Coachella Valley Firebirds beat Hershey Bears 4-3 in Game 1 of the Calder Cup Finals
By Silvia Leija Rosas, edited by Charles Hamaker
Hershey, PA - The Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Seattle Kraken’s AHL affiliate, kicked off their second-ever Calder Cup final run on Friday, June 14th with a 4-3 win against the Hershey Bears in Game one of the series at the GIANT Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Determined to get their revenge against this historic Hershey franchise that won their 12th Calder Cup last season in overtime of game seven, the Firebirds got things start off in a positive way on the road to give themselves solid momentum early into what should be a thrilling series.
Photos as the Coachella Valley Firebirds arrive for game one of the Calder Cup Finals in Pennsylvania against the Hershey Bears, and during pregame warmups. (Photos by Mike Zitek)
Hershey veteran winger Joe Snively lit the lamp just 75 seconds into the first period with his third goal of the playoffs, but not even the subsequent penalty was enough to keep the Firebirds down for long. Coachella Valley’s leading scorer, John Hayden, took advantage of a breakaway and netted a shorthanded goal to tie the game. Young Kraken prospect and Firebirds forward Ryan Winterton then followed with his own goal, with a little over six minutes left in the first period, to give the Firebirds a 2-1 advantage over the team that defeated them in the 2023 Cup Final in overtime of game seven.
Coachella Valley Firebirds forward John Hayden scored a shorthanded goal to begin the scoring for his team and equalize the game, after the Hershey Bears scored first, in game one of the Calder Cup Finals on Friday, June 14th. (Photos by Mike Zitek)
Winterton scored his second goal of the night, in the second period, extending the Firebirds’ lead to three-to-one. The energy of the Hershey-Coachella Valley rivalry, first created by that fiery series last season in the Finals, was palpable on the ice and it gave the Bears their second power play of the night. A Hardy Häman Aktall goal just after the Firebirds killed the man advantage got Hershey right back into this game, ensuring that it wasn’t going to be an easy contest for Coachella Valley to just pull away with.
Coachella Valley Firebirds forward Ryan Winterton scored two goals in this game one of the Calder Cup Finals, including this one in the first period to give his team an early lead going into the first intermission. (Photos by Mike Zitek)
The Bears, who are searching for their historic 13th Calder Cup win, couldn’t celebrate cutting Coachella Valley’s advantage to just one for long, after Hayden scored his ninth goal in 13 games this postseason to regain the two-goal lead for the Firebirds. Hershey went on to take four consecutive penalties late in the third, none of which the Firebirds were able to capitalize on unfortunately, which will be an area that they’ll certainly want to improve upon going forward if they want to capture their first ever Calder Cup.
Bears centerman Hendrix Lapierre scored on the power play with less than two minutes left in the game, despite his team’s seeming lack of offensive play minutes before, to once again bring Hershey within just one goal of the Firebirds and make things tense. Lapierre’s goal was his fifth in the playoffs, adding to his leading 12 assists across all post season American Hockey League skaters.
Despite that late goal, the Firebirds took game one with a score of 4-3 as veteran goaltender Chris Driedger and the skaters in front of him were able to ensure that there would be no late equalizer to force overtime, giving Coachella Valley an early series lead.. Shots finished 23-19 in favor of the Firebirds. Chris Driedger, who leads the AHL in save percentage, posted 16 saves.
Quick Firebirds notes
10,154 was the announced attendance at the “Giant Center” for game one of the Calder Cup Finals between our Coachella Valley Firebirds and the Hershey Bears.
Coachella Valley won the shot battle, outshooting Hershey 23-19
Neither team was particularly good on the power play, as Coachella Valley went o/4 while Hershey went 1/5.
Firebirds forward John Hayden’s first period goal was his second shorthanded goal of the postseason.
Firebirds skaters Cameron Hughes and Ville Ottavainen both tallied two assists in the win.
Firebirds goaltender Chris Driedger’s record this postseason is now 11-2
This is just the second loss at home this postseason for Hershey, and it’s the first time that they have trailed in a series during the current postseason.
What’s Next?
The Hershey Bears and our Coachella Valley Firebirds will meet again for Game two of the Calder Cup Finals on Sunday, June 16th at the GIANT Center at 2PM PDT, 5PM EDT. If the Firebirds are able to come through for a second straight victory to open up these Finals, especially given that these first two games are being played in Hershey, it will put the Firebirds in a big position to be able to take the series potentially when they return home to Coachella Valley for the next three games of the series. To view these games, you can purchase a daily pass on AHL.TV for $8.99 or pay about $30 for a pass that will span the length of this series, that originally gave you access to the entirety of the AHL playoffs. Circling Seattle Sports will have game recaps of every game from the series, brought to you by Silvia.
The remainder of the series schedule is as follows (all times in PST):
Game 2 – Sunday, June 16 at the GIANT Center, 2 p.m.
Game 3 – Tuesday, June 18 at Coachella Valley’s Acrisure Arena, 7 p.m.
Game 4 – Thursday, June 20 at Coachella Valley’s Acrisue Arena, 7 p.m.
*Game 5 – Saturday, June 22 at Coachella Valley’s Acrisure Arena, 6 p.m.
*Game 6 – Monday, June 24 at the GIANT Center, 4 p.m.
*Game 7 – Wednesday, June 26 at the GIANT Center, 4 p.m.
*If necessary
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Check out our previous Coachella Valley Firebirds articles here.
Check out more articles by our Seattle Kraken beat writer Silvia Leija Rosas here.
Cover photo and photos in this article by Coachella Valley Firebirds photographer, Mike Zitek.
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