Hershey Bears to play Coachella Valley Firebirds in Calder Cup Finals (schedule)
The Hershey Bears defeated the Rochester Americans 1-0 in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals last Friday and secured their place in the 2023 Calder Cup Finals. It took another three days to find out who would come out of the Western Conference to play the Bears for the championship but we now know that will be the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
The Firebirds beat the Milwaukee Admirals in their own six-game series and are the top affiliate of the Seattle Kraken. The 2022-23 campaign is the expansion club’s inaugural season in the AHL.
A new addition to the Chocolate and White… pic.twitter.com/Fp1ZEbBo0i — Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) June 5, 2023
The Bears will not have home-ice advantage in the series for the first time in the 2023 playoffs as Coachella Valley finished six points ahead of Hershey in the overall, regular season standings. The Cup Finals will start on Thursday, June 8 with Game One at Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, California. Tickets for Hershey’s first two home games of the series are already on sale.
If you bought tickets prior to the Firebirds becoming the Bears opponent, you are still able to use those for entry despite them being initially labeled as Game One and Game Two tickets at Giant Center. Fans who purchased tickets for Home Game 1 are to use them for Game 3 on Tuesday, June 13, while tickets purchased for Home Game 2 are valid for Game 4 on Thursday, June 15.
The Bears also announced that tickets for an if necessary Game 5 on Saturday, June 17 will go on sale at 10 am on Tuesday, June 6 via Ticketmaster.
The complete schedule is as follows:
Game 1 – Thursday, June 8 at Coachella Valley, Acrisure Arena, 10 pm
Game 2 – Saturday, June 10 at Coachella Valley, Acrisure Arena, 10 pm
Game 3 – Tuesday, June 13 vs. Coachella Valley, GIANT Center, 7 pm
Game 4 – Thursday, June 15 vs. Coachella Valley, GIANT Center, 7 pm
* Game 5 – Saturday, June 17 vs. Coachella Valley, GIANT Center, 7 pm
* Game 6 – Monday, June 19 at Coachella Valley, Acrisure Arena, 10 pm
* Game 7 – Wednesday, June 21 at Coachella Valley, Acrisure Arena, 10 pm
*If Necessary. All times are Eastern.
Coachella Valley, as the AHL’s newest franchise, has zero history with the league’s oldest franchise, the Bears. That doesn’t mean they are short in experience though as their head coach is former Stanley Cup champion bench boss with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Dan Bylsma.
The Firebirds are the first team to reach the Calder Cup Finals in their inaugural season since the Texas Stars in 2010. Texas was beat in six games in that championship series by none other than the Hershey Bears.
Coachella Valley was paced by former NHLer Max McCormick, who led the team in scoring with 67 points (28g, 39a) during the regular season. The team featured four 25 goal-scorers in Kole Lind (30), Tye Kartye (28), McCormick (28), and Jesper Froden (25).
In goal they are led by Joey Daccord, who has seen time in the NHL in each of the last three seasons. He has a 2.37 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage during this posteason.
WE ARE HISTORY MAKERS🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/f4XjcnLBhx — x – Coachella Valley Firebirds (@Firebirds) June 6, 2023
The Firebirds are far and away the highest scoring team in the Calder Cup Playoffs this year, with 67 goals in 19 games played. That, however, is matched by them giving up the most goals in the playoffs, with 48 against.
Meanwhile, Hershey has played just 13 games this postseason, losing just three of them and outscoring their competition 40-25. They are led into the final by leading scorer Aliaksei Protas with 12 points (5g, 7a) in 13 games and goaltender Hunter Shepard who has posted a 1.85 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.
Here’s the rest of what the Bears have on their website:
Source: Russian Machine Never Breaks
