American Hockey League

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer This was the Coachella Valley Firebirds putting on a show. Back on home ice for the first time since May 31, the Firebirds handed the visiting Hershey Bears a 6-2 loss in Game 3 of the Calder Cup Finals last night and took a two games to one lead in

PALM DESERT, Calif. (theahl.com) … Playing on home ice for the first time in 18 days, the Coachella Valley Firebirds took a 2-1 series lead in the 2024 Calder Cup Finals with a 6-2 victory over the Hershey Bears on Tuesday night. Game 4 will be played Thursday at Acrisure Arena (10 ET/7 PT, AHLTV,

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer A lot has happened since the Coachella Valley Firebirds last skated on Acrisure Arena ice. Eighteen days ago, on May 31, the Firebirds took a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference Finals with a 3-1 win over Milwaukee. From there they flew to Wisconsin and took two of three

The San Jose Sharks have named Ryan Warsofsky as the team’s new head coach. Working in the Carolina Hurricanes organization, Warsofsky won two Calder Cup championships during his time in the American Hockey League, as an assistant coach with the Charlotte Checkers in 2019 and as head coach of the Chicago Wolves in 2022. Warsofsky

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer Todd Nelson liked the result. The process? Well, that needs some work. At this time of the year results are what counts, but Nelson and his Hershey Bears players recognize that they must be much better – even after they defeated the visiting Coachella Valley Firebirds 5-2 in Game 2

HERSHEY, Pa. (theahl.com) … An opportunistic Hershey Bears club evened up the Calder Cup Finals with a 5-2 win over Coachella Valley at Giant Center on Sunday evening. The series shifts west with the Firebirds hosting the next three games, beginning Tuesday night. The Bears went more than 12 minutes without a shot on goal

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer How would the Hershey Bears navigate the emotional transition? After seven passionate, contentious games with the Cleveland Monsters in the Eastern Conference Finals, the defending Calder Cup champion Bears had less than 48 hours to shift their full focus to the Calder Cup Finals and their old foe, the Coachella

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer The finality of the moment hit Trent Vogelhuber hard last night. Having forced a Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, anything seemed possible for Vogelhuber’s Cleveland Monsters. Then, down a goal deep into the third period, James Malatesta got loose in the bottom right circle, spun and whipped a shot

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer Some players are just built to play in June. “It’s a different game in the playoffs,” Coachella Valley Firebirds goaltender Chris Driedger said. “[Fewer] skilled tic-tac-toe plays and a little more bringing out the shovels and taking it to the net.” Firebirds forward John Hayden is one of those players,

HERSHEY, Pa. (theahl.com) … John Hayden and Ryan Winterton scored twice apiece as the Coachella Valley Firebirds opened the 2024 Calder Cup Finals with a 4-3 win over the Hershey Bears at Giant Center on Friday night. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is set for Sunday (5 ET, AHLTV, NHL Network). Hayden, who had

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer Dan Bylsma knows a juicy storyline when he sees it. It’s mid-June, and Bylsma’s Coachella Valley Firebirds are fighting with their new cross-country rival, the Hershey Bears, for the Calder Cup. Again. The AHL’s senior franchise versus its newest. Two fan bases that ranked in the top five of regular-season

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League has announced the 2023-24 AHL Top Prospects Team, determined by the league’s hockey operations department in conjunction with AHL general managers as the three forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender projected to be the best future NHL players. To qualify for the AHL Top Prospects Team, skaters must

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer That one was for Julie Roe. Garrett Roe acknowledged that Monday night was a tough one. His Hershey Bears had just dropped their third consecutive game in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Cleveland Monsters, a 3-2 overtime heartbreaker at Giant Center to force a Game 7. What had been

For the first time in 33 years, two teams will meet in the Calder Cup Finals for the second year in a row as the Hershey Bears square off against the Coachella Valley Firebirds beginning Friday night at Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. Last year’s championship series is widely considered one of the best Finals

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer The Cleveland Monsters have come this far. One mammoth step remains tonight, however, when the Eastern Conference Finals conclude one way or the other in Game 7 at Giant Center in Hershey (7 ET, AHLTV, NHL Network). Once down three games to none in the series, the Monsters have won

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League has released the potential schedules for the 2024 Calder Cup Finals. The Hershey Bears and Cleveland Monsters will meet in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., on Wednesday night. The winner of that game will take on the Western Conference champion

In his return to the lineup after missing the last 10 games due to injury, defenseman Jake Christiansen scored 17:31 into overtime to give the Cleveland Monsters an improbable 3-2 victory over Hershey in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night. The Monsters are the fifth team in AHL history to send

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer The numbers say that the Cleveland Monsters probably should not still be playing. But Hershey Bears forward Garrett Roe called this one early. He knew what the Bears were in for. “It’s kind of like a heavyweight bout,” Roe said following Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, in which