The 1995–96 ECHL season was the eighth season of the ECHL. Before the season started, the Greensboro Monarchs franchise moved up to the American Hockey League and became the Carolina Monarchs. The league saw the addition of four new teams for the 1995–96 season, which included the relocation of the Louisville IceHawks to Jacksonville, FL and expansion franchises in Laffayette, LA and Mobile, AL, as well as a return to Louisville, KY, bringing the number of teams in the league to twenty-one. With the increase in the number of teams the league decided to increase the number of games played in the regular season from 68 to 70. The Richmond Renegades finished first overall in the regular season, winning the Brabham Cup and the Charlotte Checkers won their first Riley Cup sweeping the Jacksonville Lizard Kings in four games.
Regular season
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, SOL = Shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Green shade = Clinched playoff spot, Blue shade = Clinched division
| East Division | GP | W | L | SOL | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond Renegades | 70 | 46 | 11 | 13 | 105 | 314 | 225 |
| Charlotte Checkers | 70 | 45 | 21 | 4 | 94 | 294 | 250 |
| South Carolina Stingrays | 70 | 40 | 22 | 8 | 88 | 284 | 251 |
| Roanoke Express | 70 | 36 | 28 | 6 | 78 | 231 | 260 |
| Hampton Roads Admirals | 70 | 32 | 15 | 13 | 77 | 278 | 265 |
| Raleigh Icecaps | 70 | 23 | 34 | 13 | 59 | 215 | 266 |
| North Division | GP | W | L | SOL | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toledo Storm | 70 | 48 | 14 | 8 | 104 | 301 | 240 |
| Wheeling Thunderbirds | 70 | 42 | 23 | 5 | 89 | 289 | 261 |
| Louisville RiverFrogs | 70 | 39 | 24 | 7 | 85 | 266 | 237 |
| Columbus Chill | 70 | 37 | 28 | 5 | 79 | 285 | 268 |
| Dayton Bombers | 70 | 35 | 28 | 7 | 77 | 247 | 237 |
| Erie Panthers | 70 | 25 | 40 | 5 | 55 | 227 | 293 |
| Johnstown Chiefs | 70 | 21 | 38 | 11 | 53 | 249 | 322 |
| Huntington Blizzard | 70 | 21 | 39 | 10 | 52 | 232 | 309 |
| South Division | GP | W | L | OTL | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana IceGators | 70 | 43 | 21 | 6 | 92 | 312 | 261 |
| Nashville Knights | 70 | 42 | 22 | 6 | 90 | 368 | 307 |
| Tallahassee Tiger Sharks | 70 | 42 | 22 | 6 | 90 | 283 | 260 |
| Knoxville Cherokees | 70 | 37 | 29 | 4 | 78 | 323 | 303 |
| Jacksonville Lizard Kings | 70 | 33 | 29 | 8 | 74 | 267 | 288 |
| Birmingham Bulls | 70 | 26 | 39 | 5 | 57 | 258 | 360 |
| Mobile Mysticks | 70 | 22 | 37 | 11 | 55 | 265 | 325 |
Riley Cup playoffs
Bracket
| First Round (Best of 5) | Quarterfinals (Best of 5) | Semifinals (Best of 5) | Finals (Best of 7) | ||||||||||||||||
| Richmond | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hampton Roads | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Richmond | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Jacksonville | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Louisiana | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Jacksonville | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Jacksonville | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Toledo | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Toledo | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Dayton | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Toledo | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Knoxville | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nashville | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Knoxville | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Jacksonville | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Charlotte | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Charlotte | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Roanoke | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Charlotte | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| South Carolina | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| South Carolina | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Louisville | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Charlotte | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tallahassee | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tallahassee | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Raleigh | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tallahassee | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wheeling | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wheeling | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Columbus | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
ECHL awards
| Jack Riley Cup: | Charlotte Checkers |
| Henry Brabham Cup: | Richmond Renegades |
| John Brophy Award: | Roy Sommer (Richmond) |
| ECHL Most Valuable Player: | Hugo Belanger (Nashville) |
| Riley Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player: | Nick Vitucci (Charlotte) |
| ECHL Goaltender of the Year: | Alain Morissette (Louisville) |
| ECHL Rookie of the Year: | Keli Corpse (Wheeling) |
| Defenseman of the Year: | Chris Valicevic (Louisiana) |
| Leading Scorer: | Hugo Belanger (Nashville) |
See also
References
All stats come from Internet Hockey Database