One third of the way through 2021-22 American Hockey League season, there is a three-team drag race for the top spot in the nine-team Pacific Division.
At this moment, the Tucson Roadrunners aren’t one of those three teams. But they’re squarely in the mix for a playoff spot, thanks in large part to the AHL’s decision to expand its postseason field from 16 teams to 23 beginning this year.
The top spots are occupied by Stockton Heat and Ontario Reign, who are owners of the AHL’s third and fourth best records, respectively. The Henderson Silver Knights, last year’s regular season division champs, have rocketed into striking distance — their .635 win percentage is a clear third in the division.
As for the rest of the nine-team lineup, it’s a logjam from fourth position on down. That includes the Roadrunners, 3-5-1-1 in their last 10 games and currently in sixth place following a 5-2 loss Sunday. Tucson entered last week in fourth place, but managed only three points out of a possible eight.
Tucson has another busy week starting Wednesday, when it takes on the San Jose Barracuda.
In prior years, such separation at the top would be more of a concern for teams like the Roadrunners, who are flush right in a pack of the remaining six teams that also includes Colorado, Bakersfield, San Diego, San Jose and newcomer Abbotsford.
“You’ve got to take as many points as you can right now, because at the end of the season, it might be down to one or two points if you make the playoffs or not,” said Tucson defenseman Victor Soderstrom, who has racked up seven points from the blueline in his last nine games played.
Soderstrom’s exact scenario sent the Roadrunners home early in the 2018-19 season.
That year, the Roadrunners finished a single point out of an AHL Calder Cup playoff berth after a 4-3 loss to San Diego on the final day of the regular season.
Last season, Tucson played 36 regular season games and finished dead last in its division. Yet the Roadrunners were still slotted for at least one do-or-die postseason tilt thanks to a decision to have all seven Pacific Division teams play at least one playoff game.
First-place Henderson, second-place Bakersfield and third-place San Diego received byes, while the remaining four teams mixed together to play one-off matchups. The winners of those do-or-die games then played one more for the right to face Henderson in a best-of-three series.
Tucson lost 2-1 to San Jose at a neutral rink in Irvine, California, ending its season. Bakersfield ultimately defeated Henderson in a three-game series for the official division title.
This year, with nine teams in the division, seven will once again advance past the regular the season. The first-place team — Stockton, if the season ended today — will earn a first-round bye. The other six teams will pair off in best-of-three series.
Put another way, winning the regular season banner outright is for more than just seeding. For a team like Ontario — a top-five team league-wide all season but in second place in the Pacific the whole time — that would likely be tough to swallow.
But for teams like Tucson, Bakersfield or Colorado – all hovering around .500 right now and all flip-flopping each other this past week for the fourth, fifth and sixth spots in the division race – their 2021-22 campaigns will all likely be at least tad longer than the 68-game regular season schedules would otherwise dictate.
“The standings, they’re tight right now,” said Tucson forward Cam Hebig. “We’ve got to try to separate ourselves. There are seven teams that make playoffs, and that’s exciting, and we want to be in that group. Right now, our focus is getting in that group. … There’s a lot of hockey to be played, so we’ve got to be hungry.”
In all, 23 of the AHL’s 31 teams will reach some sort of postseason series this year, compared to 16 back in 2018-19. That was the last year the Calder Cup was awarded. The Atlantic division will give its top two teams byes, the Nos. 3-6 seeds facing off in best-of-three matchups.
The North and Central divisions are effectively giving their first three teams byes, with teams four and five playing going best-of-three for the right to play the first-place team in the best-of-five second round series.
