The Calder Cup final is here.
The up-and-coming series for Charlotte’s chess piece will hold its first match in the finals of the Seven-Crown Cup in Friday night’s match against Abbotsford chess piece.
Both teams have gone through a long journey to get to this point this season. This will be the fifth playoff series for the Canucks, which will open in the playoffs on April 23.
Both teams performed well in the regular season. Charlotte ranked fourth overall, scoring 2 points under the Atlantic Division lead. The Canucks’ 13-game winning streak made them one of the AHL’s most dangerous opponents, entering the playoffs, and they continue to be the hotspot.
Let’s break down this series, which will follow the 2-3-2 format.
Series timetable
Game 1 – Friday – Abbotsford, Charlotte at 7:00 PM ET
2025 Abbotsford Canucks vs Charlotte Checkers
Match 2 – Sunday – Abbotsford at 4:00 PM ET
Game 3 – Tuesday, June 17 – 10:00 AM ET on Abbotsford
Game 4 – Thursday, June 19 – Eastern United States
Game 5 – Saturday, June 21 (if necessary) – 9:00 AM ET at Abbotsford (If necessary)
Game 6 – Monday, June 23 (if necessary) – Abbotsford at 7:00 PM ET (If necessary)
Game 7 – Wednesday, June 25 – Abbotsford, Charlotte, 7:00 AM ET (If necessary)
How did they get here
Charlotte: After ranking in the Atlantic Division with a record of 44-22-3-3, the Checkers won their first round goodbye. From there they began to eliminate the Providence Brown Bears, and they were nowhere to go in the Atlantic Division semifinals in the 55th. Next, they swept the back-to-back Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears in the five-time Atlantic Division Finals to win a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Laval Rockets. They match the AHL’s regular season champions, and they swept the Rockets.
They reached the Calder Cup finals and won eight straight wins, the first time a Florida Panthers branch has reached the Calder Cup finals. With Florida winning another title in the Stanley Cup, the Panthers and Chess Pits representing the first organization in the NHL and AHL finals since the Pittsburgh Penguins and Wilkes Barry/Scranton Penguins. In 2008. The last time the NHL organization won the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup in the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup in the same year, and in 1995, the NHL organization won the New Jesey and New Jesey and of New Jesey and of New Jesey and of New Jesey and of New Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and of new Jesey and ers and New devil in 1995.
Abbotsford: The Canucks (44-24-2-2) made the playoffs, but they got early fears from the Tucson Roadrunners in the team’s best three-round game. Tucson will put the Canucks on the verge of extinction before the series ends in Abbotsford. From there they eliminated the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the Pacific Division semifinals and then walked away from the Western Conference regular season champion Colorado Hawks, who also survived. In the Western Conference Finals against the Texas Stars, they took out the first two games of the series at home and then dropped two games in the next three games. However, they won the sixth match at the Abbotsford Center last Sunday.
This is the first time that Vancouver Canucks members have entered the Calder Cup finals since 2015. Vancouver’s branches also reached the finals (Fredericton) in 2009 (Manitoba) and 1988 (as part of a dual affiliation with Quebec Nordic), but were defeated both times.
Charlotte chess piece
It’s quite obvious that even if Florida is still playing, checkers don’t have to deal with personnel losses. Early in the season, defender Matt Kiersted missed five games but played all four games against Laval. He has not competed during the Laval series since December 7, so Mackenzie Entwistle has also moved forward.
Head coach Geordie Kinnear went with veteran Kaapo Kähkönen in all 12 games of the season. The 28-year-old struck a deal with the Winnipeg Jets on March 6 and quickly locked in Charlotte’s first place after allocating time with Colorado and Manitoba Moose. He is a veteran of 140 NHL games and has also won the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award winner, winning the AHL top goalkeeper in 2019-20 with Iowa Wild. He took control of Charlotte’s first mission and went 10-2 | 1.735 | .927.
Michael Benning (4-3-7) and Tobias Bjornfot (2-5-7) led all Charlotte Blueliners to score. Behind them is 2019 Calder Cup champion Trevor Carrick, who was selected by the AHL’s second All-Star team with a 1-4-5 record and 13-37-50 in 66 regular season games.
Forward John Leonard leads offense, leading 6-4-10 in 12 games and tied for second in the AHL with 36 goals in the regular season. However, the well-balanced Charlotte’s offense averaged 3.75 goals per game, but with the exception of one striker, at least one goal in the playoffs. NHL veteran Jesse Puljujärvi found out about his career after coming to Charlotte in February and beat 2-6-8 this playoffs. Will Lockwood, who has 10 regular season goals, has five to 12 playoff games. Rasmus Asplund also allocated 4-3-7 in the playoffs. Rookie forward Sandis Vilmanis leads 3-4-7 in just eight games.
Charlotte’s penalty kill continued to perform well and scored 37 (90.2%) of 41 relative power opportunities. This is also a dangerous fine. After leading the AHL with 16 regular season shorts, Go players added another 6 after the season. Charlotte’s strong game was fifth in the AHL in the regular season and struggled with hardships in the AHL, just 43-3 (7.0%).
Checkers won seven games at home this season. Tie second in regular season road games with .694 (23-9-1-3), the Checkers competed in all five road playoff games.
Abbotsford Canucks
Goalkeeper Artūrsšilovs (12-5 | 1.94 | .929) has always been the story of the Calder Cup playoffs. He has played in all 18 playoff starts and released the league’s best 5 games. High-stakes success has become a key theme in the 24-year-old’s career. Last year, he stepped back from a part of the Stanley Cup playoffs, leading Latvia to a bronze medal at the 2023 IIHF World Championship.
The back end is a pair of rookies from Victor Mancini (3-4-7) and seventh-round draft pick Kirill Kudryavtsev. Jett Woo offers a peculiar influence, Christian Wolanin won only two years the Eddie Shore award, the AHL’s top defender.
Linus Karlsson was third in the AHL playoffs, with his nine goals winning him the league lead. NHL veteran Sammy Blais had free throw trouble (69 minutes), but he offered 3-9-12. Arshdeep Bains is an undrafted striker who made himself the highest prospect and named after 3-11-14. Phil Di Giuseppe, Jujhar Khaira, Ty Mueller and Max Sasson have been key contributors to a group of deep forwards. First round draft pick Jonathan Lekkerimäki has performed well in the regular season, but has been working on the offensive end with Abbotsford in the playoffs. If he can get into the roster of head coach Manny Malhotra and start the offense, it will be a big push for teams that sometimes have to work hard to score goals.
Abbotsford’s penalty kills have been rolling for most of the playoffs, handling 39 of 40 relative power play opportunities. But Texas broke into the game in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals and caused some difficulties for the Canucks. Nevertheless, they were 48 out of 53 of the free throw kills (90.6%). Their strength plays very well, with 11 shots (22.0%) of 50 shots. Of the 39 goals of the Canucks this playoffs, 12 of them came through special teams (they had a short goal).
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