The Calgary Wranglers are moving on, but not before first surviving a difficult test from the Abbotsford Canucks.
The Wranglers needed overtime to take the first two games of the series in Calgary, and the Canucks won Game 3 before pushing until the final seconds of Game 4. Each of the four games in the series was decided by one goal, and the Wranglers had to close out the series facing a sold-out building in Abbotsford.
“That’s a hell of a club over there,” MVP goaltender Dustin Wolf told WranglersTV following Game 4. “They played us hard. It was a fun atmosphere to play in. To come and prove that we’re the better team and deserve to move on, it’s rewarding.”
The road does not get any easier for the Wranglers. Next up is Coachella Valley in a Pacific Division final series between the top two teams in the AHL during the regular season. Game 1 of that best-of-five is set for Thursday.
“It’s going to be a heck of a series,” Wolf said.
The Milwaukee Admirals fought off elimination last night. Now they try to do it again tonight when they settle their Central Division semifinal series with Manitoba one way or the other.
“Elimination games are difficult,” Milwaukee head coach Karl Taylor told the team website after his club’s Game 4 win. “It takes a lot of mettle to play in those and hold your own.”
Before securing the win last night, the Admirals had to put a halt to a Manitoba push after a pair of goals from the visitors in a 2:06 span early in the third period cut Milwaukee’s lead from 4-1 to 4-3.
“I’m really proud of the group… how they got through that moment and finished the game off,” Taylor said.
Taylor called his timeout after Manitoba had made it 4-3, but didn’t address his team. The move appeared to settle down the game.
“We were just icing them a little bit, taking a moment,” Taylor said. “We’re a good team. Get back to what we do. There’s no panic.
“You don’t need to yell, ‘Just calm down!’ — I don’t think that’s good if you ask a sports psychologist. We just wanted to take a little breath there, and I thought the guys managed it from there pretty well.”
― Patrick Williams
