When the Coachella Valley Firebirds assembled in Seattle last month for training camp in preparation for the 2023-24 season, the memory of how last season ended still lingered.
In their first season in the American Hockey League, the Firebirds exceeded every possible expectation by reaching Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals. It was one of the best inaugural seasons in the history of North American professional hockey.
But the season ended with a crushing overtime loss to the Hershey Bears in front of a sold-out home crowd inside Acrisure Arena, the $500 million sports and concert venue that opened last December in Palm Desert.
From the moment players hit the ice in Seattle last month, there was a motivation to right what felt wrong.
“As soon as we saw each other in camp in Seattle, we were telling each other the job’s not finished,” said forward Kole Lind, who led all AHL players with 31 points in the playoffs. “We’re going to focus on the regular season and where it takes us, but obviously our goal in mind at the end of all this is the Calder Cup.”
The Firebirds begin that quest Friday at home against the Bakersfield Condors. Puck drop is 7 p.m. Tickets for the game are sold out.
Coachella Valley will host a pre-game fan event outside Acrisure Arena. Then, prior to the puck dropping inside the arena, the team will raise a Western Conference championship banner.
It will be a proud moment for the organization, to be sure, but it’s a consolation prize the team isn’t interested in at the end of this season.
“You wouldn’t believe the motivation,” forward Jeremy McKenna said. “It left a sour taste in our mouth. We did a ton of amazing things, and we can be happy about that. Now we’re looking to do it again.”
Expectations for a Calder Cup appear to be reasonable. While the Firebirds lost some key players from last year’s squad, including goaltender Joey Daccord and forward Ty Kartye who are both now playing in the NHL for the Seattle Kraken, it could be argued that there’s just as much talent and even more depth on the roster this year.
Joining Lind and McKenna at forward are Max McCormick, the team captain, all-star Andrew Poturalski, rising star Shane Wright, the fourth overall selection in the 2022 NHL Draft, Cameron Hughes and Ville Petman.
Ryker Evans, Jimmy Schuldt and Gustav Olofsson are the top defensemen returning. Chris Driedger, who has played 65 NHL games and allowed an average of 2.45 goals in those games, will step in for Daccord at goalie.
Cale Fleury, a 24-year-old blueliner who has played 62 games in the NHL, will join the Firebirds this season from the Kraken.
“To have him in our lineup down here is going to be huge,” said Troy Bodie, the Firebirds’ director of hockey operations. “He’s a heck of a hockey player.”
NHL veteran Devin Shore, a 29-year-old who has played in 422 NHL games, will also join the Firebirds this season. Bodie said that he expects Shore to be a veteran leader on and off the ice.
With the talent and veteran leadership on the roster, there’s no reason the Firebirds shouldn’t again be in the hunt for a championship.
“The guys have to respond to those expectations,” Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma said. “I think that’s a good thing. Having expectations and having that pressure means you’re doing something right.”
‘We’re hungry and ready to go’
The Firebirds will start the season with three home games and three away games in October. Last year, the team began the season by playing the first 22 games away from the valley as Acrisure Arena was being completed. They played their first game in the arena in front of 9,918 on Dec. 18 against the Tucson Roadrunners.
The win over the Roadrunners gave the Firebirds their 15th victory in their first 23 games and ignited a run of 14 wins in 16 games. That put Coachella Valley among the top two teams in the AHL standings.
The Firebirds then beat Tucson in a best-of-3 series, the Colorado Eagles in a best-of-5 series, the Calgary Wranglers in a best-of-5 series and the Milwaukee Admirals in a best-of-7 series before facing Hershey in the Calder Cup Finals.
Along the way, the Firebirds captured the attention of the valley and the rest of the AHL. They set a league record for home Calder Cup playoff attendance, with 137,753 attending 16 playoff games. The team averaged 8,609 fans in the playoffs, with capacity seating at 10,087, and the final six home games were sold out.
In the Finals, Coachella Valley won the first two games against Hershey, outscoring the Bears 5-0 in Game 1 and 4-0 in Game 2. But three consecutive losses in Hershey, including two in overtime, put Coachella Valley into two must-win games to win the series.
In Game 6, the Firebirds won 5-2 at Acrisure Arena to force Game 7. Then, in the final game, they again went to overtime and again failed to get the game-winning score in a sudden death situation.
Players, coaches and fans were shocked and devastated.
This year, the Firebirds are back, and they are not coy speaking about how they are coming back with a vengeance.
“After last year, we know how good we can be. We know where this roster, this team can go,” Wright said. “Once again this year, we have a hunger to win and our goal is to the championship. I think we have a really strong group to do it. I think we have the right pieces in place and we’re hungry and ready to go.”
Andrew John covers the Coachella Valley Firebirds for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella Valley Firebirds want to hoist Calder Cup in 2024
