The Calder Cup Playoffs began with one game on Tuesday night and will continue on Wednesday with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Atlantic Division joining in.
Some information to help you follow and understand the AHL's postseason:
FORMAT
Each division has its own set of playoffs until the four divisional champions are decided and move on to the conference finals.
Just like AHL divisions have different numbers of teams for geographical reasons, the Calder Cup Playoffs and the number of teams involved also differ from division to division.
The Atlantic Division has six playoff teams, leading to two quarterfinal series.
All divisional quarterfinals consist of best-of-three series.
The North and Central Division playoffs have five teams each, while the Pacific Division playoffs have seven teams, resulting in a total of 23 teams competing for the Calder Cup.
Once each division is down to four teams, the semifinals and finals will be best-of-five series. The conference final and league final will be best-of-seven.
Some divisional semifinals may start while the quarterfinals are ongoing.
QUALIFIERS
The Hershey Bears and Providence Bruins in the Atlantic Division; the Cleveland Monsters, Rochester Americans, and Syracuse Crunch in the North Division; the Milwaukee Admirals, Grand Rapids Griffins, and Rockford IceHogs in the Central Division; and Coachella Valley Firebirds in the Pacific Division have all earned byes into the division semifinals.
Alongside the Penguins and Phantoms, the Charlotte Checkers and Hartford Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division; the Belleville Senators and Toronto Marlies in the North Division; the Texas Stars and Manitoba Moose in the Central Division; and Tucson Roadrunners, Calgary Wranglers, Ontario Reign, Bakersfield Condors, Colorado Eagles, and Abbotsford Canucks in the Pacific Division are participating in the quarterfinal round.
PENGUINS SERIES
The Penguins will host the first game of the series on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.
Lehigh Valley will host Game 2 at the PP&L Center in Allentown on Friday at 7 p.m.
If a Game 3 is necessary, it will be back at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday at 5:05 p.m.
PENGUINS ROSTER
The team entering the playoffs is somewhat different from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team that played throughout the season, which saw 56 players, including four goalies, in action.
With the parent Pittsburgh Penguins not making it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the recent addition of players from tryout contracts, coach J.D. Forrest will have a choice of 21 forwards, 11 defensemen, and three goalies for the expected lineup of 12 forwards, six defensemen, and two goalies each night.
Pittsburgh's elimination means Jack St. Ivany, Valtteri Puustinen, Radim Zohorna, and Ryan Shea can return to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton lineup as they were listed on the 'clear day' rosters as AHL players by the roster deadline.
The forwards on the roster for the playoffs include Marc Johnstone, Vasily Ponomarev, Corey Andonovski, Vinnie Hinostroza, Joona Koppanen, Logan Pietila, Sam Poulin, Jagger Joshua, Austin Rueschhoff, Peter Abbandonato, Tristan Broz, Matt Filipe, Ville Koivunen, Jonathan Gruden, Matthieu De St. Phalle, Sam Houde, Beau Jelsma, Cooper Foster, Raivis Ansons, Avery Hayes, Puustinen, and Zohorna.
The defense players on the roster are: Taylor Fedun, Ty Smith, Owen Pickering, Jack Rathbone, Dmitri Samorukov, Scooter Brickey, Xavier Ouellet, Emil Pieniniemi, Owen Headrick, St. Ivany and Shea.
The goalkeepers are Joel Blomqvist, Taylor Gauthier and Ludovic Waeber.
NOTES
The Penguins, who are celebrating their 25th season, are participating in the Calder Cup Playoffs for the 19th time. They did not make the playoffs in the first 1999-2000 season, and there were no playoffs in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 due to COVID, so they have been in 19 of the last 22 postseasons. They missed the playoffs last year after making the playoffs 17 times in a row.
Even though they have never won a Calder Cup, the Penguins have been a winning team overall in the playoffs. They have a 23-18 record in playoff series and a 106-105 record in playoff games. They made it to the finals in 2001, 2004 and 2008.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Lehigh Valley are facing each other for the first time, but the Penguins had a 3-1 record in series against their predecessor, the Philadelphia Phantoms.
Blomqvist, the team’s sole representative in the midseason AHL All-Star Classic, is a second-team AHL All-Star. Smith led the team in assists (34) and points (43). Hinostroza and Poulin are the top goal-scorers on the playoff roster with 16, one behind Alex Nylander, who had 17 before being traded.
Hershey is the reigning champion, winning its record 12th Calder Cup last season with an overtime victory in Game 7 against Coachella Valley. The Bears entered the final game of the regular season with a chance to achieve the best points percentage in AHL history, but an overtime loss left them at 53-14-0-5 (.771), just short of the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers, who had a .775 points percentage with a 57-13-10 record.
The 53 Hershey wins are the most in a 72-game schedule. The Bears went through the entire season without losing consecutive games in regulation.
