Nick Lieberman He made his playoff debut in Game 4 and became the 10th defenseman hired by the Bears' head coach. Todd Nelson This postseason.
Liverman, a seventh-round draft pick out of Colorado in 2017, signed an AHL contract with Hershey last summer after playing five seasons at Notre Dame. He will serve as team captain for the Fighting Irish in 2022-23 and spent the majority of this season with South Carolina of the ECHL, appearing in just three AHL regular-season games.
Liverman primarily played in pairs with the veteran captain. Dylan McIlrath With Thursday's win.
“He did a great job,” Nelson said of Lieberman, who hadn't played in a game since South Carolina's season ended in April. “He's a guy who can skate well and move the puck well. He came in as a substitute in a really tough situation and played a really strong game, even though he hadn't played in a couple of months.”
Vice Captain Aaron NessAfter missing the past eight games due to injury, he participated in pre-game warm-ups before Game 4.
Firebirds Head Coach Dan Bylsma “They're a championship team,” he summed up the Bears in his post-game press conference Thursday.
So he wasn't surprised when Hershey won when they needed it most, tying the series at 2-2.
“They had us under siege early on with their speed and their forecheck,” Bylsma said. “We weren't moving the puck very cleanly, which caused them to play poorly. We expected that, and we delivered. They were very good. It was their best game of the series so far.”
“It was a desperate time for them, but they made it happen.”
The Firebirds must fight back tonight and win at least one game to secure the Calder Cup before heading back to Hershey. Of course, if they lose tonight, the Firebirds will have to win both games at the Giant Center.
“This is a big game,” Bylsma said of Game 5. “Both teams are competing for four wins. I expect it to go for 420 minutes. It's going to be a back-and-forth game. We're going to be throwing punches. They're going to throw punches and sometimes we're going to throw punches.”
“To get four wins, someone has to get their third win, and that's coming up.” [tonight]. “
The AHL set an all-time playoff attendance record in 2023, but that record will be broken tonight, with a full house expected to once again be in attendance at Acrisure Arena for Game 5.
Last year, AHL teams attended 551,138 fans for 85 postseason games, the most since the league began recording official attendance in 1962-63. Tonight marks the 81st game of the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs.
The average postseason attendance (to date) is 6,861 per game, also a league record, as are the combined regular season and playoff attendance figures of more than 7.3 million.
– File provider Patrick Williams
