BILOXI, Miss. � The 2006 American Hockey League Calder Cup Finals between the Hershey Bears and Milwaukee Admirals consist of three former Mississippi Sea Wolves in the best-of-seven series. Hershey is guided by head coach Bruce Boudreau and assistant coach Bob Woods, while Milwaukee features defenseman Sheldon Brookbank.
The first-ever head coach of Mississippi, Boudreau guided the Sea Wolves from 1996-99, highlighted by the ECHL Kelly Cup Championship in 1999.
Woods, who was a Sea Wolves player/assistant for three seasons including the 1999 championship team, took over as head coach of Mississippi from 2001-05, where he led the team to the postseason in each of his four seasons including appearances in the ECHL Final Four in 2002 and 2003.
In 2001-02, Brookbank started his pro career under coach Woods with the Sea Wolves collecting eight goals, 29 points and 137 penalty minutes in 62 games. A native of Lanigan, Saskatchewan, Brookbank also appeared in six games with Grand Rapids that season, where he posted one assist and 24 penalty minutes.
This season, Brookbank was named alternate captain for Milwaukee in his first campaign with the team.
The 25-year-old Brookbank appeared in 73 regular season games with the Admirals notching nine goals and picking up 26 assists for 35 points to go along with a +4 rating and 232 penalty minutes.
In his fifth-year of professional hockey including the last four seasons in the AHL, the 6-foot-2 and 200-pound Brookbank has tallied one goal and six assists for seven points in 15 postseason contests, while racking up a team-high 31 penalty minutes.
Road to the 2006 Calder Cup Finals:
Hershey�s road to the finals started by sweeping both the Norfolk Admirals and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins four straight before defeating the Portland Pirates in overtime in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals to take the series 4 games to 3.
Milwaukee�s quest for the 2006 Calder Cup remains alive after knocking off the Iowa Stars in the opening round, 4 games to 3 and then sweeping both the Houston Aeros and Grand Rapids Griffins in four straight games to capture the AHL Western Conference.
The schedule for the 2006 Calder Cup Finals is as follows:
(Note: All game times have been converted to Central Time)
Game 1 - Friday, June 2 - Hershey at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. CT
Game 2 - Saturday, June 3 - Hershey at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. CT
Game 3 - Saturday, June 10 - Milwaukee at Hershey, 6 p.m. CT
Game 4 - Sunday, June 11 - Milwaukee at Hershey, 5 p.m. CT
*Game 5 - Tuesday, June 13 - Milwaukee at Hershey, 6 p.m. CT
*Game 6 - Thursday, June 15 - Hershey at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. CT
*Game 7 - Saturday, June 17 - Hershey at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. CT
* - If Necessary
The Bears play their home games at GIANT Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, while the Admirals play their home games at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Visit TheAHL.com to Watch Games Live on B2 Networks.
