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The Calder Cup Playoffs got underway with a single game Tuesday night and continue Wednesday with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Atlantic Division among those joining in.
Some things to know to better follow and understand the AHL’s postseason:
FORMAT
Each division conducts its own set of playoffs until the four divisional playoff champions are determined and advance to conference finals.
Just as AHL divisions have differing numbers of teams to help them make sense geographically, the Calder Cup Playoffs and the number of qualifiers differ from division to division.
There are six playoff teams in the Atlantic Division, meaning two quarterfinal series.
All divisional quarterfinals are best-of-three series.
There are five teams each in the North and Central Division playoffs and seven teams in the Pacific Division playoffs, making it 23 total teams chasing the Calder Cup.
Once down to four teams in each division, the division semifinals and finals follow a best-of-five format. The conference final and league final are best-of-seven.
Some divisional semifinals will begin while the quarterfinals are being played.
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 all earned byes into division semifinals.
In addition to the Penguins and Phantoms, the Charlotte Checkers and Hartford Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division; the Belleville Senators and Toronto Marlies in the North; the Texas Stars and Manitoba Moose in the Central; and Tucson Roadrunners, Calgary Wranglers, Ontario Reign, Bakersfield Condors, Colorado Eagles and Abbotsford Canucks in the Pacific are participating in the quarterfinal round.
PENGUINS SERIES
The Penguins host the series opener Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.
Lehigh Valley hosts Game 2 at the PP&L Center in Allentown Friday at 7 p.m.
If a Game 3 is needed, it will be back at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday at 5:05 p.m.
PENGUINS ROSTER
The team that enters the playoffs differs somewhat from the combination Wilkes-Barre/Scranton put on the ice at any point in a season in which the team used 56 players, including four goalies.
With the parent Pittsburgh Penguins falling short of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and additions from recent tryout contract signings, coach J.D. Forrest will have 21 forwards, 11 defensemen and three goalies to choose from for the presumably 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goalies the team will dress each night.
Pittsburgh’s elimination made Jack St. Ivany, Valtteri Puustinen, Radim Zohorna and Ryan Shea available to return to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton lineup because they were on the “clear day” rosters as AHL players at the roster deadline.
The forwards on the roster entering the playoffs are: 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 defensemen 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 goalies are Joel Blomqvist, Taylor Gauthier and Ludovic Waeber.
NOTES
The Penguins, who are celebrating their 25th season, are playing in the Calder Cup Playoffs for the 19th time. They missed the playoffs in the inaugural 1999-2000 season and there were no playoffs in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 because of COVID, so they have made 19 of the last 22 postseasons. A year ago was one of the exceptions after a stretch of making the playoffs 17 straight times.
Although they have never won a Calder Cup, the Penguins have been a winning team overall in the playoffs. They are 23-18 in playoff series and 106-105 in playoff games. They reached the finals in 2001, 2004 and 2008.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Lehigh Valley are meeting for the first time, but the Penguins were 3-1 in series against their predecessor, the Philadelphia Phantoms.
Blomqvist, the team’s only 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 defending champion, winning its record 12th Calder Cup last season with an overtime victory in Game 7 vs. Coachella Valley. The Bears went into the final game of the regular season with a chance to post 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 made it through the entire season without losing consecutive games in regulation.