AHL: 2024 Calder Cup Finals Series Recap

The American Hockey League’s (AHL) 2023-24 season ended Monday night as the Hershey Bears defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds to claim their 13th Calder Cup in franchise history.

The Firebirds and Bears met for the second straight year in the Calder Cup Finals. Last year, the Bears game seven on the road in overtime on a goal by Mike Vecchione to clinch the franchise’s 12th Calder Cup. With a dominant regular season that saw them capture the best record in the league, Hershey had the home-ice advantage this year in the finals. As for Coachella Valley, they ended the season with the league’s second-best record. It’s not a coincidence these teams met in the finals again with the way their respective seasons played out.

Ultimately, the result of the finals was the same with Hershey coming out on top. For the second straight season, a magical Firebirds season ended at the hands of the team in Chocolate Town. Now that it’s been over 36 hours since the series concluded, let’s recap some quick notes from the series.

Moving up

Monday not only marked the final game of the 2023-24 season but it also marked the final game Dan Bylsma coached a game behind the bench for the Firebirds. Bylsma will stay within the organization as he got an internal promotion by being named the second head coach in Seattle Kraken history a month ago. It’ll be his first NHL head coaching job since the 2016-17 season when he was the bench boss of the Buffalo Sabres.

Bylsma ends his two-year stay in Coachella Valley with a 94-32-18 regular season record and a 27-17 record in postseason play. Ultimately, the Firebirds came up short in the Calder Cup Finals in both years, but, still, shouldn’t overshadow the success hockey has had in Palm Desert, California.

Ironically, the Stanley Cup was awarded the same night as the Calder Cup. It’s the first time this has happened since 2009, which saw the Hershey Bears and Pittsburgh Penguins (coached by Bylsma) capture championships for the AHL and NHL.

A pair of Kraken prospects shine

Two Kraken prospects made their mark in this series. Let’s start with Ryan Winterton. Winterton was drafted in 2021 by Seattle in the third round, 67th overall, as part of the franchise’s inaugural draft. Winterton had a successful first season as a professional and led all skaters with six goals in the series, including recording at least one point in five of the series’ six games. If Coachella Valley were to have won the series, he would’ve been my second choice for playoff MVP.

The other prospect was Seattle’s fourth overall selection from the 2022 draft, Shane Wright. After bouncing around from the NHL, AHL, World Juniors, OHL, and back to the AHL last year, it wasn’t a smooth playoff for the highly touted prospect. Often he looked lost. Now granted, it was an unusual season for him, but this year he looked like a different player in the regular season, and that carried over into the playoffs. Wright finished the playoffs with 13 points in 12 games and led all skaters in the finals with eight points in six games.

If you’re a Kraken fan or front office member, you have to be pleased with the season Wright had. He looks to be trending in the right direction. If it wasn’t for an injury that caused him to miss six games because of a terrible hit from Hayden Hodgson in Coachella’s Division Finals series matchup against the Ontario Reign, there’s a possibility he could’ve had more points in the playoffs.

A baker’s dozen!

Last year, it was sweeter by the dozen. This year, it’s a baker’s dozen. The Bears took home their AHL-leading 13th Calder Cup championship and became the first champion to repeat since 2009 and 2010, which was ironically done by the Bears. Chocolate Town will be Title Town once again this summer.

Hershey split the first two games on home ice but got thumped in game three, led by Firebirds’ captain Max McCormick’s hat trick and Wright’s three-point night to give Coachella Valley a 2-1 series lead. Games four and five saw the Bears win a pair of 3-2 road victories to force a clinching scenario on their home ice.

After a back-and-forth 60 minutes, which saw the two teams tied at four, game six needed overtime to declare a winner. The overtime session ended rather quickly as Bears forward Matt Strome pounced a Firebirds turnover and went off the post and in for his second of the playoffs to be a hero for the Bears.

Hendrix Lapierre wins the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy (AHL playoffs MVP)

The Jack A. Butterfield Trophy is the AHL’s version of the Conn Smythe trophy. This year’s winner of that award went to Bears forward Hendrix Lapierre. Lapierre posted 22 points in 20 playoff games and led all skaters throughout the playoffs in that category. I don’t watch many Bears games, but from the games that I do, he seems to be a reliable forward, who can be trusted by head coach Todd Nelson. He plays five-on-five, power play, and can kill penalties. With the Washington Capitals in that transition phase, there’s no doubt he should be given a chance to fight for a roster spot on opening night.

He was tied with teammate Alex Limoges for the team lead in points with seven in the series.

The top six for Hershey dominates

Hershey’s top-six forward group stayed intact for all six games. The six forwards combined for 37 of the team’s 53 points. While they dominated the series, games four, five, and six saw at least one player from Hershey’s top six make an impact on the game.

In game four, it was the top line of Joe Snively, Ethen Frank, and Lapierre that took over with Hershey down 2-1 in the series. The trio combined for eight points, factoring in on all three Bears goals to even the series. Frank and Lapierre had a goal and two assists each in that game.

Game five, with the series tied at two games apiece, saw second-line center Jimmy Huntington record two goals. The first one came right before the horn sounded to end period one, and the second one came with 3:15 left in regulation to put the Bears in front 3-2, a lead they would hold on to for a game-five victory.

Game six saw second-line winger Pierrick Dube register a hat trick, and Lapierre recorded two points in the opening frame. This game was eventually won by Strome’s goal in overtime to secure the Bears’ 13th Calder Cup championship.

When Hershey needed their best players to step up, they did, and it’s a reason why they are back-to-back champions and will have a summer celebration in Chocolate Town once again.

Featured image credit: Tori Hartman/Hershey Bears

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