Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson met with AHL Officiating Supervisors after a Game 2 loss that saw nine power plays awarded to the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
“The penalties killed us,” Nelson said after the game. “Ten minutes of the game was special teams in the first period.”
The Bears’ head coach reached out to the league talk about the way the game was called.
“I just talked to the [officiating] supervisors and I just wanted to know what the standard moving forward is, because it was different in Game One than Game Two. We’re going to see more of what we saw tonight, so at least that’s clear. So now I can go to the players and say ‘this is what they’re calling,’ but I would have liked to know that before the game.”
“[The penalties taken by the Bears], that’s on us. We can’t take stick infractions, we can’t take interference penalties. It’s just a matter of time.”
Refs Cody Beach and Brandon Schrader dished out a total of 62 penalty minutes in the game – 42 against the Bears – along with a penalty shot. The Firebirds’ Carsen Twarynski failed to convert on the attempt, though his club did go 2-for-9 with the man advantage.
“I thought we came out and played our game, did a lot of things right, and then just got into some penalty trouble,” Bears winger Beck Malenstyn said, per RMNB. “That obviously takes the flow out of it a little bit for us.”
Hershey has yet to score a goal in the Calder Cup Finals.
The Coachella Valley Firebirds have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Calder Cup Final. Game 3 is set for Tuesday with a different set of officials.
