Idaho's affiliate reaches AHL's Calder Cup Finals

Turns out Richard Bachman got to participate in a conference-championship celebration after all.The 22-year-old goaltender was deprived of the opportunity to join the Idaho Steelheads in their celebration of the ECHL's National Conference title, but he was part of the celebration for the AHL's Texas Stars.Texas, Idaho's affiliate in the highest level of minor league hockey in North America, defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs, 4-2, on Wednesday night to win the Western Conference championship and advance to the AHL's Calder Cup Finals.Bachman backed up former Steelhead Matt Climie (pictured) in net. Climie stopped 41 of 43 shots in the decisive victory in Game 7 for the Stars.A number of former Steelheads, aside from Climie and Bachman, were part of Texas's victory. Francis Wathier, Greg Rallo, Matt Stephenson, Aaron Gagnon, Warren Peters, and Ethan Graham all skated for the Stars with Graham netting the Stars' first goal of the contest late in the second period and Stephenson assisting on the game-tying tally midway through the third period.Texas will square off with the Hershey Bears in the Calder Cup Finals beginning Thursday, June 3, in Hershey. Click here for a full schedule of games for the Calder Cup Finals. The Bears also have a couple of prominent Steelhead ties. Forward Ashton Rome scored 36 points in 39 games for Idaho before being signed by Hershey late in the regular season (he has two goals in 14 postseason games for the Bears) and Jay Beagle was a member of Idaho's Kelly Cup championship team in 2007.