Tumultuous Wranglers season expires in 2-0 loss to Firebirds

The Calgary Wranglers' season ended Saturday night when they lost to Coachella Valley 2-0 (Photo: X@AHLWranglers)

The Calgary Wranglers season ended Saturday night with a 2-0 loss to the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

After a scoreless first period, the Firebirds got a goal late in the second from Mitchell Stephens, which proved to be the series winner.

John Hayden added an empty-netter with 17 seconds remaining in the third.

The victory gave the Firebirds a two-game sweep of their best-of-three first round American Hockey League playoff series.

It was the third straight year that Coachella Valley eliminated the Wranglers.

Saturday’s loss came after a heartbreaking triple overtime defeat Tuesday night, after the Wranglers scored the tying goal with seven seconds remaining in regulation time to complete a three-goal third period rally.

Head coach Trent Cull, who returned to coach the club in the playoffs after spending the second half of the season assistant coaching with the Calgary Flames, said in a post-game interview with Wrangler TV that it was a tough night but that he was proud of the team’s committment during a bumpy ride of a season.

“It stinks,” Cull said. “It sucks. You want to win.”

Cull said the Wranglers came out Saturday a little tentative.

“I thought we were a little slow to start and then I thought we got better, but you gotta find a way to score. You can’t not score goals in playoffs.”

He said a season of coaching changes, injuries and a rotating roster of players took a toll on the club’s consistency -- they were one of the best teams in the AHL in the first half and one of the worst in the second before rallying late in the season to qualify for the post-season.

“(In all) my experience coaching, that’s probably the biggest year of adversity for that group,” Cull said. “For them to have multiple coaches, guys called up, kind of a revolving door – just a lot of uneasiness around the group."

“I thought they responded really well,” he said. “It’s an achievement to get to the playoffs. I thought they did a really good job with that.

“I was proud of them, I was excited to coach them, to come back and proud of their effort throughout these two games.”

He just hated getting shut out to end the season.

“I wish we could have at least scored a goal. That’s kind of stuck in my craw right now.”