Firebirds Complete Weekend Sweep, Beat Wranglers 4-1; Sale Scores Twice

Coachella Valley completed a back-to-back weekend sweep of the Calgary Wranglers with a 4-1 matinee at Acrisure Arena on March 8, 2026, paced by a multi-goal outing from forward Eduard Sale. The Firebirds’ four-goal night was enough to bury Calgary in the second half of the weekend set and deliver a statement win at home.

Sale’s two-goal performance supplied the margin in a game that ended 4-1; the Original Report confirms Sale recorded multiple goals in the March 8 contest. The matinee win gave the Firebirds the sweep of Calgary over the weekend at Acrisure Arena, a tangible momentum swing as March play ramps up.

The Coachella Valley victory on March 8 arrives on the heels of several notable performances for the franchise over the last year. On Dec. 15, 2024, the Firebirds also beat the Wranglers at Acrisure Arena, a 4-2 result in front of 7,380 fans. That December game featured Martin Frk tying the contest at 10:20, a power-play one-timer by Jani Nyman at 17:09 assisted by Maxime Lajoie and Eduard Šalé, and an empty-netter by Hayden with 31 seconds remaining. Rookie goalie Nikke Kokko, wearing No. 35, was described as one of the stars of that game, while Aleš Stezka had set a franchise single-game saves record with 50 saves on the Thursday before that home weekend, then sat out the Dec. 15 game to rest.

Injury context from the December stretch was significant: Max McCormick, the team captain since the 2022-23 inaugural season, had not played since Dec. 7, Cale Fleury had been out since Dec. 8, and forward Jacob Melanson remained sidelined with an undisclosed issue. Coach Laxdal, reflecting on that December homestand, said, "If you look at it, we played the top two teams in our conference the last three homes games, and we got five out of six. There's a chance we could've got six out of six, but we'll take what we got with our young group."

The matchup with Calgary has not always gone Coachella Valley’s way in other settings. In a separate postseason meeting, the Firebirds dropped Game 1 of a best-of-five playoff series, 4-1, when Ryker Evans provided the lone Coachella Valley goal, Adam Klapka and Mitch McLain scored for Calgary, and rookie Sam Morton and Yan Kuznetsov added empty-net goals in the final two minutes. Head coach Dan Bylsma reflected on that slow start after a long layoff, saying, "I think it took us a bit to get into the (game) with the long layoff," and added, "It’s going to be a tight-checking and grind it out kind of series." An observer identified as Lind summed up Calgary’s approach in that game: "There wasn't a lot of open spots on the ice."

For March 8, 2026, the headline is simple and exact: Coachella Valley 4, Calgary 1, Sale with multiple goals, sweep completed at Acrisure Arena. Sale’s two-goal night delivered the decisive edge and gave the Firebirds a weekend to build on as the schedule shifts deeper into the month.