After a tumultuous few years, including a cancelled season and a Canadian Division title, the Laval Rocket are finally headed to the Calder Cup playoffs thanks to a little help from the Cleveland Monsters.
Bienvenue aux séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Calder 2022, Rocket de Laval!
Welcome to the 2022 #CalderCup Playoffs, @RocketLaval! pic.twitter.com/y22AoFqWOM
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) April 24, 2022
With the Rochester Americans needing wins to save their season, the Monsters knocked them off in back-to-back contests over the weekend. Rochester’s lost points allowed the Rocket to gain ground despite losing to Toronto and Syracuse this week.
Now comes the final few games of the year where an air-tight AHL North Division is still far from sorted out with a handful of games remaining. As of right now, the Rocket are settled into third place, which would match them up with the Syracuse Crunch in a best-of-five series in the first round. With two games left against the Toronto Marlies and one more against Syracuse, the Rocket could see themselves anywhere from second place to playing in the four seed versus five seed play-in round.
Regardless, it’s a big day for the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate, as this is their first post-season appearance since moving to Laval, and first since 2017 when the St. John’s IceCaps lost in four games to Syracuse.
