The Coachella Valley Firebirds remained undefeated at home during the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs after beating the Hershey Bears 6-2 in Game 3 of the Calder Cup Finals on Tuesday.
Coming into the matchup, the Bears knew to expect a loud crowd at Acrisure Arena and Coachella Valley to push the pace and come in waves. The game’s opening 10 minutes were crucial, but instead of weathering the storm, the Bears committed a rare, seemingly unheard of rule violation that essentially handed the Firebirds a lead early in the first period.
The Bears found themselves in trouble when they were whistled for a bench penalty 30 seconds into the first period. Coachella Valley coaches could be seen conferring with officials before the second faceoff of the game. A penalty was then called on Hershey for an “incorrect starting lineup.”
00:30 Hershey Bears Bench, Served by Ethen Frank Incorrect starting lineup – Bench minor, 2 min PP
Max McCormick would go on to score his first of three goals of the game on the resulting power play to give the Firebirds a 1-0 lead 2:20 into the first.
Per the AHL’s Game Report (starters’ names in bold), the Bears’ announced starting lineup prior to the game was:
But when the opening faceoff actually happened, Bogdan Trineyev was out on the ice instead of Rybinski, who has been centering the third line for the last two games with Garrett Roe out due to injury.
The AHL rule book states that a penalty will only be called for an incorrect starting lineup if the opposing team notices and makes an appeal to officials on the ice.
Rule 7 – Starting Line-up
7.1 Starting Line-up — Prior to the start of the game, at the request of the Referee, the Manager or Coach of the visiting team is required to name the starting line-up to the Referee or Official Scorer.
Prior to the start of the game, the Manager or Coach of the home team, having been advised by the Official Scorer the names of the starting line-up of the visiting team, shall name the startling line-up of the home team. This information shall be conveyed by the Official Scorer to the Coach of the visiting team.
No change in the starting line-up of either team as given to the Official Scorer, or in the playing line-up on the ice, unless reviewed and approved by the Referee prior to the start of the game.
7.2 Violation — For an infraction of this rule, a bench minor penalty shall be imposed upon the offending team. This is an appeal play and must be brought to the Referee’s attention prior to the second face-off in the game. There is no penalty to the requesting team if their appeal is unsustained. The determining factor is the player’s name and not necessarily the player’s number, must be correctly listed by the team.
In the event a team scores on the first shift of the game, and it is brought to the attention of the Referee by the opposing team that the team that scored did not have the correct starting line-up on the ice, the goal shall be allowed and a bench minor penalty assessed to the offending team for having an improper startling line-up. If the team that scores a goal on the first shift of the game challenges the startling lineup of the opposing team and the opposing team did not have the correct starting line-up, the scoring of the goal would nullify the bench minor penalty and no further penalties would be assessed.
The Coachella Valley coaching staff, led by Dan Bylsma, noticed the Bears’ boo-boo. The heads-up play helped the Firebirds get on the board first in the game and ultimately win 6-2.
“I’m the head coach, I take full responsibility,” Todd Nelson said after the game. “That’s all I have to say about it.”
“It’s unfortunate,” Bears’ captain Dylan McIlrath added. “I thought we were fine to be honest in the first. Yeah, we spot them one early. I thought our compete, our everything we talked about in the pregame, we tried to accomplish. Obviously, their building was rocking. When their fans get an early goal, their fans are right into it. I thought we weathered it as best as we could and our I thought first was solid.”
Starting lineup penalties might be rare at the professional level, but the Bears aren’t the first high-level team to get snagged by a mix-up. The St. Louis Blues took a similar penalty in December 2022 when then-head coach Craig Berube played Brayden Schenn instead of Brandon Saad to open a game against the Edmonton Oilers. Jay Woodcroft, Oilers head coach at the time, flagged down officials to get Edmonton a power play, leading to a goal by Zach Hyman.
The penalty isn’t entirely unheard of at the AHL level, either. During the FOX43 telecast of the game, former voice of the Bears John Walton shared that Bruce Boudreau was once whistled for a lineup violation during his Hershey tenure as head coach. Analyst Garrett Mitchell added that during his playing days in the AHL, teams would sometimes come out with a wrong player for the starting lineup, but rarely would an opposing coach notice or appeal to officials.
But with the Firebirds looking to win the franchise’s first Calder Cup and beat the league’s top team from the regular season, they continue to look for any advantage they can get and this one ultimately paid off.
