Seattle Kraken affiliate report: Week of October 16th-23rd
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – In a new weekly piece that we’ll be doing, we’ll be keeping along with the Seattle Kraken’s two affiliate teams: AHL affiliate Coachella Valley Firebirds and ECHL affiliate Kansas City Mavericks. The two teams will, throughout the course of their affiliation with the Kraken, roster many of the team's prospects and draft picks as they prepare to get to that NHL level. This weekly piece aims to take a brief overview of the past week for those teams as opposed to the game recaps that we’ll be doing for the Firebirds, and the Mavericks if it’s possible but they’ll be a bit harder to cover. The Firebirds are coming off falling just short of winning the Calder Cup in their inaugural season, while the Mavericks made a strong push to get into the playoffs but were shortly eliminated once getting in. The affiliates and the Kraken will look for repeat success from last year, as all three made their respective postseasons.
Affiliates
AHL: Firebirds: One win in one game played
After dropping their home opener in heart breaking fashion as the Bakersfield Condors scored a late goal in the third period, the Coachella Valley Firebirds went on the road and handled the Tuscon Road Runners with a four-goal shutout of their division rival. This Firebirds win handed the Road Runners their first loss of the season, as Tuscon now has two wins to that lone loss. Coachella Valley steadily handled this one, adding to their lead in each period while Chris Driedger shut out the Road Runners on the other end of the ice as he made 27 saves on the night. The scoring was spread out a bit, as four Firebirds tallied a goal in this one: Marian Studenic, Cale Fleury, Shane Wright, and John Hayden. Studenic added an assist to his game, earning first star of the game honors. This game showed a bit more of what Coachella Valley should display this season as opposed to the tough home opener, as Chris Driedger will surely look to prove himself while the skaters have a wide variety of talent to help light up the scoreboard.
ECHL: Mavericks off to a hot start
Coming off their playoff berth last season, Kansas City is back in business. The Mavericks have started the season off with two wins in their first two games, something that they haven’t done since the 2018-19 season, as they kick off their 15th season of professional hockey. Kansas City has continuously increased their win total over the past four seasons, and last year's postseason appearance was the first since that 2018-19 season. Led by the likes of Cole Coskey, Kyle Jackson, and Theo Calvas amongst others, the Mavericks are looking to build off last year's campaign. Kyle Jackson is the first sort of infusion of a Seattle draft pick that we’ve seen so far, in the second year of the team's affiliation with Kansas City. While not particularly as talented as the Firebirds roster, expect to see the Mavericks make some noise in the ECHL this season.
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Cover photo by Mike Zitek
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