ECHL Desk · League Breakdown · October 25, 2026

ECHL Week One: A Two-Team Sprint at the Top of the South

One week into the ECHL season, the South Division has a shape already: the defending champion Florida Everblades and the South Carolina Stingrays are perfect, Greenville is hanging on their heels, and the Orlando Solar Bears are the division's only winless team — with goaltending that says they won't be for long.

The top: perfect, twice

Florida (4-0-0-0, 8 points, +13) has picked up exactly where the Kelly Cup left off: four wins, four goals allowed, and a league-best 17.67 shots against per game. The Everblades opened by sweeping Orlando home-and-home (3–1 in Estero, 5–1 at the Kia Center) and blanked Atlanta 5–0 on Friday behind first professional goals from Jack Horbach and Maleek McGowan. South Carolina (4-0-0-0, 8 points, +12) matches them stride for stride: a power-play goal in all four games, a penalty kill that is a perfect 11-for-11, and a weekend that belonged to Ben Kraws — a 27-save shutout in Savannah on Friday, 27 more saves to beat Orlando on Saturday. Ryan Sandelin's Friday hat trick was the Stingrays' first of the season. In the North, Trois-Rivières is also 4-0-0-0 and Reading 3-0-0-0 — the East's unbeaten club is already a small fraternity.

The middle and the bottom

Greenville (3-0-1-0, 7 points) is the spoiler-in-waiting, with Blake Bennett scoring in each of the Swamp Rabbits' first three games. Savannah (2-2-0-0) split its opening fortnight. Below them, the division sags: Atlanta (1-4-0-0), Jacksonville (0-2-1-1) — winless but banking loser points — and Orlando (0-3-0-0, 0 points), alone at the bottom with five goals scored and 13 allowed.

The Bears, honestly

Read Orlando's three losses closely and the story isn't a team getting run over — it's a team that cannot finish. Both of the Bears' goals across opening weekend came on the power play (Aaron Luchuk in Estero, Brendan Harris in the home opener, on assists from Luciano Wilson on both). Their first even-strength goal of the season didn't arrive until Connor Eddy's breakaway on Saturday — game three. The goaltending, meantime, has been the best thing about them: Ryan Bednard stopped 29 in his debut, and Scott Ratzlaff made 39 saves in the home opener against a Florida team that outshot them 44–18. Saturday's 5–3 loss to South Carolina — four power-play goals against, 0-for-5 on their own power play — turned entirely on special teams. A roster is already in motion (defenseman Dustin Geregach was dealt to Wheeling midweek), and the homestand continues. The first win on this stand changes the whole conversation in that room.

What to watch

Florida and South Carolina are on a collision course, and the rest of the South is playing for the right to bother them. For Orlando, the watch is simple: even-strength scoring and discipline. This desk breaks down every Solar Bears game, all season.

Sources: ECHL.com standings and ECHL Today; Inside The Rink South Division standings; team game reports. Records through October 24, 2026.