of visa problems Kris Draper never played a game for the Mechanics. Later on they also signed Bryan Smolinski and Sean Avery and were able to roll four NHL players on their opponents. All of the players had some experience or connection to the area. The ECHL gained some players. Scott Gomez played for his hometown team, the Alaska Aces and won the ECHL's Most Valuable Player award, while Curtis Brown, whose wife is a native of Southern California, played for the San Diego Gulls, and Bates Battaglia joined his younger brother Anthony on the Mississippi Sea Wolves roster. A pair of Nashville Predators teammates, Shane Hnidy and Jeremy Stevenson, both of whom had early careers in the ECHL, returned to the league and found themselves playing against each other in the first round of the Kelly Cup playoffs, as Hnidy's Florida Everblades faced Stevenson's South Carolina Stingrays in the American Conference quarterfinals. Some prospects who may have never had a serious look were given chances they thought they never would have. Undrafted journeyman Chris Minard had been signed with Alaska for his third season in the ECHL when the lockout allowed Davis Payne to assign him on the same line as Gomez at the Aces. Gomez saw a gem that led to the 2005 ECHL All-Star Game, and a top ECHL player that season; the pairing led to Gomez giving Minard a shot after the lockout ended, and he played his way into the AHL, and eventually signing a two-way contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, receiving in 2007–08 his first call-up to the NHL. Minard said about the experience, "That's when I learned a lot about being a goal-scorer, playing with a guy like that who can pass the puck. It was a pretty cool experience." In addition, many younger players who would be impact players on their NHL rosters stayed down in the American Hockey League for a full season – most notably Jason Spezza, who won the league scoring title and MVP awards – changing the aspect of that league's entire season. A record crowd of 20,103 fans packed the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia for Game Four of the Calder Cup finals between the Philadelphia Phantoms and Rosemont's Chicago Wolves. The Wolves, Rochester Americans, Manitoba Moose, Hamilton Bulldogs, and Bridgeport Sound Tigers each saw attendance figures increase over ten percent from 2003 to 2004 in the AHL,