Bears, Amerks Set To Battle For Trip To Calder Cup Finals

HERSHEY, Pa. - Two of the most storied franchises in the American Hockey League (AHL) will battle in the Eastern Conference Finals with a trip to the 2023 Calder Cup Finals on the line when the Hershey Bears and Rochester Americans embark on Game 1 Tuesday night at Giant Center.

The Hershey Bears, established in 1938, have a long and rich history - including 11 Calder Cup Championships and 23 members of the franchise enshrined in the AHL Hall of Fame.

The Rochester Americans, established in 1956, also have a long and rich history in the league - with six Calder Cup Championships and 18 members of the franchise in the AHL's Hall of Fame.

So what can we expect?

How They Got Here

Hershey Bears

The Bears defeated the Charlotte Checkers 3-1 in the Atlantic Division semis. Hershey exploded out of the gates with 5-2 and 5-1 victories in Charlotte to take a commanding lead in the best-of-5 series. After dropping Game 3 at home, they eliminated the Checkers and moved on to the Atlantic Division Finals.

In the Atlantic Division Finals, Hershey swept a Hartford team that was making a Cinderella-style run through the playoffs, peaking at just the right time. In Game 1 in Hershey, the Bears, coming back from an 0-2 deficit, earned a 3-2 victory in overtime, setting the tone for the best-of-5 series. The Bears were victorious in Hershey 4-2 and then clinched the series 3-1 in Hartford in Game 3 to claim the Atlantic Division Title.

Rochester Americans

Rochester fell behind 0-2 in their opening round best-of-five series with the Syracuse Crunch.

They have since won six straight games - eliminating the Crunch in overtime on the road in Game Five before sweeping the Toronto Marlies in three games to claim the North Division title.

Team Leaders

Hershey

Hershey's balanced scoring has been evident in their playoff run.

While the Bears primarily got scoring from their top line in the regular season, the team now has 19 of 22 skaters recording points in the postseason. Aliaksei Protas, Sam Anas, and Joe Snively lead the team with seven points apiece through their seven games played. Protas, Connor McMichael, and Mason Morelli have each recorded three goals. Snively's six assists is a team-high.

Hunter Shepard started Game 1 in Charlotte and has remained Hershey's backstop throughout both series so far. His stats boast a 6-1-0 record, 1.71 GAA, and a .933 save percentage. His goals-against average leads all goaltenders still alive in the playoffs and he is second only to Joey Daccord's save percentage and win totals among active goaltenders.

Rochester

Rochester also has benefited from depth scoring, getting at least a point from 19 of their 22 skaters. Mason Jobst leads the way in points with 11 and assists with nine over eight games played. Rookie Jiri Kulich leads the team with six goals in six games played.

Similar to Hershey, Malcolm Subban has played all eight games the Americans have played so far. He is 6-2-0 through those contests with a 3.06 GAA and a .910 save percentage. He is tied with Shepard and Milwaukee’s Yaroslav Askarov for second in wins and ranks last among the remaining active playoff goaltenders in both goals-against average and save percentage.

Bears' Head Coach Todd Nelson

On What Hershey's Forwards Need To Do:

"I think we have to get the puck in deep and use our forecheck to our advantage," Nelson told InsideAHLHockey.com after the team's practice Sunday. "Also, that being said, the resets behind the net, making sure that they've earned their exits. And what I mean by that [...] there should be some heavy lifting down low. We saw some of that in the previous two series, but it's pretty imperative against Rochester, to make their defense defend."

On Hershey's Defense Having The Chance To Be The Difference:

"I like the way our defensemen have been cutting off the cycle in our own zone," Nelson said Sunday. "We've been pretty efficient breaking the puck out, and also now, it's funny how things work; we didn't get a whole lot of offense during the regular season from our defense, but now they're producing. It's funny how this game works, but it's good on our defensemen, they take pride in what they do."

On Hunter Shepard Needing To Be Ready For Heavy Workload:

"Well, he's going to get some work," Nelson said of Shepard. "You know, this is an offensive team we're playing against from what we're seeing. But I feel Shep is fine. Just as long as we, as a group of five in front, do our job, we should be fine."

On Special Teams And The Role They Will Play in the Series:

"Well, I mentioned about their power play, right, so it's gonna be a challenge for our penalty kill. The best way of combating that is being disciplined, and there's gonna be penalties... we just can't take any dumb ones," Nelson quipped. "And then, for their kill, they're pretty aggressive on their PK, so our guys have to move the puck quick, get pucks to the net. It's going to be a blue collar series. Special teams are key. And ultimately, the five-on-five play is going to be a blue collar-type series."

On What Hershey Expects From Rochester:

"They're pretty similar to Charlotte. They're really good off the rush, and that's how they score quite a few of their goals, so obviously we're working on rush coverage, but their goaltender has been playing well. Also they're pretty lethal on the power play, so we're going to need to be disciplined," Nelson said.

On Switching To The Best-of-Seven Format In Conference Finals:

"I mean, we just take it game by game, but it's going to go quick because we play every other day. This is like a National Hockey League schedule. And so you play Tuesday, and all of a sudden, they're back on Thursday, and we play Saturday, so it's every other day. So even though it's seven games, it does go quick," Nelson said of the best-of-seven format. "So you have to make sure we're ready for the first game, the first shift. We take it period by period. We want to do what we did last series, and maintain home ice and take care of business here at home and then hopefully make some noise."

Bears' Captain Dylan McIlrath

According to Hershey's captain, Dylan McIlrath, the Bears need to be disciplined and understand that this is a long series.

"Just I mean, we want to remain a team that's tough, but disciplined. So it's going to be playing between the whistles and making sure we're not taking any unnecessary penalties. Obviously, we want to play hard, and we'll kill off penalties that we deem that we needed to take."

On the Approach to a Seven-Game Series Being a Little Different:

"Yeah, I mean, it's more realistic of who the better team is in a best of seven. I'm assuming it'll be a lot of good back and forth hockey. With the best of five it was obviously really important to get the first couple wins. This is more of the long game, you figure each other out a bit more on a longer series, but we're gonna just try to take it one game at a time."

On the Mood of the Team And Enjoying The Present:

"Well, I think it's important to enjoy ourselves," McIlrath, who won a Calder Cup with Nelson in Grand Rapids in 2017, told InsideAHLHockey.com Sunday. "This little break was nice to get away from the rink for a bit. And then at practice, we are obviously all working really hard. And we all enjoy being around each other. So I think you come to the rink and it makes it easy when everyone is enjoying themselves. And when it comes to work, everyone's really committed still. So I'm just trying to lead by example on the ice and then making sure we're staying loose."