Calgary Wranglers game day: Renewing a rivalry with Coachella Valley
8 months ago
The Calgary Wranglers continue their weekend road trip and switch opponents for their Saturday game. They beat the San Diego Gulls on Friday night 8-3 and Coachella Valley beat the Gulls 4-2 on Wednesday night. In a match-up that looks pretty even from the stats and standings, this really could be anyone’s game.
Projected lineups
Calgary
Dryden Hunt – Cole Schwindt – Matt Coronato
Rory Kerins – Ben Jones – Adam Klapka
Emilio Pettersen – Clark Bishop – William Stromgren
Alex Gallant – Brett Sutter – Mitch McLain
Jordan Oesterle – Jonathan Aspirot
Ilya Solovyov – Brady Lyle
Yan Kuznetsov – Colton Poolman
Oscar Dansk
Connor Murphy
Coachella Valley
Forwards: Luke Henman, John Hayden, Kole Lind, Max McCormick, Cameron Hughes, Ian McKinnon, Andrew Poturalski, Ville Petman, Marian Studenic, Jeremy McKenna, Jacob Melanson, Logan Morrison
Defensemen: Peetro Seppala, Cale Fleury, Mitch Reinke, Gustav Olofsson, Ville Ottavainen, Ryker Evans, Jimmy Schuldt, Connor Carrick
Goalies: Ales Stezka, Chris Driedger
Leaders
Calgary
Connor Zary – 6GP, 1G, 9A (Inactive on NHL call-up)
Ben Jones – 9GP, 3G, 5A
Adam Klapka – 9GP, 4G, 3A
Coachella Valley
Cameron Hughes – 8GP, 1G, 9A
Max McCormick – 8GP, 4G, 5A
Kole Lind – 8GP, 2G, 7A
Notes and expectations
This is the first meeting between these teams since the playoffs last season. The Coachella Valley Firebirds ended the Wranglers’ season in overtime of their playoff series and went on to be the Calder Cup runner’s up. Last year, these two battled to be the best new team in the league and it was between the two of them for the best team in the league: a title the Wranglers ended up taking.
This season, the Wranglers and Firebirds continue to be neck and neck in the standings. They were just one position away from each other in the division standings and league standings earlier this week. After Calgary’s win against San Diego on Friday, they climbed to third in the Pacific Division, while the Firebirds dropped to sixth in the division. With the low amount of games on the season so far, a loss for either of these teams can really affect their place in the standings.
The high scoring from Friday’s game may not carry over due to the differences in skill levels between the Wranglers’ weekend opponents. However, without Dustin Wolf, they may need to be more aware of having Dansk’s back if the scoring does creep up. Connor Murphy is with the team and available but for an opponent like this, it is most likely Dansk who will be getting the start for the second night in a row.
This game concludes a brief two-game road trip for Calgary. They’ll look to build off the scoring from their previous game and take it to the team that a lot of their roster may still have a bit of a vendetta against. The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. MT. You can stream the game on AHL.tv for a fee and FlamesNation contributors Mike Gould and myself will have updates on X (formerly Twitter).
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