It was a happy dressing room at Acrisure Arena after head coach Dan Bylsma was promoted to that same role with the Seattle Kraken yesterday.
“It’s everybody’s goal to get to the NHL,” forward Andrew Poturalski told KESQ’s Blake Arthur. “Coaches are no different. He prepares us probably the best I’ve ever been prepared in my career. The time and effort he puts in doesn’t go unnoticed. We love playing for him. It’s been a lot of fun here.”
Under Bylsma, Coachella Valley became just the second team in AHL history to top 100 points in the standings in each of its first two seasons of play, and has won six of seven playoff series heading into the conference finals against Milwaukee.
“What we’ve built in Coachella Valley with the community, the fans and the team is a large part of me being here today,” Bylsma said during his introductory press conference in Seattle.
After a pair of emotional Calder Cup Playoff series that both went the distance, the Milwaukee Admirals have to move on quickly.
The Admirals completed their Central Division Finals against Grand Rapids with a 2-0 win at home on Sunday, then flew to California the next day to prepare for tonight’s Game 1.
The teams battled for the best record in the Western Conference for much of the second half of the regular season. The Firebirds finished with 103 points to the Admirals’ 97.
“We all know their firepower, how they play, how they attack,” head coach Karl Taylor said. “We all know how challenging this building can be with the energy in it, so we’re prepared for that better than we were last year. But we also have new players on our team. They will have their hands full getting through that.”
However, Taylor is wary of overwhelming his players with too much information on an opponent that they have not yet seen.
“You never want to talk too much or over-coach a situation, but you want to make people aware of what happened previously and learn from it. Sometimes you have to just live it, and so that’s kind of how we’re approaching this.
“We want them to get into the game, get into the hunt, get into the feel, and really focus on how we want to play regardless of the opponent or the arena we’re in.”
― with files from Patrick Williams
