Got our first division final set, and it’ll be Texas against Tucson in the Pacific Division final, starting Wednesday. (So the Pacific final pits a team from the Mountain time zone against a team from the Central time zone.) Adin Hill‘s second straight shutout got the Roadrunners past San Jose in a 3-0 win; Andrew Campbell assisted on all three goals.
Thatcher Demko made 40 saves as Utica forced Toronto to a Game 5 on Sunday afternoon back at Ricoh Coliseum. That would be quite the upset, with 24 points between the Comets and what was by most measures the best team in the AHL this year.
Lehigh Valley got a couple from Oskar Lindblom (though Providence thought the first, the game-winner, was kicked in) in a 4-1 Game 3 win; the Phantoms can finish it Saturday night, though Tony Androckitis notes that MVP Phil Varone didn’t finish tonight’s game.
A different kind of ride on the coaching carousel: Jeff Tambellini, after a year as an undergraduate assistant at Michigan, takes over the Trail Smoke Eaters back home in British Columbia.
On our carousel, Bakersfield became official:
| TEAM | Old | New |
| LAV | Sylvain Lefebvre (4/17) | — |
| HER | Troy Mann (4/25) | — |
| BAK | Gerry Fleming (4/27) | Jay Woodcroft (4/27) |
(Colorado, moving affiliations from San Antonio to Colorado, will not retain Eric Veilleux. Traditionally we don’t put that on the chart until San Antonio names someone else.)
And RIP, Paul Junger Witt.