Texas Advances to Calder Cup Final, Series vs Hershey Opens June 3

By www.theahl.com  Published on: Thursday May 27, 2010

The Texas Stars have won the Robert W. Clarke Trophy as the American Hockey League’s Western Conference champions for 2009-10, advancing to the Calder Cup Finals with a come-from-behind 4-2 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday night.





The Stars become the first team since the Chicago Wolves and Bridgeport Sound Tigers in 2002 to reach the Calder Cup Finals in their first AHL season. In doing so, Texas won a pair of Game 7’s on the road – just the fifth time in AHL history that feat has been accomplished. The Stars, who initially fell into a 2-0 series hole, also became the 21st AHL team to win a best-of-7 series after dropping the first two games.

Texas will face the Eastern Conference champion Hershey Bears in the AHL’s championship series, beginning on June 3 in Hershey.





Wednesday’s contest started ominously for the Stars, as they surrendered the first goal for the seventh time in as many games this round and for an eighth straight game overall. 

Bulldogs forward David Desharnais extended his points streak to nine games with his 10th tally of the playoffs at 19:51 of the opening period. Max Pacioretty put the ‘Dogs up 2-0 five and a half minutes into the second frame when he tucked his own rebound past Stars goaltender Matt Climie.





Texas began its comeback courtesy of a fluke goal. At 14:38 of the second frame, defenseman Ethan Graham sent a harmless-looking wrist shot from the left point in on goaltender Curtis Sanford, but the veteran Hamilton netminder misplayed the puck and it sailed over his shoulder and into the net. 

The Stars, who only found themselves down 2-1 after 40 minutes despite getting outshot 34-11, took control of the game with three goals on nine shots in the third period. Mathieu Beaudoin rifled home a shot from the right circle at 9:15 to make it a 2-2 contest, Perttu Lindgren gave the Stars a 3-2 lead when he redirected a Beaudoin feed in the slot at 14:00, and rookie standout Jamie Benn provided insurance with 1:27 to play, scoring his league-leading 14th goal of the playoffs. 

Climie finished with 41 saves on 43 shots for the Stars, who advanced despite holding a lead for only 24:19 of the 446:11 worth of hockey played during this conference finals series.





Hamilton, which fell to 2-3 all-time in Game 7’s, closed its season by losing consecutive home games for the first time since falling to Abbotsford and Texas on Feb. 13 and 16. 

The top affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, Texas was 46-27-3-4 for 99 points during the regular season, finishing second in the West Division and sixth overall.

Led by rookie AHL head coach Glen Gulutzan, the Stars defeated the Rockford IceHogs in the division semifinals (4-0), the Chicago Wolves in the division finals (4-3) and the Bulldogs in the conference finals (4-3).





Hershey Defeats Manchester in Eastern Conference Finals

The Hershey Bears won the Richard F. Canning Trophy as the AHL’s Eastern Conference champions for 2009-10, claiming the title with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Manchester Monarchs in Game 6 of their best-of-seven series at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., last Saturday night.





The Bears are heading to the Calder Cup Finals for the fourth time in the five years since they became the top development affiliate of the Washington Capitals in 2005-06, and for the 22nd time overall, extending their own league record. Hershey has won a record 10 Calder Cups in franchise history, most recently in 2006 and 2009.





Boyd Kane, the captain of the Bears’ 2006 Calder Cup title team, scored the series-clinching goal on Saturday night at 7:06 of the third period as the Bears set an AHL record with their seventh overtime win of the postseason. Kane tallied his first goal of the playoffs and became the seventh different Bear to score an overtime marker this postseason.





Nine of Hershey’s 12 wins during the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs have come after the Bears trailed in the third period, including Saturday’s clincher. 

Looking to force a Game 7 on Sunday, Manchester built a 2-0 lead entering the third frame. John Zeiler put the Monarchs on the board with just 17 seconds left in the opening period, and defenseman Joe Piskula extended the advantage at 17:44 of the second. The Monarchs limited Hershey’s offensive opportunities early in the third period, but the Bears were energized when Alexandre Giroux put a rebound past Manchester goaltender Jonathan Bernier at the 7:37 mark, his team-best 12th goal of the playoffs. 



Defenseman Patrick McNeill followed with the equalizer less than seven minutes later, burying a shot from the point through traffic for his first postseason goal. McNeill then joined Kyle Wilson in earning assists on Kane’s decisive overtime marker. 

Bears goaltender Michal Neuvirth (10-2), the 2009 Calder Cup Playoffs MVP, earned the victory in Game 6 with 32 saves on 34 shots.





The Monarchs fell to 0-8 all-time when facing postseason elimination. 

In his first season as head coach, Mark French guided the Bears to one of the greatest regular seasons ever in the AHL, setting a league record with 60 wins and posting 123 points (60-17-0-3), the second-highest total in the AHL’s 74-year history. Hershey defeated Bridgeport in the division semifinals (4-1) and Albany in the division finals (4-0) before outlasting Manchester (4-2) for the Eastern Conference championship in a series that saw four of six games go to overtime.




The Calder Cup Finals will get underway on June 3 at Giant Center in Hershey.



• Game 1 – Thu., June 3 – Texas at Hershey, 7:00


• Game 2 – Sat., June 5 – Texas at Hershey, 7:00
• 
Game 3 – Mon., June 7 – Hershey at Texas, 8:30


• Game 4 – Wed., June 9 – Hershey at Texas, 8:30


• *Game 5 – Fri., June 11 – Hershey at Texas, 8:30


• *Game 6 – Mon., June 14 – Texas at Hershey, 7:00


• *Game 7 – Wed., June 16 – Texas at Hershey, 7:00



*if necessary... All times Eastern