American Hockey League

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

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer For as much attention as their high-end talent gets, the Hershey Bears possess two other must-have elements to play into June: they own exceptional depth, and they like each other. In the first two games of the Calder Cup Finals last year against Coachella Valley, the Firebirds dominated the Bears

Captain Brendan Gaunce scored twice during a four-goal second period, propelling the Cleveland Monsters to a 5-1 win and sending the Eastern Conference Finals back to Hershey for a sixth game on Monday. The Bears still lead the series, three games to two, but the Monsters have won two straight while facing elimination. Josh Dunne

The Coachella Valley Firebirds are heading to the Calder Cup Finals for the second year in a row after capturing the Robert W. Clarke Trophy as Western Conference champions. Coachella Valley scored four times in the first period and John Hayden finished off a hat trick with a shorthanded goal late in the second as

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer Devin Shore’s road back to the NHL goes through the Calder Cup Playoffs. The longer the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ postseason goes, the more opportunity Shore has to make a case for a National Hockey League return. For Shore, who is in his ninth pro season, this has been his first

The Cleveland Monsters finally broke through in the Eastern Conference Finals, extending the series with a 3-2 win over the Hershey Bears in Game 4 on Thursday night. The Bears still lead, three games to one, and will have another chance to earn a trip to the Calder Cup Finals in Game 5 on Saturday

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers are ready to face off for the Stanley Cup, and the finalists’ rosters are stocked with graduates of the American Hockey League. Edmonton, the parent club of the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006 with contributions from AHL

The Milwaukee Admirals stared down elimination once again on Thursday night, scoring five unanswered goals to take a 7-2 victory over Coachella Valley in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. The Admirals, now 5-0 this postseason in elimination games, still trail the series three games to one and will host Game 5 on Saturday

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer Disappointed. Proud. Resolute. Those were some of the emotions that the Cleveland Monsters expressed after Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals last Saturday night. For the second game in a row, the Monsters had proven that they could stand in there with the Hershey Bears. And for the second

Skating in his first nine career AHL outings down the stretch of Milwaukee’s 2023-24 campaign, Ufko recorded a goal and five assists. However, the fun was only just beginning.  Now 12 games into his first Calder Cup Playoffs run, Ufko is just trying to enjoy the moment and help his new teammates to success. “It’s

The Hershey Bears rode a late second-period outburst to a 6-2 win over Cleveland on Tuesday and a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals. The Monsters host Game 4 on Thursday looking to stave off elimination. After Cleveland had rallied to erase a 2-0 deficit, Hershey scored three times in the final