Coachella Valley Firebirds | |
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City | Thousand Palms, California |
League | American Hockey League |
Conference | Western |
Division | Pacific |
Founded | 2022 |
Home arena | Acrisure Arena |
Colors | Deep sea blue, red alert, orange, ice blue[1] |
Mascot | Fuego |
Owner(s) | Seattle Hockey Partners Oak View Group (David Bonderman, Jerry Bruckheimer, Tod Leiweke and Tim Leiweke) |
General manager | Vacant |
Head coach | Derek Laxdal |
Captain | Max McCormick |
Media | The Desert Sun KDGL |
Affiliates | Seattle Kraken (NHL) Kansas City Mavericks (ECHL) |
Website | cvfirebirds.com |
Championships | |
Division titles | 1 (2023–24) |
Conference titles | 2 (2023, 2024) |
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The Coachella Valley Firebirds are a professional ice hockey team based in Southern California's Coachella Valley. They are members of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference of the American Hockey League (AHL). The Firebirds began play in the 2022–23 AHL season. The team is an owned-and-operated affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Seattle Kraken. The team plays their home games at Acrisure Arena in the town of Thousand Palms, California.
After the approval of the Kraken to join the NHL, the Kraken's ownership group had narrowed down AHL affiliate options to promoting the ECHL's Idaho Steelheads in Boise, Idaho, or a new expansion team in Palm Springs, California. On June 26, 2019, it was reported the Seattle ownership group had chosen Palm Springs as the site for Seattle's AHL affiliate.[2]
The Firebirds have been well-versed in terms of success. After finishing second in the AHL with 103 points during their inaugural season, they rose to the Calder Cup Finals, losing in seven games to the Hershey Bears. The Firebirds would reach the Finals the following year, losing to Hershey in six games.