So the Newfoundland Growlers won the Kelly Cup in their inaugural season, but it turns out that isn't the original Kelly Cup, since the previous winners who won it in 2017 and 2018, the Colorado Eagles, never returned it.
https://theathletic.com/1016169/2019/06 ... and-sense/For those of you without a subscription, it's like this: The Eagles left the ECHL for the AHL, so they had to pay a $500,000 exit fee, which they did. The Eagles could have avoided the fee if they sold the franchise slot to another owner. Well, it just so happens the Newfoundland Growlers entered the league the very same year the Eagles left. The Eagles owner claims the ECHL knew damn well that a new franchise owner was there for the taking and he claims they cheated him not only out of the $500,000, but additional money that would've been part of the sale they could've just pocketed. There's also an issue regarding an "insurance retainer" the league holds onto regarding workman's comp claims. The Eagles owner says he hasn't gotten a disbursement check from the league, and the league says they'll give it to the Eagles once these claims are taken care of. Both sides say money is owed to them.
Bottom line, it's rich guys arguing over money. The ECHL says in the story that legal action would've taken years, so they just plunked down $5-6000 to build a new Kelly Cup. The original is sitting in a display case in a staffer's office at Eagles HQ in Loveland, CO. Sounds like both sides have moved on, but what a silly, sordid tale.