Down to the Final Four in AHL Calder Cup Playoffs

By Darryl Dionne  Published on: Wednesday May 12, 2010

Western Conference Finals

The motto for the Texas Stars going into Game 7 of the AHL West Division finals had to do with character. And after falling behind by two goals in the first four minutes, the Stars had to muster all of the character they could get.

Rookie Jamie Benn fired a shot from the left faceoff circle past Chicago goalie Drew MacIntyre just 4 minutes, 57 seconds into overtime, giving the Stars a 6-5 win and the series before 3,958 fans at Allstate Arena, advancing to the Western Conference Finals in their first season of play in the American Hockey League.

Meanwhile, the Hamilton Bulldogs are in the conference finals for the fourth time in nine years after a 4-0 six-game victory over the Abbotsford Heat in the North Division Finals on Monday night. Curtis Sanford posted 30 saves in the shutout while David Desharnais recorded a goal and an assist.

The American Hockey League has announced the following schedule for the Western Conference Finals series in the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs:

Hamilton Bulldogs vs. Texas Stars

• Game 1 – Fri., May 14 – Texas at Hamilton, 7:30
• Game 2 – Sun., May 16 – Texas at Hamilton, 2:00
• Game 3 – Wed., May 19 – Hamilton at Texas, 8:30
• Game 4 – Fri., May 21 – Hamilton at Texas, 8:30
• *Game 5 – Sat., May 22 – Hamilton at Texas, 8:00
• *Game 6 – Mon., May 24 – Texas at Hamilton, 7:30
• *Game 7 – Wed., May 26 – Texas at Hamilton, 7:30

*if necessary... All times Eastern

Eastern Conference Finals

The Eastern Conference championship series gets underway Wednesday night as the Hershey Bears and Manchester Monarchs battle for the right to play for the Calder Cup.

The Bears will have had 12 full days off between games by the time the puck drops for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series, after sweeping away the Albany River Rats to win their fourth East Division playoff title in five years.

Hershey is 8-1 in the playoffs after a 60-win regular season, but the road to the conference finals has had plenty of bumps as the Bears have staged six third-period comebacks and have prevailed in four trips to overtime already this postseason.

Hershey features the AHL’s top three playoff scorers in Alexandre Giroux (10-7-17), Chris Bourque (4-11-15) and Andrew Gordon (9-5-14), as well as the league’s assists leader in Keith Aucoin (1-12-13). The Bears have scored 4.44 goals per game in the postseason and have converted on 25 percent of their power plays, but will be running into a Manchester club that has allowed a league-low 1.50 goals per game in the playoffs to date.

After a third-place finish in the regular season, Manchester got past second-place Portland and division-champion Worcester to represent the Atlantic Division in the conference finals for the second time in four years.

The Monarchs have been riding the white-hot goaltending of Baz Bastien Award winner Jonathan Bernier, who has stopped 296 of 311 shots for a 1.48 goals-against average and .952 save percentage in 10 starts, and the timely scoring of Bud Holloway, whose six game-winning goals in the first two rounds have already tied the AHL record for an entire postseason.

Hershey Bears vs. Manchester Monarchs

• Game 1 – Wed., May 12 – Manchester at Hershey, 7:00
• Game 2 – Sat., May 15 – Manchester at Hershey, 7:00
• Game 3 – Mon., May 17 – Hershey at Manchester, 7:00
• Game 4 – Tue., May 18 – Hershey at Manchester, 7:00
• *Game 5 – Thu., May 20 – Hershey at Manchester, 7:00
• *Game 6 – Sat., May 22 – Manchester at Hershey, 7:00
• *Game 7 – Sun., May 23 – Manchester at Hershey, 5:00

*if necessary… All times Eastern