PALM DESERT, Calif. — The Hershey Bears will conclude the 2023 playoffs tonight as the 2022-23 season draws to a close with the crowning of the 85th Calder Cup champion.
Hershey takes the ice for a winner-take-all Game 7 of the 2023 Calder Cup Finals against the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Acrisure Arena. The 1,237th and final game of the 2022-23 campaign comes after the Firebirds staved off elimination on Monday night with a 5-2 victory over the Bears in Palm Desert. A win tonight will give the Bears their 12th Calder Cup in franchise history.
#2 Hershey Bears (13-6) at #2 Coachella Valley Firebirds (15-10)
June 21, 2023 | 10 p.m. ET | Calder Cup Finals – Game 7 | Series tied, 3-3 | Acrisure Arena
Referees: Carter Sandlak (#47), Brandon Schrader (#46)
Linespersons: Ryan Jackson (#84), Joseph Mahon (#89)
Broadcast Information
Voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch and FOX43’s Todd Sadowski on the call
TV: FOX43
LAST TIME OUT:
The series shifted back to California on Monday with Game 6, and once again, the host team would prevail, as Coachella Valley emerged with a 5-2 win to force tonight’s decisive game. The Bears started strong, with Connor McMichael burying a Joe Snively pass just 1:33 into the contest for Hershey’s fastest goal to open a game during the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs. Firebirds captain Max McCormick equalized with a power-play goal at 10:10, and John Hayden put Coachella Valley ahead 2-1 at 12:01. Cameron Hughes tacked on another goal at 16:52 to send the hosts into the locker room up 3-1. Beck Malenstyn scored at 3:28 of the second period to bring the Bears to within a goal, but Kole Lind restored the two-goal advantage with another power-play marker at 11:50. Lind scored again at 3:57 of the third period to cap the scoring and spell the end of the night for Hunter Shepard, who made 17 saves in the loss and was replaced by Zach Fucale, who stopped all six shots he faced in relief. Joey Daccord made 20 stops to get the win for the Firebirds.
GO THE DISTANCE:
Tonight’s contest will mark the 12th time in the history of the Calder Cup Finals that the Calder Cup will be settled in a decisive Game 7 setting, the fourth time that Hershey will compete in a Game 7 for the Calder Cup, and the sixth time that the Chocolate and White will have competed for the Cup in a winner-take-all game (the 1941 and 1942 Finals were a best-of-five). The last Calder Cup Finals to feature a Game 7 was in 2018, when the Toronto Marlies defeated the Texas Stars 6-1 at Ricoh Coliseum. The Bears’ lone Calder Cup Game 7 win was the franchise’s first championship in 1947, a 5-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Hornets at Hersheypark Arena. In the history of Calder Cup Finals Game 7s, the home team is 8-3; the last road team to prevail in Game 7 of the Finals was in 2003, when the Houston Aeros defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs 3-0 at Copps Coliseum. This will be the 19th playoff Game 7 played by Hershey; the Bears are 9-9 all-time in Game 7s. Hershey’s last Game 7 win came in the 2016 Atlantic Division Finals, prevailing over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins by 3-2 score in overtime. The only Calder Cup Finals Game 7 to go to overtime was in 1953, when Bob Chrystal scored the only goal to give the Cleveland Barons a 1-0 Cup-clinching victory over the Pittsburgh Hornets.
SPECIAL TEAMS FACTOR:
The Bears have gone 9-1 in the playoffs when converting for a power-play goal, and 3-0 when converting with the man advantage on the road. When failing to do so, Hershey is 4-5 overall, and 3-3 on the road. In the series with Coachella Valley, the Bears are 2-0 when scoring with the man advantage, and 1-3 when failing to convert.
TOP LINE, ACTIVATE:
The trio of Mike Vecchione, Henrik Borgstrom and Ethen Frank may not have played together for the entirety of Hershey’s postseason run, but there can be little doubt that any offensive success that they may enjoy tonight bodes well for the Bears’ chances of victory. Hershey is 3-0 when Vecchione finds the back of the net, and 4-0 when he gets onto the scoresheet; the Bears are 2-0 when Borgstrom scores a goal and 5-0 when he gets at least a point; Hershey is 2-0 when Frank lights the lamp and 4-0 when he records a point. Also of note is forward Mason Morelli, who has rotated through the first and fourth line over the course of the playoffs – Hershey is 4-0 when Morelli scores, and 8-0 when he gets onto the scoresheet.
COACHES BATTLE:
Bears head coach Todd Nelson, who is already one of three people in history to win the Calder Cup as a player (Portland, 1994), as an assistant coach (Chicago, 2008) and a head coach (Grand Rapids, 2017), is looking to add a fourth Calder Cup championship to his mantle. In 2008, his Chicago Wolves defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, whose assistant coach was current Firebirds head coach, Dan Bylsma. Bylsma is bidding to become the ninth head coach ever to win both the Calder Cup and Stanley Cup (Pittsburgh, 2009).
BEARS BITES:
A win and Calder Cup victory tonight for the Bears would mark only the fourth time in the history of the Calder Cup Finals that a team which opened the series with a two-games-to-none deficit managed to come back and eventually win the title; the last team to achieve the feat was the 2010 Bears squad…Logan Day is riding a team playoff-high four-game assist streak (5a) into tonight’s game…Hershey is 1-0 in road Wednesday games in the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs…The Bears are 2-0 on the road in the playoffs when leading after the first period, and 4-0 on the road in the playoffs when leading after the second…Hershey has gone 10-1 in the postseason in games decided by two or fewer goals.