The Western Conference Finals begin tonight in Loveland as the Colorado Eagles host the Chicago Wolves in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series (9:05 ET, 
).
The Eagles are making their first appearance in the Calder Cup conference finals, and the first by the Colorado Avalanche since the Hershey Bears reached the Final Four in 2001. The Wolves are in the AHL’s final four for the first time since winning their third Calder Cup in 2022.
Colorado won eight of its first ten playoff games, eliminating San Diego, Henderson and Coachella Valley while outscoring its opponents 33-14. Ivan Ivan (1-9-10) leads Eagles in scoring; Tristen Nielsen (6-3-9), a Calder Cup champion with Abbotsford last season, scored a team-best six goals.
Again Trent Miner (8-2, 1.26, .947) continues to excel in the Colorado crease, allowing 13 goals on 247 shots. Miner has registered three Game 1 shutouts this postseason.
Chicago eliminated Central Division champions Grand Rapids in four games to reach the conference finals. Felix Unger Sörum (3-5-8) enters tonight’s contest on a five-game hitting streak, and is tied Ryan Suzuki (4-4-8) and Bradley Nadeau (1-7-8) for leading scorer for Wolves.
Cayden Primeau (6-3, 2.31, .924), who helped Laval reach the conference finals last spring, has started all nine of the Wolves’ playoff games.
The teams met four times during the regular season – all in a 10-day span in early February. Chicago won three of four games, two of them on overtime goals by Unger Sörum.
“He (Unger Sörum) is our most improved player, not only on the ice but also on the ice,” said the Wolves coach. Spiros Anastas he told Tom Ray of the Stormtracker podcast earlier this week. “I give a lot of credit to our strength and conditioning staff. The work they did with him was amazing… When he’s feeling his best, he’s a force to be reckoned with. And what’s amazing is that he’s only 20 years old, and he’s still got a lot of muscle left in him.”
