Charlotte Checkers in the AHL’s Calder Cup finals: Here are 8 things to know
Championship finals hockey returns to Charlotte on Friday night, when the Charlotte Checkers face the Abbotsford Canucks in Game 1 of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup finals.
The Checkers have done this before.
Six years ago, they beat the Chicago Wolves in six games for their only other Calder Cup title.
Games 1 and 2 of the series will be at Bojangles Coliseum, with a 7 p.m. faceoff time Friday, and 4 p.m. Sunday for Game 2.
The Checkers and Canucks could wind up being the last winter sports teams playing in the 2024-25 season (more below).
Whether you’ve followed the Checkers closely this season or have hopped aboard the Checkers Playoff Express, here are eight things to know about the Calder Cup finals:
How did we get here?
Well, each team finished second in its division. Charlotte, from the Atlantic Division, beat Providence (3 games to 2), Hershey (3 games to 0), and Laval (4 games to 0). The Checkers have won eight straight playoff games.
Abbotsford, from the Pacific Division, beat Tucson (2 games to 1), Coachella Valley (3 games to 1), Colorado (3 games to 2), and Texas (4 games to 2).
Where’s Abbotsford?
Abbotsford is a city of 153,000 on the Canadian side of the British Columbia-Washington border. It’s essentially a suburb of Vancouver, located about 25 miles southeast (inland).
It’s the fifth-biggest city in British Columbia.
Hockey is a big deal in Abbotsford. Two of the Canucks’ three home games in the series (Games 3 and 5) are sold out. Only a few tickets remain for Game 4.
By the way, Charlotte has played in Abbotsford before — in 2014, when the city was the home of the Calgary Flames’ AHL affiliate. Abbotsford now is the top farm team of the Vancouver Canucks.
What’s at stake?
The Calder Cup is 24 inches tall and is made up of two parts — a 12-inch deep cup atop a 12-inch deep base of Brazilian mahogany. The trophy weighs 25 pounds.
The winning team has its name inscribed on a metal plaque added to the Cup. There is room for 20 plaques on the trophy. As a championship plaque passes the 20-year mark, it is taken to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
But there’s a side bet, involving the mayors of the two cities involved — Charlotte’s Vi Lyles and Abbotsford’s Ross Siemens. The mayor from the team that loses the series must wear the winning team’s jersey and be photographed in it on social media.
By the way, the AHL does not announce the amount of bonus checks for Calder Cup winners. But a league official in 2017 said members of the 2016 champion, Lake Erie (Cleveland), received about $17,000 apiece. Inflation certainly has driven that number higher.
It’s a long trip
The one-way travel distance between Charlotte and Abbotsford is 2,296 miles — second-longest ever for an AHL finals series.
The record was set in the 2014 finals, with a 2,655-mile one-way trip between Austin (Texas Stars) and St. John’s (New Brunswick).
If the Charlotte-Abbotsford series goes six or more games, Canucks players and staff would make the trip three times.
Chasing a sweep
The Checkers and their NHL parent team, the Florida Panthers, are seeking a sweep of pro hockey’s two major championships. The Panthers are taking a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 Thursday against Edmonton.
This is the first time since 2008 that an organization’s parent club and its affiliate in the AHL (the Triple-A of hockey) have been in the league finals at the same time. There have been three occasions when the same organization swept the Stanley and Calder cups — 1976 (Montreal and Quebec City), 1977 (same teams), and 1995 (New Jersey and Albany).
Who to watch?
Abbotsford’s leading scorer in the regular season was winger Arshdeep Bains (11 goals, 32 assists, 43 points), but winger Linus Karlsson (nine goals, eight assists) is the playoff leader. Winger Sammy Blais has piled up 69 penalty minutes in the postseason — far more than anyone else on the team.
Winger John Leonard (six goals, four assists) has been Charlotte’s playoff scoring leader, and Checkers goalkeeper Kaapo Kahkonen has the league’s second-best goals-allowed average, 1.73.
Closing the winter sports season
Friday’s first game of the Calder Cup finals will be the latest in the season that a pro hockey game has been played in Charlotte, according to available records. When the Checkers won the Calder Cup in 2019, the last game was played June 8.
In addition, if the Charlotte-Abbotsford series goes five games, it will be the final pro hockey games of the 2024-25 season. The NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals will end June 20 at the latest.
And a six-game series would mean the Checkers and Canucks playing on June 23, after the end of the NBA Finals, which would have a Game 7 on June 22.
The schedule
Game 1: 7 p.m. Friday, at Bojangles Coliseum
Game 2: 4 p.m. Sunday, at Bojangles Coliseum
Game 3: 10 p.m. Tuesday, at Abbotsford
Game 4: 10 p.m. Thursday, June 19, at Abbotsford
Game 5: 9 p.m. Saturday, June 21, at Abbotsford
Game 6: 7 p.m. Monday, June 23, at Bojangles Coliseum
Game 7: 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 25, at Bojangles Coliseum
The entire series will be carried on AHLTV on FloHockey, which requires a paid subscription. However, Game 1 of the series will be streamed for free.
This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 6:00 AM.