American Hockey League postseason tournament
The 2023 Calder Cup playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Hockey League (AHL) to determine the winner of the Calder Cup , which is awarded to the AHL playoff champions.
The 2023 playoffs began on April 18, 2023, with the 23-team playoff format that was introduced in 2022. All teams except the bottom two teams of the Atlantic, North, and Central divisions, as well as the bottom three teams of the Pacific division qualified for the playoffs. Each division has a best-of-three series in the first round to determine the top 16 teams for the division semifinals, with various teams receiving byes based on regular season performance.[1]
The 16 teams that remain—four from each division—will play a best-of-five series in the division semifinals, with the playoffs continuing with another best-of-five series for the division finals and a best-of-seven series for the conference finals and Calder Cup finals.
The Hershey Bears defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds in overtime of game seven, granting Hershey their 12th Calder Cup in team history and first since 2010 . This was only the second time a game seven went to overtime in the finals, and the first since 1953 .[2]
Playoff seeds
After the 2022–23 AHL regular season , 23 teams qualified for the playoffs. The top 5 teams in the North and Central divisions, the top 6 teams in the Atlantic division, and the top 7 teams in the Pacific division based on points total qualified for the 2023 Calder Cup playoffs. The Calgary Wranglers won the regular season title in their season finale.[3]
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
Providence Bruins – 98 points (.681)
Hershey Bears – 97 points (.674)
Charlotte Checkers – 86 points (.597)
Springfield Thunderbirds – 84 points (.583)
Hartford Wolf Pack – 81 points (.563)
Lehigh Valley Phantoms – 80 points (.556)
North Division
Toronto Marlies – 90 points (.625)
Syracuse Crunch – 81 points (.563), 27 RWs
Rochester Americans – 81 points (.563), 25 RWs
Utica Comets – 80 points (.556)
Laval Rocket – 76 points (.528)
Western Conference
Central Division
Texas Stars – 92 points (.639)
Milwaukee Admirals – 89 points (.618)
Manitoba Moose – 84 points (.583)
Iowa Wild – 79 points (.549), 24 RWs
Rockford IceHogs – 79 points (.549), 20 RWs
Pacific Division
Calgary Wranglers – 106 points (.736)
Coachella Valley Firebirds – 103 points (.715)
Colorado Eagles – 90 points (.625)
Abbotsford Canucks – 87 points (.604)
Bakersfield Condors – 78 points (.542)
Ontario Reign – 74 points (.514)
Tucson Roadrunners – 69 points (.479), 25 RWs
Bracket
First Round April 18 – 23
Division Semifinals April 21 – May 6
Division Finals May 11 – 21
Conference Finals May 23 – June 5
Calder Cup Finals June 8 – 21
A1
Providence
1
A4
Springfield
0
A5
Hartford
3
A5
Hartford
2
Atlantic Division A5
Hartford
0
A2
Hershey
3
A2
Hershey
3
Eastern Conference A3
Charlotte
2
A3
Charlotte
1
A6
Lehigh Valley
1
A2
Hershey
4
N3
Rochester
2
N1
Toronto
3
N4
Utica
2
N4
Utica
1
N5
Laval
0
North Division N1
Toronto
0
N3
Rochester
3
N2
Syracuse
2
N3
Rochester
3
A2
Hershey
4
P2
Coachella Valley
3
C1
Texas
3
C4
Iowa
0
C5
Rockford
0
C5
Rockford
2
Central Division C1
Texas
2
C2
Milwaukee
3
C2
Milwaukee
3
Western Conference C3
Manitoba
2
C2
Milwaukee
2
P2
Coachella Valley
4
P1
Calgary
3
P4
Abbotsford
2
P4
Abbotsford
1
P5
Bakersfield
0
Pacific Division P1
Calgary
2
P2
Coachella Valley
2
P2
Coachella Valley
3
P7
Tucson
1
P2
Coachella Valley
3
P3
Colorado
2
P3
Colorado
2
P6
Ontario
0
First round
Eastern Conference
(A3) Charlotte Checkers vs. (A6) Lehigh Valley Phantoms
April 21
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
0 – 6
Charlotte Checkers
Bojangles Coliseum
Recap
No scoring
First period
No scoring
No scoring
Second period
03:04 - Patrick Giles (1) 06:54 - Riley Nash (2) 10:52- Dominic Franco (1) 15:12 - Henry Bowlby (1) 18:08 - pp - Cameron Morrison (1)
No scoring
Third period
08:47 - sh - Connor Bunnaman (2)
Samuel Ersson ( 11 saves / 15 shots ) Nolan Maier ( 9 saves / 11 shots )
Goalie stats
Jean-François Bérubé ( 31 saves / 31 shots )
Charlotte won series 2 – 1
(A4) Springfield Thunderbirds vs. (A5) Hartford Wolf Pack
Hartford won series 2 – 0
(N4) Utica Comets vs. (N5) Laval Rocket
April 19
Utica Comets
4 – 0
Laval Rocket
Place Bell
Recap
Reilly Walsh (1) - 12:21
First period
No scoring
Aarne Talvitie (1) - 03:11 Ryan Schmelzer (1) - 18:49
Second period
No scoring
Ryan Schmelzer (2) - en - 18:53
Third period
No scoring
Nico Daws ( 33 saves / 33 shots )
Goalie stats
Cayden Primeau ( 20 saves / 23 shots )
Western Conference
(C4) Iowa Wild vs. (C5) Rockford IceHogs
Rockford won series 2 – 0
(P2) Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. (P7) Tucson Roadrunners
Coachella Valley won series 2 – 1
(P3) Colorado Eagles vs. (P6) Ontario Reign
Colorado won series 2 – 0
(P4) Abbotsford Canucks vs. (P5) Bakersfield Condors
April 19
Bakersfield Condors
0 – 3
Abbotsford Canucks
Abbotsford Centre
Recap
No scoring
First period
No scoring
No scoring
Second period
Max Sasson (1) - 01:28 Max Sasson (2) - 04:58
No scoring
Third period
Jack Rathbone (1) - 14:28
Calvin Pickard ( 27 saves / 30 shots )
Goalie stats
Spencer Martin ( 21 saves / 21 shots )
Abbotsford won series 2 – 0
Division semifinals
Eastern Conference
(A1) Providence Bruins vs. (A5) Hartford Wolf Pack
Hartford won series 3 – 1
(A2) Hershey Bears vs. (A3) Charlotte Checkers
(N1) Toronto Marlies vs. (N4) Utica Comets
(N2) Syracuse Crunch vs. (N3) Rochester Americans
April 22
Rochester Americans
0 – 3
Syracuse Crunch
Upstate Medical University Arena
Recap
No scoring
First period
01:52 - Ryan Jones (1) 11:29 - Gage Goncalves (1)
No scoring
Second period
No scoring
No scoring
Third period
19:27 - en - Gage Goncalves (2)
Malcolm Subban ( 29 saves / 31 shots )
Goalie stats
Maxime Lagacé ( 18 saves / 18 shots )
Rochester won series 3 – 2
Western Conference
(C1) Texas Stars vs. (C5) Rockford IceHogs
(C2) Milwaukee Admirals vs. (C3) Manitoba Moose
Milwaukee won series 3 – 2
(P1) Calgary Wranglers vs. (P4) Abbotsford Canucks
(P2) Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. (P3) Colorado Eagles
April 30
Colorado Eagles
1 – 0
OT
Coachella Valley Firebirds
Acrisure Arena
Recap
No scoring
First period
No scoring
No scoring
Second period
No scoring
No scoring
Third period
No scoring
Keaton Middleton (1) - 01:40
First overtime period
No scoring
Jonas Johansson ( 29 saves / 29 shots )
Goalie stats
Joey Daccord ( 24 saves / 25 shots )
Coachella Valley won series 3 – 2
Division finals
Eastern Conference
(A2) Hershey Bears vs. (A5) Hartford Wolf Pack
(N1) Toronto Marlies vs. (N3) Rochester Americans
Rochester won series 3 – 0
Western Conference
(C1) Texas Stars vs. (C2) Milwaukee Admirals
Milwaukee won series 3 – 2
(P1) Calgary Wranglers vs. (P2) Coachella Valley Firebirds
May 17
Calgary Wranglers
1 – 0
Coachella Valley Firebirds
Acrisure Arena
Recap
No scoring
First period
No scoring
Cole Schwindt (2) - pp - 7:20
Second period
No scoring
No scoring
Third period
No scoring
Dustin Wolf ( 27 saves / 27 shots )
Goalie stats
Joey Daccord ( 31 saves / 32 shots )
Coachella Valley won series 3 – 2
Conference finals
Eastern Conference
(A2) Hershey Bears vs. (N3) Rochester Americans
Western Conference
(P2) Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. (C2) Milwaukee Admirals
Coachella Valley won series 4 – 2
Calder Cup Finals
Calder Cup Game 6 on June 19, 2023
(P2) Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. (A2) Hershey Bears
June 17
Coachella Valley Firebirds
0 – 1
OT
Hershey Bears
Giant Center
Recap
No scoring
First period
No scoring
No scoring
Second period
No scoring
No scoring
Third period
No scoring
No scoring
First overtime period
10:01 – Garrett Pilon (4)
Joey Daccord (30 saves / 31 shots)
Goalie stats
Hunter Shepard (21 saves / 21 shots)
Playoff statistical leaders
Leading skaters
These are the top ten skaters based on points. If there is a tie in points, goals take precedence over assists.[4]
Leading goaltenders
This is a combined table of the top five goaltenders based on goals against average and the top five goaltenders based on save percentage with at least 60 minutes played. The table is initially sorted by goals against average, with the criterion for inclusion in bold .[5]
References
External links
Preceded by
Calder Cup playoffs 2023
Succeeded by
Eastern Conference Western Conference