Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Enough practicing, enough scrimmaging, and enough preparing.
The chase for the Calder Cup is now on for the Providence Bruins.
The Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy winner as the AHL’s regular-season champion, the Bruins had been off the schedule since April 18, and they got a rude welcome back coming back to game action when they were defeated, 3-2, by Springfield in Game 1 of their Atlantic Division semifinal on Friday night.
Providence posted 54 wins – an AHL record for a 72-game season – and finished 38 points ahead of the Thunderbirds in the standings. That all means nothing now.
So the Bruins went to their refuge Saturday: the practice rink. Practice has always been a sanctuary for head coach Ryan Mougenel and his players. While the games pile up quickly and relentlessly in the regular season, the Calder Cup Playoffs offer some down time, with games on back-to-back nights far less common.
“I talk about how practices are such a premium at our level,” Mougenel said late in the regular season, adding that sometimes players must learn to practice well in order to play well.
There is every reason for the P-Bruins to believe that they can win their Calder Cup since 1999. Start with all-everything Michael DiPietro in net, voted the AHL’s outstanding goaltender and MVP this season. Behind the bench is Mougenel, the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award winner as the AHL’s outstanding coach this season. Their 27 home-ice wins led the AHL. On the road, they matched the Grand Rapids Griffins with 27 more victories. The power play finished ninth overall at 20.8 percent. The penalty kill? It ranked fourth at 84.3 percent. Scoring-wise, their 3.32 goals per game placed them sixth overall. At 2.25 goals-against per game, they were second.
Their scorers can match any team in the AHL. Riley Tufte (32 goals), Georgii Merkulov (24 goals), Matěj Blümel (21 goals), and captain Patrick Brown (20 goals) all hit the 20-goal mark. Thrown in Fabian Lysell and Matthew Poitras, and you have a lethal top six. Their defense corps includes standouts Frederic Brunet, Michael Callahan, Billy Sweezey, Victor Söderström and 2025 Calder Cup winner Christian Wolanin.
Even before their Game 1 loss, DiPietro recognized that Springfield would not make for an easy match-up.
“We’ve kind of had a target on our backs here for a while,” he said, “so it seems like every night we kind of get a team’s best, and they were no different. They played us hard all year.”
Mougenel won his Pieri Award for reasons that go far beyond the win column. His is an exceptionally detailed team, one that plays extremely structured and with composure. Now they have to carry that standard into Game 2 tonight.
Maybe it was that lengthy break from game action. Or a hungrier opponent. Playoff jitters. Or all of the above. Whatever combination of factors, Providence has little time to waste to get back into the series.
“Don’t overlook them,” DiPietro said of the Thunderbirds. “They’re not going to overlook us.”
