A year after the pandemic shut down the season, spring of 2021 arrived in places like Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Utica, New York, without the playoff hockey that usually followed.
The American Hockey League put on a shortened season to get through the pandemic, but the NHL’s top developmental league didn’t crown a champion for a second consecutive year.
After getting through another rough winter, the first full AHL postseason since 2019 is underway, with the Calder Cup set to be awarded in June — a major accomplishment and the start of what the league hopes will be a climb back toward pre-pandemic success.
“I’m really looking forward to handing that trophy out,” AHL president and CEO Scott Howson said. “I’m most excited for our players, who had it taken away from them when it hit in March in ’20 and then last year we were disappointed we couldn’t find a way to do it. Really excited for our players and our fans to get that excitement.”
It took adding six days to…
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