AHL Semi's Are Set
Eight teams remain in 2003 Calder Cup Chase.
04.25.03 - The American Hockey League's 67th Calder Cup championship tournament
is down to eight participants, with the conference semifinals set to begin.
The conference quarterfinals played out according to seed in the Western
Conference, where the top four teams still have title hopes. [2003
Calder Cup Bracket]
Houston
(#2) and Norfolk (#3) swept their best-of-five series, and will face off
against each other beginning Saturday night. First-seeded Grand Rapids needed
four games to eliminate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, while Chicago kept its title
defense alive with a Game 5 overtime victory over Hershey. The Griffins
and Wolves will renew their rivalry in a best-of-seven series, starting
at Van Andel Arena on Monday.
In the East, Binghamton (#3) took care of Worcester in three straight, while
Bridgeport (#5) swept past Manchester, setting up a meeting between the
Senators and Sound Tigers.
Hamilton,
which finished first overall in the AHL with 110 points in the regular season,
had its hands full with 10th-seeded Springfield before prevailing in a hard-fought
four-game series, while Manitoba (#9) squeaked out an upset of #2 Providence
thanks to three one-goal victories. The Bulldogs and Moose, rivals in the
Canadian Division, will duke it out for the right to play for the Eastern
Conference championship.
CONFERENCE QUARTERFINAL NOTES: ... Manitoba and Providence
combined for a record-low 10 goals in their four-game series; the previous
mark was 15, accomplished twice in league history... Providence's ouster
makes it nine consecutive years that an AHL team with at least 42 wins in
the regular season has failed to win a playoff series... Game 5 between
Chicago and Hershey was the 24th winner-take-all contest to go into overtime
in Calder Cup playoff history... After rallying from down 2-1 in their series,
the Wolves are now 6-0 when facing elimination over the last two postseasons...
Bridgeport was 6-for-12 on the power play in its series against Manchester...
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, ranked sixth in the regular season on the power play,
was 0-for-12 with the man advantage against Grand Rapids... Teams leading
after one period are 19-3 so far this postseason... Road teams have won
eight 1-0 games in Calder Cup Playoff history, including three last week
alone... Four of the eight conference semifinalists from 2002 are back this
year; all four - Chicago, Houston, Hamilton and Bridgeport - advanced to
last year's conference finals... Seven of the eight remaining clubs have
never won a Calder Cup championship.
