HERSHEY, Pa. (theahl.com) … For the second straight year and 13th time in their franchise history, the Hershey Bears are Calder Cup champions.
The Bears completed their back-to-back performance with a 5-4 overtime victory over the Coachella Valley Firebirds tonight at the Giant Center, winning the 2024 Calder Cup Finals series four games to two. Pierrick Dube he recorded a hat trick as well Matt Strome scored the trophy-winning goal 1:06 into overtime.
Forward Hendrix Lapierre win i Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player for the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs. Lapierre, a first-round pick by the Washington Capitals in the 2020 NHL Draft, led the AHL in the playoffs with 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 20 games, including seven points in the finals and a goal and assist in Game 6 today.
The Bears are the first AHL team to successfully defend their Calder Cup title since Hershey won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010. Their 2024 championship marks the team's fifth Calder Cup since becoming the Capitals' senior development ambassador in 2005. Below is the head coach Todd Nelsonwinning his third Calder Cup as a head coach and fifth of his career, Hershey defeated the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-1), the Hartford Wolf Pack (3-0) and the Cleveland Monsters (4-3) before defeat. Coachella Valley in the finals for the second consecutive spring.
Hershey's win ends the AHL's 88th season. Active since 1936, the AHL continues to serve as the top development league for all 32 teams in the National Hockey League. About 90 percent of today's NHL players graduated from the American Hockey League, and more than 100 members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent time in the AHL during their careers.
NOTES: Game 6 attendance was 11,013, the largest crowd in Giant Center history… Dube's hat trick was the fifth by a Hershey skater in Finals history… Strome's game-winner marked his 11th in all-time of the league that the Calder Cup was decided in overtime… Ryan Winterton two points again Shane Wright again Cameron Hughes had three assists apiece for the Firebirds in Game 6.
(Hershey wins series, 4-2)
Game 1 – Friday, June 14 – Coachella Valley 4, HERSHEY 3
Game 2 – Sun., June 16 – HERSHEY 5, Coachella Valley 2
Game 3 – Tue., June 18 – COACHELLA VALLEY 6, Hershey 2
Game 4 – Thursday, June 20 – Hershey 3, COACHELLA VALLEY 2
Game 5 – Sat., June 22 – Hershey 3, COACHELLA VALLEY 2
Game 6 – Mon., June 24 – HERSHEY 5, Coachella Valley 4 (OT)
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