 	72	45	19	8 	98 	233	187
Reading Royals (y) 	72	43	22	7 	93 	220	161
Long Beach Ice Dogs 	72	43	20	9 	95 	220	181
Trenton Titans 	72	42	21	9 	93 	220	161
Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies	72	42	22	8 	92 	205	189
Idaho Steelheads 	72	42	23	7 	91 	223	183
Bakersfield Condors 	72	40	22	10	90 	232	205
Toledo Storm 	72	41	26	5 	87 	203	194
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Fresno Falcons 	72	39	25	8 	86 	204	217
Peoria Rivermen 	72	38	26	8 	84 	213	177
Wheeling Nailers 	72	38	29	5 	81 	171	173
San Diego Gulls 	72	35	29	8 	78 	206	222
Las Vegas Wranglers 	72	31	33	8 	70 	201	199
Johnstown Chiefs 	72	22	36	14	58 	191	258
Dayton Bombers 	72	23	40	9 	55 	175	225
Victoria Salmon Kings 	72	15	52	5 	35 	178	298
==Schedule and results==
===Regular season===
2004–05 Game log 	2004–05 Game log 	2004–05 Game log 	2004–05 Game log 	2004–05 Game log 	2004–05 Game log 	2004–05 Game log 	2004–05 Game log 	2004–05 Game log 	2004–05 Game log 	2004–05 Game log
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October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)	October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)	October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)	October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)	October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)	October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)	October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)	October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)	October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)	October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)	October: 1–2–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–2–0)
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score 	Home 	OT 	Decision 	Attendance 	Record 	Pts 	
1 	October 22 	Victoria 	2–7 	Bakersfield 	 	Brumby 	4,419 	0–1–0 	0 	
2 	October 23 	Victoria 	1–2 	Bakersfield 	 	Brumby 	5,986 	0–2–0 	0 	
3 	October 24 	Victoria 	5–0 	Fresno 	 	Brumby 	3,003 	1–2–0 	2 	
==Player stats==
===Skaters===
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes
Regular season	 	 	 	 	 	
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable sortable" width="100%"	 	 	 	 	 	
Player 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	+/-	PIM
 	69	19	31	50 	-29	98
 	49	7 	28	35 	-27	36
 	63	13	14	27 	-21	14
 	52	13	13	26 	-19	165
 	30	5 	18	23 	-28	42
 	41	15	7 	22 	-10	81
 	56	10	12	22 	-22	89
 	39	8 	13	21 	0 	195
 	37	9 	11	20 	-31	66
 	33	12	7 	19 	-19	34
† 	18	10	7 	17 	-2 	16
 	32	5 	12	17 	-13	12
 	53	5 	11	16 	-32	73
 	20	6 	9 	15 	-13	41
 	40	3 	12	15 	-30	78
 	45	4 	9 	13 	-19	79
 	25	3 	9 	12 	-4 	192
 	25	6 	5 	11 	-11	4
 	32	3 	7 	10 	-7 	19
 	17	2 	6 	8 	-3 	8
 	43	2 	4 	6 	-21	100
 	26	0 	5 	5 	-8 	60
 	33	0 	5 	5 	-3 	15
† 	4 	3 	1 	4 	-1 	0
 	12	1 	3 	4 	-7 	6
 	8 	0 	4 	4 	-8 	4
† 	3 	1 	1 	2 	+2 	4
 	9 	1 	1 	2 	-3 	46
 	7 	0 	2 	2 	-5 	6
 	13	0 	2 	2 	-2 	41
 	17	0 	2 	2 	-11	11
 	2 	1 	0 	1 	+1 	0
 	3 	1 	0 	1 	+1 	2
 	9 	1 	0 	1 	-1 	4
† 	6 	0 	1 	1 	-3 	10
 	7 	0 	1 	1 	-4 	6
 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	2 	0 	0 	0 	+2 	0
 	2 	0 	0 	0 	-2 	0
 	3 	0 	0 	0 	0 	4
† 	4 	0 	0 	0 	-3 	2
 	5 	0 	0 	0 	-6 	2
 	11	0 	0 	0 	-8 	37
===Goaltenders===
Note: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals Against; GAA= Goals Against Average; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO= Shutouts
Regular season	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable sortable" width="100%"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Player 	GP	TOI 	W	L 	T	GA 	GAA 	Sv% 	SO
 	1 	18 	0	0 	0	1 	3.21 	.938	0
 	12	695 	3	9 	0	41 	3.54 	.892	0
 	38	1967	5	22	4	125	3.81 	.878	0
 	11	547 	2	7 	0	36 	3.94 	.875	0
†‡ 	6 	302 	0	4 	1	21 	4.17 	.878	0
 	8 	447 	3	4 	0	33 	4.42 	.879	0
 	8 	332 	2	6 	0	28 	5.05 	.856	1
 	1 	14 	0	0 	0	5 	20.16	.667	0
†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Victoria. Stats reflect time with the Salmon Kings only. ‡Denotes player no longer with the team. Stats reflect time with Salmon Kings only.
Category:2004 in hockey
Category:2005 in hockey
Category:Victoria Salmon Kings