After over 50 days of American Hockey League playoffs action, a field of 23 teams has been whittled down to just two for the Calder Cup Finals – the Abbotsford Canucks and the Charlotte Checkers.
The two teams have never met and the 3,695 kilometres between the two cities is the second-most distance between two teams in Calder Cup history.
But looking at the two teams, one may see some similarities. Both teams faced early adversity in the playoffs, they each employ an aggressive fore check and play a physical style, neither team entered the Calder Cup playoffs as an overwhelming favourite and they each had to exorcise past demons to advance.
The best-of-seven Calder Cup Finals series opens inside the historic Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte on Friday (June 13) at 4 p.m., with game two also occurring in North Carolina on Sunday (June 15). The series heads north to the Abbotsford Centre for games three and four on June 17 and 19. Game five, if necessary, would be inside the AC on June 21. If required, games six and seven would return to Charlotte.
The Checkers enter the championship series in the midst of one of the greatest playoff runs in AHL history. Charlotte opened with a challenging 3-2 series win over the Providence Bruins in the Atlantic Division semifinals and then the club got red-hot.
They swept the two-time defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears 3-0 in the Atlantic Division Finals and also brought out the brooms with a 4-0 series win over the Laval Rocket in the Eastern Conference Finals. Back-to-back sweeps in the divisional and conference rounds have only been done twice in AHL history. The Toronto Marlies in 2018 and the Milwaukee Admirals in 2006 both achieved that feat – Toronto went on to win the Calder Cup, while Milwaukee was unsuccessful.
The glory of the Calder Cup isn't that unfamiliar to the Checkers franchise, as they captured the trophy back in 2019. Charlotte then technically remained as champions all the way until 2022, as the trophy wasn't awarded in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since that last title run the Checkers have moved from the affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes to the Florida Panthers and are riding some of that organization's success.
TJ Chillot, the voice of the Checkers, wasn't a part of the organization in 2019 but did join the team in 2021. The Calder Cup was still lingering in the Checkers head office that year and Chillot said the anticipation for the Calder Cup Finals is growing in The Queen City and fans are aching for another title.
"We're a major U.S. city and we share this market with a lot of major league teams," he said, noting Charlotte is home to the NFL's Carolina Panthers, NBA's Charlotte Hornets and Charlotte FC of MLS. "And the one thing they all have in common is that, right now, they're not very good – except the Charlotte Checkers."
Chillot explained that the Checkers have made the playoffs for seven straight seasons and have often been a higher seed. The success is notable because the franchise has juggled two different teams as a parent club and also had a joint agreement for prospects with the Seattle Kraken in 2021-22. He said this playoff run has Charlotte fans energized and enjoying the feeling of winning.
"This run has given the town something to rally behind," he said. "And we're starting to see it on street signs, I drove past a car wash that said 'Go Checkers' on it today and saw a burger joint the other day that had the same sort of lettering. It's neat to see the community embracing this team especially considering we're a southern market that tends to think basketball and football first and here we are in the middle of June and we're hoping to win our second title in six years. It's exciting."
He said expectations were a little unclear at the start of the season because so many top prospects were in Florida, including goalie Spencer Knight – who was one of the best goalies in the AHL in 2023-24. Knight was eventually shipped by Florida to Chicago. Forward Mackie Samoskevich was another key contributor on the Checkers in 2023-24, but he also found his way onto the Panthers and is helping them in their quest to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.
Charlotte was tasked with adding quality talent overseas or relying on players in their mid-to-late-20s to step up and they have been doing just that in the playoffs. Chillot said players like defenceman Trevor Carrick and forwards Will Lockwood and Kyle Criscuolo played big roles and later additions like Jesse Puljujarvi and goalie Kaapo Kahkonen were big boosts.
Forward John Leonard had a breakout season for the Checkers and his 36 goals were second in the AHL during the regular season. He has continued producing in the playoffs and leads Charlotte with 10 points in 12 games. Leonard was a member of the Tucson Roadrunners in 2023-24 and had never scored more than 17 goals in the AHL prior to this season. He's also a threat shorthanded and tied for the AHL lead for the regular season with five.
WHL fans will also recognize former Vancouver Giants star Justin Sourdif, who had 34 points in 43 games in the AHL regular season and has added six points in the playoffs. Chillot said he expects the 2020 third round pick to earn a spot with the Panthers next season.
"He's got such a good centre of gravity and it's so hard to knock him down," he said. "He's a bit slippery that way and he can score. If you leave him alone in front of the net he can pick the corner."
Chillot said Lockwood, a member of the inaugural Abbotsford Canucks, is another reliable player for the Checkers and is an assistant captain on the team.
"He's a guy that plays all four phases for us," he said. "He's a hustler and wins a lot of puck battles. He's taken a bit of a backseat offensively for us this season, but he plays in all situations."
According to Chillot, the Checkers play a similar style to Florida and it has led to success at both levels.
"They're heavy on the fore check, physical, play very fast and attack the net," he said. "They're offensively very creative, but if you want to play a game with 150 combined penalty minutes – like with Laval – we can do that too."
Chillot said the Providence series may have been a wake-up call for the Checkers. They jumped out to a 2-0 series lead by winning both games in Providence, but then dropped two at home to force a fifth and deciding game. Charlotte answered back in game five and haven't lost a game in the playoffs since. The early scare was similar to what Abbotsford faced in round one when they were forced to win game three at home against the Tucson Roadrunners.
He said the sweep of Hershey was surprising, but noted that the Laval win was less so. He stated that he believes the Atlantic Division is more competitive than the North Division and evidence of that is the North hasn't had a team qualify for the Calder Cup since 2018.
Special teams are also likely to be a factor in the series and Charlotte's penalty kill was the best in the AHL during the regular season at 86.6 per cent. They also scored the most shorthanded goals with 16. That trend has continued in the playoffs and the team is operating at 90.2 per cent and leading the league with six shorthanded goals.
However, the power play has been concerning and is just 3/43 (seven per cent) for the playoffs. Charlotte finished at 21.2 per cent and fourth in the league during the season, but Chillot said that was because they were very good early on. He stated that the power play has struggled for a while.
"It was so unbelievably good to start," he said. "But it was so unbelievably bad for the last three months of the season."
He said the penalty kill is aggressive and isn't scared to push for offensive chances.
"We don't allow teams to enter the zone cleanly and we don't allow them to get set up," he said. "A lot of our shorthanded goals come from flustering the d-man at the blue line and we win a foot race and find the back of the net. They're not a team that lets you set up camp and there is so much pressure in the neutral zone."
Former Abbotsford Canuck Aidan McDonough is also a member of the Checkers, but he suffered a season-ending injury and will not return for this series. Former Vancouver Canuck forward Zac Dalpe is the captain of Charlotte, but his status is doubtful to play. Dalpe has not played since Dec. 18, but he has not yet been ruled out to return.
Chillot said the atmosphere inside Bojangles Coliseum may impress Canadian fans.
"The building has such character," he said. "When you're watching a game there, especially in the playoffs, you don't feel like you're in a southern city. It feels like a northern environment and we have some diehards here. When you're inside Bojangles with the way the roof rumbles noise back down onto the ice and how loud it is – it feels like you're watching a massive college hockey rivalry game."
As for Abbotsford, Chillot said he sees similarities in how both the Canucks and Checkers overachieved. He said that he sees the key to the series as Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs.
"It all starts in goal and with Silovs how good he's been not only in this postseason, but the regular season and really his whole career," he said. "From my point of view, if you can solve him you stand a chance of winning the series. But if you can't figure him out, it's going to be a quick series."
Chillot said the storyline to him is the Checkers depth and firepower against Silovs and the Canucks' defence.
"Can this scoring by committee of the Checkers get it done against a guy like Silovs who has been so unbelievably good in the postseason?" he wondered.
Abbotsford enters the series after a 4-2 series win over the Texas Stars, a 3-1 elimination of the Coachella Valley Firebirds and a 2-1 win over the Tucson Roadrunners. The Canucks have been led by the stellar play of the aforementioned Silovs, who has five shutouts, a 12-5 record, a goals against average of 1.94 and a save percentage of .929.
Forward Linus Karlsson has carried the load offensively with 17 points in 18 games and Arshdeep Bains has also collected 14 points. Bains finally broke free offensively in the final two games against Texas with three goals. Sammy Blais has been another consistent producer for Abbotsford, with 12 points and a playoffs leading 69 penalty minutes.
Defenceman Victor Mancini has impressed on both sides of the puck and has collected seven points, while also playing key roles on special teams. Veteran Phil Di Giuseppe and speedster Max Sasson are also consistent scoring threats for the Canucks.
Abbotsford's power play enters the final operating at 22 per cent, while the penalty kill is slightly better than Charlotte at 90.6.
Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra said on Sunday (June 8) that he would be using this week to prepare his team for a big test against a team they've never faced.
"For a team to get to the Calder Cup Finals, they have to be doing something right," he said. "We'll spend the next few days analyzing their game. We'll talk to our group about the focus being the execution of our game and the energy we bring and playing to our strengths."
Continue visiting abbynews.com for ongoing coverage of the Calder Cup Finals.
