The Need to Knows
- The Places: Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, CA and Giant Center in Hershey, PA
- The Affiliates: Seattle Kraken and Washington Capitals
- Places to Watch:
- Streaming: AHLtv
- Locally: KESQ
- FOX 11 for Games 1, 3, 6 and 7,
- CW5 for Game 4
- News Channel 3 for Game 5.
- There will almost certainly be watch parties locally, the Firebirds and local partners just haven’t announced them yet.
- Places to Listen: KDGL 106.9 The Eagle
- An Opposing Viewpoint: Japers’ Rink
Know Your Enemy
- The Bears had a similar road to the finals as Coachella. Mostly hammered their opponents until they ran into the Cleveland Monsters, who gave them a full series in the Eastern Conference Championships plus overtime before falling. Shame too, they nearly blew a 3-0 series lead too.
- 4 of the top 10 point-getters in the AHL playoffs this year are on the Bears: Hendrix Lapierre currently leads the pack with 15, Ethen Frank currently has the most goals among the Bears with 9, and then Chase Priskie and Joe Snively, names I swear on my own name are not made up, are chilling with 12.
- Part of what’s made Hershey so good is their power play: They’ve gotten far more opportunities than just about anyone else in the AHL Playoffs this year (59), and have the most goals scored on the man-advantage at 14. That’s good for third overall this playoffs.
- This is going to be the first series the Firebirds play this playoffs where they aren’t trying to break down a goaltender who’s playing better than their own. Hunter Shepard’s grisly ECF dropped him from the top 3 of AHL Playoff netminders down to 8th in SV%…which still keeps him at around .920 SV%. He’s going to be a tough nut to crack once again.
Series Preview
Oh. It’s you again.
Hello, Hershey.
In some ways, I think it had to be this way. This is how it had to be. There was nothing that would make it satisfying enough to make this truly worth it in the end.
The Bears and Firebirds meet for the second consecutive year after both sides battled hard to get to this point; Both had byes, both ran into games that cast a smidgen of doubt on what they were doing, and then battled back to prove themselves champions once again. If you needed any further confirmation that they are the class of the AHL; look no further.
But we’re not here to look at two great teams that will put on a great series. Oh no. This time, it’s about vengeance, about leaving no room for doubt anymore. This time it is deeply, exceptionally personal.
Dan Bylsma, a man who has been tied deeply into the success the Firebirds have seen over their first two seasons, will not be back next year. If all goes well and the Kraken improve? He may never see this job again. Many of the youngest players will likely go with him and possibly never return. Shane Wright and Ryker Evans just highlight a list that may never again wear the Firebirds crest after this season. Both were there for that Game 7. Most of the team you see before you remembers that. Hershey does too, and they’re looking to repeat.
The Firebirds need to do everything in their power to deny them this, and win the cup that was denied to them in the most agonizing of fashions last year.
Anything else is heartbreak.
X-Factors going into Game 1
What Hunter Shepard are we getting?
Alright so I said Hunter Shepard’s going to be a tough nut to crack and I do mean that. The Bears wouldn’t be here if he’d been playing like Milwaukee’s goalie. He’s been consistently putting up .960s in Save-Percentage, and shouldn’t be taken lightly; especially in elimination games, where he seems to truly rise to the challenge placed in front of him.
But he’s been liable to give up some stinkers, and that Cleveland series made it clear that if you test him enough he will absolutely break. In between these excellent performances, the Monsters, the Phantoms, and the Wolfpack all managed to get at least one stinker out of him. The Monsters got three.
The Firebirds cannot let him find a groove at all, because if they can do that, they can rip into this guy like they have to everybody else; not only in their patented “make the goalie sell their house diving for a blocker save” move, but in attacking the net-front doggedly.
Can the Penalty Kill rebound in time?
For all the Firebirds strengths in even-strength goals and efficiency on the power play, an unambiguous flaw in their game is the Penalty Kill, which currently rests at 78.3%…which is 16th in the playoffs in a field of 23. They’re facing the 8th most successful power play these playoffs, who have scored the most goals on the man advantage of any team in the Calder Cup race this year, and the refs have been enormously generous to them, giving them more power plays than anyone else.
In short, this penalty kill better figure itself out quick, or the Firebirds need to avoid taking penalties while they play the Bears, or it could be an uphill battle. Especially given their proclivity for a stick foul very early in the game.
That s#!t’s gotta end today.
Can the Firebirds isolate the Bears’ stars?
The Admirals had a number of talented players who also happened to have a ticking time-bomb in their midst; for the most part, they kept them occupied and forced their depth to compensate. They did this to the Reign and also to the Wranglers, and each time they managed to keep the dangerous elements of their opponent from completely overtaking their game. The Bears have the most breadth of scoring and playmaking talent of the teams they’ve faced.
But the battle is still the same; while they are deep, have some solid playmakers, and can summon a good shot from just about every line and pairing, a vast majority of their scoring has been done by a core group of Ethen Frank, Garrett Roe, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Henrik Rybinski, and Hendrix Lapierre; with Frank leading the pack at 9. The drop off after these five players is stark, and if they can even keep Frank, Roe, and Miroshnichenko limited, they have a chance to make Chris Driedger’s life a little easier.
Can the Firebirds offense keep up their aggravating net-front presence?
The Firebirds are in a unique position this playoffs.
The Bears’ defense is quite strong, and they’ve only given up one extra goal than the Firebirds have, but their goalie happens to be, as previously stated, quite a
Is Shane Wright actually okay?
Shane Wright got harmed in Game 3 against the Ontario Reign, and while he’s been listed as Day-to-Day; he’s not seen the ice since that game. He’s still been an active part of their social media, which is good! It means he’s not too harmed. But his return has been up in the air since the beginning of the Admirals series, and it has remained up there ever since. It’s clear Bylsma wants him at his absolute best (or something close) for a big moment, and if this isn’t the moment, then what is?
It’s a shame because Wright’s been a consistent, strong presence for the Firebirds when he was playing, and coming into this series it would be great to have that to shore up both ends of the ice. If not, the Firebirds will need to continue to dig deep and make their depth prove their worth.
Can they split the series in Hershey?
Last year, the Firebirds welcomed Hershey to their barn and promptly blasted them straight back out of it in two shutout wins. The Bears repaid the favor by winning the next two back at home, and then went on to never lose at home throughout that series.
This year, the Bears are similarly on a roll at home, only ever being given trouble by Cleveland’s sudden push, and even then that was just a blip on the radar. They need to make it abundantly clear to the Bears that home ice and the vast continent of space in-between the two teams doesn’t matter; they need to be ready to play every shift like it was their last, and if they can draw first blood, it will go a long way into making it clear that this is not the same team they faced last year; it’s a better one.
Calder Cup Finals Schedule
- Game One: Friday, June 14th – Coachella @ Hershey: 4pm PT
- Game Two: Sunday, June 16th – Coachella @ Hershey: 2pm PT
- Game Three: Tuesday, June 18th – Hershey @ Coachella: 7pm PT
- Game Four: Thursday, June 20th – Hershey @ Coachella: 7pm PT
- Game Five: Saturday, June 22nd – Hershey @ Coachella: 6pm PT
- Game Six: Monday, June 24th – Coachella @ Hershey: 4pm PT
- Game Seven: Wednesday, June 26th – Coachella @ Hershey: 4pm PT
It’s where this had to go. The Kraken’s baby boys have a chance at glory. It’s time they got it and against this team? So much sweeter.
LET’S GO FIREBIRDS!