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Friends, they’re coming home.

On the heels of a two game sweep of the Tucson Roadrunners in the first round of the American Hockey League post-season, the Calgary Wranglers have advanced to the Pacific Division semi-final round. And their reward? A rematch with the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

The second round series is a best-of-five – first team to win three times advances – with the first two games taking place in Calgary at the Saddledome and the remaining games, as necessary, taking place in Palm Desert, California, home of the Firebirds. Tickets for the two games in Calgary go on sale on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. MT.

Here’s the schedule (all times Mountain):

  • Game 1: Coachella Valley at Calgary – Friday, May 3 at 7 p.m.
  • Game 2: Coachella Valley at Calgary – Sunday, May 5 at 4 p.m.
  • Game 3: Calgary at Coachella Valley – Wednesday, May 8 at 8 p.m.
  • Game 4: Calgary at Coachella Valley – Friday, May 10 at 8 p.m. (if necessary)
  • Game 5: Calgary at Coachella Valley – Sunday, May 12 at 4 p.m. (if necessary)

This series is a rematch of last year’s Pacific Division final series, which saw Coachella Valley eliminate the Wranglers in a doozy of a five-game series. Game 3 went to triple overtime, one of the longest games in Flames minor league history, whole Game 5 also went to overtime. In essence, these two teams played six games over a five game series. (Despite the result, the series ruled.)

The Wranglers and Firebirds met eight times during the 2023-24 regular season. The Wranglers went 2-5-1 in their season series. The Firebirds won the Pacific Division’s regular season crown and received a first round bye, while the Wranglers finished seventh in the division and were the lowest seed in the Pacific bracket. Suffice it to say, the Wranglers will be considered underdogs in this series.

But the Wranglers were considered underdogs against Tucson and advanced anyway, so we’ll see how that goes.

We’ll have more on the Wranglers’ run through the Calder Cup playoffs as the story unfolds.

This article first appeared on Flamesnation and was syndicated with permission.

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