SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League today launched the total schedule of video games for the 2024-25 routine season, the league’s 89th year of operation. The season, with 32 groups playing 72 video games each – an overall of 1,152 video games – starts on Friday, October 11 and concludes on Sunday, April 20.

Of note on the 2024-25 schedule:

• The 2024-25 routine season starts with 8 video games on Oct. 11, and an overall of 29 video games over opening weekend.

• The Hershey Bears raise their 13th Calder Cup champion banner when they open the season at Giant Center versus their Eastern Conference Finals enemy, the Cleveland Monsters, on Oct. 12.

• The two-time Western Conference champ Coachella Valley Firebirds start their 3rd season in the AHL with a home date versus the Bakersfield Condors on Oct. 11.

• The Firebirds likewise host the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic provided by Spotlight 29 Casino, set up for Sunday, Feb. 2 and Monday, Feb. 3 at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif.

• Games set up by day of the week: Monday (15), Tuesday (57), Wednesday (197), Thursday (15), Friday (302), Saturday (392), Sunday (174).

The American Hockey League was formally born in 1936 when the Canadian-American Hockey League and the International Hockey League combined to form the International-American Hockey League (the “International” would be dropped from the league’s name in 1940). The AHL continues to act as the leading advancement league for all 32 National Hockey League groups; almost 90 percent these days’s NHL gamers are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame hung around in the AHL in their professions.