Not so sweet end to a magical season: Firebirds fall to Bears in overtime game seven of Calder Cup Finals
By Charles Hamaker
Palm Desert, CA – A magical season came to a heartbreaking end, as the Hershey Bears put away a loose puck in the Coachella Valley Firebirds crease to decide the winner of the Calder Cup Finals in overtime of game seven. In front of a fifth consecutive sellout crowd at Acrisure Arena, tears flowed after the loss but the valley understood just how special this team was and the sort of impact that the organization has made in the early part of its existence. A grueling postseason has come to an end, but the journey of the Firebirds is truly just beginning. While next year's roster will surely see some change, young talent will keep the Coachella Valley roster competitive for years to come as developing prospects feed into the Seattle Kraken.
The two most stressful words in sports: game seven
The words “game seven” have been used often throughout the Seattle Kraken organization, from the team going seven games in each of their first two playoff series ever this year, and now Coachella Valley going into this game seven in the Calder Cup Finals. Those two words can induce stress, anxiety, excitement, adrenaline, and so much more, but the bottom line is that things get interesting when the final game of the series rolls around. For Coachella Valley, and fans of the Kraken organization, they’ll be feeling defeat with strong hints of gratitude for the season that this Firebirds roster put together in only their first season of existence in the AHL.
To make matters even better, or worse perhaps, this game seven of the Calder Cup Finals was taken to overtime for the first time since 1953. With Coachella Valley, the AHL’s newest franchise, battling the Hershey Bears, the oldest continuously operating hockey team in any league in North America outside of the NHL, more history was being written throughout the series and we needed even more ink to write the chapter of tonight’s game. The Firebirds had scored the first two goals of the game throughout the opening two periods, before Hershey asserted themselves to ensure that they weren’t going quietly into the night, scoring two in that second period to tie us up before a scoreless third period sent us into sudden death overtime.
After splitting time during the season between the Firebirds and Kraken, will forward Jesper Froden return to the organization? (Photo by Mike Zitek)
Young organization with a strong veteran presence
Although I’ve touched several times on how the Firebirds are a young organization, there is plenty of veteran presence on this Coachella Valley roster. With names that have seen NHL action such as Max McCormick, Joey Daccord, and Alexander True amongst others, the Firebirds have at least ten players on their current roster that have seen NHL action throughout the course of their career. While there’s a solid number of young players on this roster that will surely be the future of the Seattle Kraken, that sort of veteran presence was huge for this Coachella Valley team as the regular season went through and especially in the playoffs. With five of the top scorers in all the Calder Cup Playoffs wearing Firebirds sweaters, four of those Coachella Valley players had spent time in the NHL on a professional roster, including some with the Kraken.
While Max McCormick was atop the team lead in points scored and Joey Daccord looked down the net between the pipes, what does their future hold? Are veterans like McCormick, True, Hayden willing to stay with the Firebirds for another year with the hope that they’ll be able to spend some amount of time with the Kraken at the NHL level? Seattle likely won’t see a lot of turnover in terms of who they lose, so there will only be a few roster spots available for one or two of these veterans to crack through. The term “AHLer” comes to mind here, as some of these veterans may simply just be players that can’t translate success at the AHL level over to the NHL level, which we have seen with some of the players on the Coachella Valley roster. That’s why when it comes to who may potentially be on the Kraken next year, I’d more likely expect some of the younger players to fit that bill.
Where will 2022 #4 overall pick Shane Wright end up next season within the Kraken organization? (Photo by Mike Zitek)
Stacked for another run in year two?
While the veteran presence on the Firebirds was large, there were plenty of younger players on the roster this season that will likely be back next year. While yes, the Kraken prospect pool has only had the two drafts to try and grow, Seattle has been able to draft well (at least it seems that way) and sign a few unheralded players to create a talented group of prospects already. Many of which, have already reached the AHL level and joined the Firebirds either leading up to or during the Calder Cup playoff run this year. In terms of the players that joined the Firebirds roster throughout the year, it includes Ty Nelson, Ville Ottavainen, Tucker Robertson, Ryan Winterton, Jacob Melanson, and Jagger Firkus.
While again, some of those players may not be with the squad when the year begins because they’re on the Kraken roster or due to age and AHL limitations, the Firebirds should be in good shape. Expect a decent amount of this year's roster to return, and for the coaching staff of Bylsman, Campbell, Bickel, and Zulianello to get the squad right as they’ll look towards another deep playoff run in year two. What will be interesting, though, will be what the goaltender room looks like next year for the Firebirds, as Joey Daccord’s contract is up, and NHL veterans Chris Driedger and Chris Gibson will likely not want to spend another year on an AHL roster with the small chance that they’ll get brought up to my Philipp Grubauer’s backup. That situation on it’s own is a unique considering that, Seattle really doesn’t have a highly touted goalie prospect in their system, but do have ten picks in this next draft to change that.
Forward Andrew Poturalski lost a chunk of the season due to injury, what sort of impact will he have over a full year? (Photo by Mike Zitek)
Treating the organization like it’s an NHL franchise
A big key for the franchise's early success, at least that as pointed out by Tod Leiweke, Samantha Holloway, and Ron Francis of the Kraken, has been that the NHL club has treated their affiliate as if the Firebirds were another professional organization. That sort of care for the team up and down, from the facilities to the way that the players were treated, has made an obvious impact and is somewhat like what has taken place in Seattle with Ballard FC, as management has treated the USL League Two side as if it were a professional club. With many NHL ready talents on the roster in addition to those who have already played at that level, making it truly feel as if they were on that level while in the AHL could be a big mental boost in addition to treating them that way, so that their play and comfort level improves.
Quick notes
A Calder Cup Finals game seven has not gone to overtime since 1953
The top five-point scorers in the entire Calder Cup Playoffs were all Coachella Valley Firebirds players
Firebirds goaltender Joey Daccord
Played all 26 CV playoff games and was never pulled
New AHL record: most minutes played in a playoff
Faced (& stopped) more shots than any goalie since at least 2005
The Firebirds played 26 of a maximum 27 games possible in their Calder Cup Playoff run.
The Hershey Bears won their 12th Calder Cup in franchise history
What’s next?
The Firebirds now head into their first full offseason in franchise history, and there will likely be some changes to the roster. The coaching staff that includes Dan Bylsma and Jessica Campbell will have a new group to work with when the next regular season begins, but first we’ll have to see the NHL Draft (beginning on June 28th) and Kraken development camp (July 1st through 5th) take place before we get a real good idea of what players the Kraken will have sent down to Coachella Valley. Potential names include Ryker Evans, Ty Nelson, Jacob Melanson, Jagger Firkus, amongst others, but which of them (if any) will be up on the Kraken roster.