^ Posted by Patrick Williams
Hershey, Pennsylvania. … Firebirds head coach Dan Bielsma He didn’t budge on his text.
After Game 4, he said, “We went into this seven-game series to play 420 minutes of hockey. We weren’t expecting to be in four games. We were expecting to be in a hard-fought series with the Bears, and that’s what we got.”
Two convincing wins at home to start the series didn’t change Bielsma’s position. A pair of one-goal losses in Hershey didn’t do either. The Firebirds faced four elimination games over the first three rounds and were eliminated in all of them.
After 23 Calder Cup playoff appearances and nearly two months of playoff battles, the Firebirds are untested if not quite tested now.
After Game 4, Bielsma said, “Winning the Calder Cup is a long, long battle. A war of attrition. We’re in for one. We’re in that fight. But it’s not something our guys weren’t ready for. It’s not something we weren’t expecting.”
Firebirds are produced by this series’ lineup. Austin Boganski, who had not previously scored since March 29, scored his second Finals goal in Game 4, catching an accurate pass from Shane Wright and put it in the past Hunter Shepard in the middle of the first period.
“We give them credit,” Boganski allowed, “but we can be better, and we’ll be on Saturday.”
straight ahead Jesper Freudinwho scored the Firebirds’ second goal in Game 4, sounded a confident tone afterward as well.
“It’s about pushing, pushing, and staying focused on the right things all the way through, and we’ve got that on this team,” Froden said. “I am sure we will come back here again.”
keep pushing. This was another topic at Coachella Valley. Bylsma said after Game 3 that a long series would ultimately favor the Firebirds. He stuck to those words last night, too.
Bielsma explained, “When we’re at our best, we push forward. We force teams to deal with our speed. We force teams to play defense. You want to have the mentality you’re going to play a team with in that way, and the longer the better. The longer the period, the greater the chance of doing so.
“And yeah, we’d love to have gotten through this in four (games), but we didn’t expect it to be like this. We just have to keep the long perspective and keep pushing him, keep pushing him, keep pushing him, keep pushing him. In the end, hopefully we can who made them break.”
Todd Nelson He always makes it a point to moderate both his criticism and praise.
“this [was] said the Hershey Bears coach after last night’s 3-2 win over Coachella Valley in Game 4, a win that tied the Calder Cup Finals at two games apiece.
“However, they are still a danger out there. Our men set out and got the job done.”
After the Firebirds picked up a Hershey penalty for five goals in 14 chances across the first three games of the series, the Bears shut out Coachella Valley on four chances in Game 4. Along with the penalty adjustments, the Bears were also able to continue cleaning up penalty issues that hurt them in The first two matches of the finals.
“I think we’re playing better as the series goes on, and we have to do that, because they’re going to do the same,” said Nelson.
Patrick Williams has been in the American Hockey League for nearly two decades for outlets including NHL.com, Sportsnet, TSN, The Hockey News, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, and SLAM! Sports, and she is currently the co-host of Hockey news on the “A” podcast. He was awarded the James H. Ellery Memorial Award from the AHL for his excellent coverage of the league in 2016.