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Hershey wins 12th Calder Cup with OT victory in Game 7

matt weyrich
·2 min read

Victory is sweet once again. The Hershey Bears knocked off the Coachella Valley Firebirds with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 7 to clinch the 2023 Calder Cup Finals on Wednesday night, securing their AHL-record 12th championship in franchise history and first since 2010.

Hershey played as deep into the season as any team could. The Bears and Firebirds needed all seven games and 16 minutes of overtime to decide a champion before left wing Mike Vecchione tapped in the Calder Cup-clinching goal. With the game taking place at the sold-out Acrisure Arena, it marked the first and only contest of the series to see the visiting team win.

The series was in serious jeopardy of getting out of hand early when the Firebirds jumped out to a 2-0 lead, outscoring the Bears 9-0 over the first two games. But Hershey found its footing back at home. The Bears won three straight games at the Giant Center including two in overtime to take control before the Firebirds evened it back up in Game 6.

It all set the stage for Game 7, where the Firebirds led 2-0 before Capitals’ first-round picks Connor McMichael (2019, 25th overall) and Hendrix Lapierre (2020, 22nd overall) scored back-to-back goals to tie things up in the second period. That score would hold for nearly 40 minutes of play until Vecchione could finish things off.

Bears goaltender Hunter Shepard received the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy for the most valuable player of the playoffs. Shepard started all 20 of the Bears’ postseason games, posting a 14-6 record with a 2.27 goals against average and .914 save percentage. Left wing Joe Snively paced the team in points (15) and center Connor McMichael led the way with six goals.

With the victory, head coach Todd Nelson captured the second Calder Cup title of his coaching career in his first season at the helm with Hershey. Nelson, who made a brief stint with the Capitals during his playing career, has won Calder Cups as a player (1994), assistant coach (2008) and head coach (2017, 2023).

Just as it has at least once every decade dating back to the 1940s, the Calder Cup now resides in Hershey once again.