AHL: A Quick Recap of the Calder Cup Finals

The American Hockey League’s 87th season of operation came to an end Wednesday night as the Hershey Bears clinched the Calder Cup.

For the series, the Coachella Valley Firebirds and Hershey Bears protected home ice through the first six games. Even the team that scored first won games 1-5. When you get to game seven, all bets are off. It’s about execution, and anything can happen. In games one, two, and six, when the Firebirds won, the games got away from the Bears as Coachella imposed their will and piled on the goals. That didn’t happen in game seven, as Hershey was able to punch back when the Firebirds took a 2-0 lead. That pushback resulted in the road team finally winning a game in this series. Let’s have a quick recap.

Chocolate town becomes title town

The Hershey Bears are on top of the AHL mountain as they clinched their first Calder Cup championship since 2010. For the franchise, it was their 12th Calder Cup title, the most for any AHL team. This series looked like it would be over quickly as Firebirds netminder Joey Daccord recorded two shutouts to give Coachella Valley a 2-0 series lead. The series shifted to Hershey as the Bears took all three home games for a 3-2 series lead heading back to California. Ultimately the Bears came out on top in overtime of game seven after dropping game six by a score of 5-2. Game seven was the only game the road team won in the series.

Ryker Evans is a stud

After watching plenty of Ontario Reign games, I saw a lot of Ryker Evans throughout the season. The Seattle Kraken have an absolute gem waiting in the wings as the 21-year-old left-handed defenseman recorded 26 points in 26 playoff games. In the Calder Cup Finals against the Bears, Evans recorded nine points in the seven-game series, which included four multi-point games. That 2021 draft class is looking good for Kraken general manager Ron Francis. Matty Beniers, who was selected in the first round of that draft, had a solid NHL season and was named a Calder finalist, while Evans, who was drafted in the following round after Beniers, had a great playoff run and was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team this season.

Mike Vecchione wins it in overtime

It’s not the prettiest goal that has to win you games, but the goal itself is all that matters. Just put the puck on net, and anything can happen. Henrik Borgstrom’s centering pass found Mike Vecchione, but he couldn’t get a clean shot on goal. However, Hershey stood with the play, and after a mad scramble in front of Daccord, the puck found Vecchione’s stick, and he put it in the open net to win it for the Bears.

Hunter Shepard wins the Jack A. Butterfield Award (AHL playoffs MVP)

After getting pulled in game six, Hunter Shepard put together a strong performance in game seven, stopping 45 of 47 shots faced. His biggest save came just about the midway point of the second period with the Bears on the power play as Carsen Twarynski’s short-handed bid got turned away by Hunter Shepard. Instead of it being a 3-0 Firebirds lead, the Bears battled back late in the second period to tie the game at two. Looking back on it, you could look at that save as a game-changing save.

After the game, the 27-year-old netminder was awarded AHL playoffs MVP as he posted a .914 save percentage and three shutouts in these playoffs.

One goal short

After a magical inaugural season by the Firebirds, they came up a goal short of capping off their terrific season. At the 1:18 mark of the overtime, the Firebirds had a chance to end it with a power play goal, but the Bears’ penalty kill came up strong. Andrew Poturalski also had a chance to win the game in overtime, but his between-the-legs shot attempt didn’t go as planned. It may sting for a while, but when the Firebirds reflect on their season, they will realize how special this season was and how popular hockey in the desert is. Hold your heads up high.

Three overtimes

Bonus hockey is always fun and exciting. Bears, Firebirds, and AHL fans were treated to three overtime sessions in this series. Luckily for Bears fans, they came away victorious in all of them. The Bears won all their games by one goal, while the Firebirds won all of their games by three or more goals.

Could both of these coaches, Dan Bylsma and Todd Nelson, be head coaching candidates for next an NHL team next season? I guess we’ll find out.

Side note: The attendance in this series was incredible. That was great passion shown by both fan bases.

Photo credit: Coachella Valley Firebirds

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