The Hershey Bears will face the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the 2023 Calder Cup Finals. The Firebirds punched their ticket to the finals Monday night with a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals, taking their best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series, four games to two. They become the first California team in AHL history to make it to the Calder Cup Finals.
Game 1 of the series will be Thursday at Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, California. The series will be a 2-3-2 format with the Firebirds having home-ice advantage.
The Firebirds, the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken, are in their inaugural season. As a result, the AHL’s newest franchise now faces the league’s oldest franchise in the Finals.
The Firebirds are coached by former Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma. Jessica Campbell, the first full-time female coach in the AHL, is an assistant to Bylsma.
The Firebirds finished the 2022-23 regular season with the AHL’s second-best record at 48-17-5-2 and are 12-7 in 19 postseason games.
Keep an eye out for our full series preview due out later today.
Go Bears!
Joey Daccord in goal for CVF is a formidable force in net. Played 19 games in NHL with OTT and SEA, and has great stats in AHL.
If Hershey Bears were searching for a worthy opponent, they have one now
Skimming their roster, phenom Shane Wright and Alexander True also stand out. Former Bears d-man Eddie Whittchow also a Firebird.
And he’ll bring some snarl that the Bears haven’t seen a lot of so far.
I wonder how long before McIlrath and Whittchow drop the mitts?
First period there will be some tussling for sure.
Good point, in thinking back, they really have been the more physical team. It’s going to be interesting to see how physical Coachella really is, and if that,poses a challenge for the Bears.
Coachella is bigger than Hershey, particularly at forward. That doesn’t necessarily mean more physical. E.g., Mantha and Protas are big… but not physical.
It’s really hard to know how the teams compare since they have never played each other, and there are so few east-west crossover games. But as others have said, the important thing is that, win or lose, the Caps’ prospects are playing meaningful games in June.
In doing research for the series, it sounds like Shane Wright is not getting a lot of ice time.
Win or lose, going this far into the playoffs is great for the Bears staff and players. It is great experience and the lessons each one learns should help them in their futures. You don’t get these lessons in practice, preseason, or even season games.
Here, here!
Roger that. And hopefully a little extra cash for the Bears/Caps organization.
Agree, Fyre.
Westward ho! See you in SoCal!
And go Bears!
Coachella has a very impressive offense. Bears need to somehow steal a game in the dessert.
Yep, although I was worried about Rochester’s scoring, and that didn’t turn out to be an issue.
Is anyone attending the games in Coachella Valley?
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I’m excited for the Bears. Do we know status of Sgarbossa or Iorio?