Calgary Wranglers series preview: A good weekend could put them in the race for the Calder Cup
29 days ago
The Calgary Wranglers continue their four-game homestand this week with a new opponent for Easter weekend. The San Jose Barracuda are in town and being the 10th team in the division, they are just on the cusp of being mathematically eliminated from qualifying for the playoffs. The Wranglers, on the other hand, are still fighting and within arms reach. This will be on paper, their best series to sweep going down the stretch and their first clinching scenario of the season.
Projected lineups
Calgary
Jakob Pelletier – Sam Morton – Adam Klapka
William Stromgren – Ben Jones – Riley Damiani
Clark Bishop – Cole Schwindt – Rory Kerins
Brett Sutter – Matthew Wedman – Mitch McLain
Jordan Oesterle – Jonathan Aspirot
Artem Grushnikov – Ilya Solovyov
Colton Poolman – Yan Kuznetsov
Oscar Dansk
Connor Murphy
San Jose
Kyle Rau – Jack Studnicka – Ethan Cardwell
Danil Gushchin – Tristen Robins – Brandon Coe
Nathan Todd – Cole Cassels – Scott Sabourin
Oskar Lindblom – Tanner Kaspick- Anthony Vincent
Shakir Mukhamadullin – Ethan Frisch
Roman Kinal – Jack Thompson
Valtteri Pulli – Nikolai Knyzhov
Eetu Makiniemi
Georgi Romanov
Leaders
Calgary
Matt Coronato – 40GP, 15G, 27A (Inactive on NHL call-up)
Ben Jones – 64GP, 20G, 21A
Adam Klapka – 58GP, 19G, 21A
San Jose
Nathan Todd – 61GP, 17G, 31A
Danil Gushchin – 48GP, 15G, 28A
Cole Cassels – 59GP, 9G, 33A
Notes and expectations
The Wranglers made some roster moves in the middle of their last series against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Sam Jardine was released from his PTO, Joni Jurmo was added on a PTO and Parker Bell was added to the roster after finishing up his season in the WHL with the Tri-City Americans. Bell and Jurmo were with the team on Wednesday but did not play in their game against the Firebirds.
However, they did get some ice time in an optional practice on Thursday morning. Parker Bell was bringing out Martin Pospisil’s look, rocking the dark visor and will be wearing the number 29. Joni Jurmo on the other hand, will be wearing number 26 so if you catch some unfamiliar numbers on the ice this weekend, it very well could be the new Flames prospects.
Their opponents, the Barracuda, are coming in with slightly fresher legs as they have one less game on the week. They only played Ontario on Wednesday and fell 3-2. Calgary has played two already with a Tuesday 7-3 loss and a Wednesday 2-0 win over Coachella Valley. Head to head, the Barracuda have an advantage in the season series with a 4-2-0-0 record on the Wranglers this year.
The Wranglers are down to a magic number of three and could clinch as early as this weekend. This series starts on Friday afternoon if you’re looking for a way to spend your Good Friday. They’ll wrap it up on Sunday at the same time. Both games have a 1:00 p.m. MT start and tickets are still available if you want to catch the action in person. If you can’t make the game, you can follow along with the radio broadcast on the Fan960 or stream the games for a fee on AHL.tv. FlamesNation contributors Mike Gould and I will have updates on X (formerly Twitter).
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