It was a happy dressing room at Acrisure Arena behind the head coach Dan Bylsma he was promoted to that role with the Seattle Kraken yesterday.
“It's everyone's goal to get to the NHL,” the forward said Andrew Poturalski he told KESQ's Blake Arthur. “The coaches were different. He prepares us probably the best I have ever been prepared in my career. The time and effort he puts in is evident. We like to play for him. It's been a lot of fun here.”
Under Bylsma, Coachella Valley became the second team in AHL history to top 100 points in its first two seasons of play, and has won six of seven playoff series going into the conference final against Milwaukee.
“What we've built in the Coachella Valley with the community, the fans and the team is a big part of me being here today,” Bylsma said during a press conference in Seattle.
After an emotional Calder Cup Playoff series that went the distance, the Milwaukee Admirals must move on quickly.
The Admirals wrapped up the 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 on the '97 Admirals.
“We all know their firepower, how they play, how they attack,” the head coach Karl Taylor said. “We all know how much of a challenge this building can be with the current momentum, so we prepared for that better than last year. But we also have new players in our team. They will have their hands full beyond that. “
However, Taylor is wary of overwhelming his players with too much information about opponents they haven't seen yet.
“You don't want to talk too much or over train the situation, but you want to make people aware of what happened before and learn from it. Sometimes you just have to live with it, and that's how we approach this.
“We want them to get into the game, get into the hunt, get into the feeling, and focus on how we want to play regardless of the player or the field we're on.”
― with files from Patrick Williams
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