Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s AHL Morning Skate.
Playoff Brackets | Today’s Scoreboard | League Stats
@ 
Game 6 – 7:00 ET – AHL Live free-view, SiriusXM 91
(GR leads series, 3-2)
Follow @griffinshockey Follow @SyracuseCrunch Tweet #GRvsSYR
The Calder Cup will again be polished and ready, but Syracuse will try to keep it in its case once again as it visits Grand Rapids in Game 6 of the Finals tonight… The Crunch staved off elimination on Saturday with a 5-1 win back home, scoring five times on 12 shots in the first period… The Griffins still hold the 3-2 series lead and now have two shots at winning the Cup on home ice, where they are 9-0 thus far in the postseason and have outscored their opponents 42-23… Cory Conacher (12-15-27) tallied a goal and an assist and Yanni Gourde (7-18-25) recorded three assists in Game 5 to lead the Crunch… Conacher (8-9-17, +10) and Gourde (4-11-15, +8) both have eight-game scoring streaks, combining for 32 points and a plus-18 rating over that span… Kevin Lynch (3-1-4) set the tone in Game 5 with a goal 17 seconds into the contest… Mike McKenna (13-8, 2.62, .914) stopped all 18 shots he faced in the opening period and finished the night with 36 saves — his ninth performance in the last 10 games of 32 saves or more… Ben Street (8-12-20), who scored the Griffins’ only goal in Game 5, now leads the team in playoff scoring and has four goals in the Finals… Tomas Nosek (10-9-19) and Tyler Bertuzzi (8-10-18) have both gone two games without a point for the first time this postseason… Jared Coreau (14-4, 2.83, .910), who did not allow five goals in a game through the entire regular season, has been touched for five goals by the Crunch three times in the Finals… Eddie Pasquale played the final two-plus periods of Game 5 and stopped all 19 shots he faced in his first game action since the Griffins’ regular-season finale on Apr. 15… It was also Pasquale’s first playoff appearance since he led St. John’s to the conference finals in 2012… Grand Rapids was 4-for-11 on the power play in Games 1 and 2, but 0-for-16 in the three games in Syracuse… The team scoring first has won all five games of this series… Before Saturday’s loss, Grand Rapids had won its previous seven games overall and its previous six road games with a chance to close out a playoff series… The Griffins, who have won 11 straight at home dating back to the regular season, are the seventh team in AHL history with at least nine consecutive home wins in the same playoffs… Seven of Syracuse’s eight losses this postseason have been by a single goal… Grand Rapids has not lost back-to-back games since Apr. 8-9 (0-1-0-1)… The Crunch won twice at Van Andel Arena when facing elimination during the 2013 Finals… This is the first Calder Cup Finals series to reach six games since that 2013 meeting between these teams.
2017 Calder Cup Finals – Series “O” (best-of-7)
Grand Rapids Griffins vs. Syracuse Crunch | Finals Infographic
Game 1 – Fri., June 2 – GRAND RAPIDS 3, Syracuse 2 | Recap/Highlights
Game 2 – Sat., June 3 – GRAND RAPIDS 6, Syracuse 5 (2OT) | Recap/Highlights
Game 3 – Wed., June 7 – SYRACUSE 5, Grand Rapids 3 | Recap/Highlights
Game 4 – Fri., June 9 – Grand Rapids 3, SYRACUSE 2 | Recap/Highlights
Game 5 – Sat., June 10 – SYRACUSE 5, Grand Rapids 1 | Recap/Highlights
Game 6 – Tue., June 13 – Syracuse at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 14 – Syracuse at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
Reading List
Griffins back home with two cracks to win one and claim Calder Cup (Grand Rapids Press)
Crunch coach on brink of history: ‘We want this city to never forget us’ (Syracuse.com)
Griffins looking to revive power play in Game 6 and clinch Calder Cup (Grand Rapids Press)
Charter of champions? Crunch rides same plane used by Penguins after Stanley Cup win (Syracuse.com)
Griffins one win away from Calder Cup: ‘I like our chances’ (WOOD)
Wolf Pack name Keith McCambridge coach (Hartford Courant)
Lucky 13th
The Calder Cup has been awarded on June 13 four times, the most of any calendar date:
June 13 (four times) – 1996, 1997, 1999, 2015
June 10 (three times) – 1998, 2005, 2008
May 15 (three times) – 1972, 1973, 1978
April 30 (three times) – 1965, 1967, 1977
April 10 (three times) – 1941, 1945, 1955
Comeback Plans
Only four teams in Calder Cup Finals history have won Games 6 and 7 of the series to win the championship:
1987 – Rochester Americans def. Sherbrooke, 4-3 (trailed 3-2)
1949 – Providence Reds def. Hershey, 4-3 (trailed 3-1)
1947 – Hershey Bears def. Pittsburgh, 4-3 (trailed 3-1)
1946 – Buffalo Bisons def. Cleveland, 4-3 (trailed 3-1)
Road Blues
Syracuse’s seven road losses have tied the AHL record for a single Calder Cup Playoffs… No team has ever won the Calder Cup while losing more than six road games.
2017 Syracuse Crunch (2-7)
2011 Hamilton Bulldogs (3-7; lost conference finals)
2009 Houston Aeros (4-7; lost conference finals)
2004 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (6-7; lost Finals)
1999 Rochester Americans (3-7; lost Finals)
1996 Portland Pirates (6-7; lost Finals)
1989 New Haven Nighthawks (2-7; lost Finals)
1981 Maine Mariners (2-7; lost Finals)
Calder Cup Finals History (1992-2016)
2016 – Lake Erie Monsters 4, Hershey Bears 0
2015 – Manchester Monarchs 4, Utica Comets 1
2014 – Texas Stars 4, St. John’s IceCaps 1
2013 – Grand Rapids Griffins 4, Syracuse Crunch 2
2012 – Norfolk Admirals 4, Toronto Marlies 0
2011 – Binghamton Senators 4, Houston Aeros 2
2010 – Hershey Bears 4, Texas Stars 2
2009 – Hershey Bears 4, Manitoba Moose 2
2008 – Chicago Wolves 4, W-B/Scranton Penguins 2
2007 – Hamilton Bulldogs 4, Hershey Bears 1
2006 – Hershey Bears 4, Milwaukee Admirals 2
2005 – Philadelphia Phantoms 4, Chicago Wolves 0
2004 – Milwaukee Admirals 4, W-B/Scranton Penguins 0
2003 – Houston Aeros 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 3
2002 – Chicago Wolves 4, Bridgeport Sound Tigers 1
2001 – Saint John Flames 4, W-B/Scranton Penguins 2
2000 – Hartford Wolf Pack 4, Rochester Americans 2
1999 – Providence Bruins 4, Rochester Americans 1
1998 – Philadelphia Phantoms 4, Saint John Flames 2
1997 – Hershey Bears 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 1
1996 – Rochester Americans 4, Portland Pirates 3
1995 – Albany River Rats 4, Fredericton Canadiens 0
1994 – Portland Pirates 4, Moncton Hawks 2
1993 – Cape Breton Oilers 4, Rochester Americans 1
1992 – Adirondack Red Wings 4, St. John’s Maple Leafs 3
Working Overtime
There have been 18 overtime games played in the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:
June 3 – GRAND RAPIDS 6, Syracuse 5 (Ben Street, 27:02)
May 21 – PROVIDENCE 2, Syracuse 1 (Jordan Szwarz, 8:28)
May 14 – Hershey 3, PROVIDENCE 2 (Madison Bowey, 1:58)
May 11 – Hershey 2, PROVIDENCE 1 (Chris Bourque, 7:14)
May 10 – San Jose 4, SAN DIEGO 3 (Timo Meier, 17:40)
May 7 – HERSHEY 3, Providence 2 (Travis Boyd, 5:44)
May 5 – San Diego 3, SAN JOSE 2 (Kevin Roy, 0:38)
*May 2 – SAN JOSE 2, Stockton 1 (Ryan Carpenter, 8:52)
*Apr. 28 – TORONTO 2, Albany 1 (Justin Holl, 46:43)
*Apr. 28 – SYRACUSE 2, St. John’s 1 (Gabriel Dumont, 2:18)
*Apr. 26 – Grand Rapids 3, MILWAUKEE 2 (Kyle Criscuolo, 10:03)
Apr. 26 – TORONTO 3, Albany 2 (Colin Greening, 0:45)
Apr. 26 – Lehigh Valley 2, HERSHEY 1 (Chris Conner, 1:49)
Apr. 23 – Charlotte 4, CHICAGO 3 (Connor Brickley, 9:28)
Apr. 23 – W-B/Scranton 6, PROVIDENCE 5 (Derrick Pouliot, 7:49)
Apr. 22 – Syracuse 4, ST. JOHN’S 3 (Tye McGinn, 30:37)
Apr. 21 – GRAND RAPIDS 4, Milwaukee 3 (Tomas Nosek, 9:32)
Apr. 21 – Hershey 1, LEHIGH VALLEY 0 (Nathan Walker, 7:38)
*clinched series
About the Calder Cup
The Calder Cup is named for Frank Calder, the first president of the NHL (1917-43) and one of the driving forces behind the formation of the American Hockey League.
While the AHL’s history dates back to the fall of 1936, the Calder Cup trophy was first awarded in 1938 to the Providence Reds for winning the second International-American Hockey League championship. (In 1996, George Parsons of the Syracuse Stars was presented the Calder Cup in a ceremony at the Onondaga County War Memorial; it is believed the Stars never received a trophy for their 1937 championship.)
In 2001, the trophy’s base was changed to include two tiers of plaques, which feature the rosters of each of the last 20 Calder Cup champions; the plaques from the first 60 champions are on display in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The entire trophy now stands 24 inches tall and weighs 28 pounds. The bowl, made of sterling silver, is 12 inches high and eight inches in diameter; the base is made of Brazilian mahogany.
Alumni Watch
In Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Sunday night, Patric Hornqvist scored with 1:35 left in regulation to send Pittsburgh to a 2-0 win over Nashville and its second consecutive championship… 2004 AHL All-Star Chris Kunitz, who assisted on the winning goal, won his fourth career Stanley Cup… 2017 AHL All-Rookie forward Jake Guentzel (13-8-21) finished the postseason tied for the NHL record for points by a rookie… Matt Murray, the AHL’s outstanding rookie and outstanding goaltender in 2014-15, made 27 saves for his second straight shutout to close out the series.
On This Date
June 13, 2015 – In their final game as members of the American Hockey League, the Manchester Monarchs defeat Utica, 2-1, to win the Calder Cup.
June 13, 2006 – Eric Fehr scores twice and Hershey defeats Milwaukee, 6-4, to take a 3-2 series lead in the Calder Cup Finals… Shea Weber tallies a goal and an assist in the loss for the Admirals.
June 13, 1999 – Led by rookie head coach Peter Laviolette, Providence defeats Rochester, 5-1, to capture the city’s first Calder Cup title in 43 years.
June 13, 1997 – The Hershey Bears win the franchise’s eighth Calder Cup, defeating Hamilton, 4-1, in Game 5 of the Finals.
June 13, 1996 – Brian Holzinger scores the winning goal as John Tortorella’s Rochester Americans defeat Barry Trotz’s Portland Pirates, 2-1, in a classic Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals.
Calder Cup Finals on AHL Live
The American Hockey League and NeuLion, Inc., are making video streaming of all seven games of the 2017 Calder Cup Finals available for viewing at no charge from AHL Live via desktop, laptop, mobile device or tablet… To watch free on AHL Live, simply visit ahllive.com from any desktop computer, log in with your AHL Live account (or create a new one), select the Finals All-Access Pass and enter the promo code FINALS17 to access all of the action of the AHL’s championship series featuring the calls of the Griffins’ Bob Kaser and the Crunch’s Dan D’Uva… You can watch on your desktop or laptop through ahllive.com, or download the official AHL Live app from iTunes or Google Play to watch on your mobile device or tablet.
