Top 5 AHL 2023-24 Schedule Releases

Earlier this week, the AHL released their 2023-24 regular season schedule. The league will kick off its 88th year of operation with 12 games on Friday, October 13, and will run through Sunday, April 21.

On schedule release day, social media and communications teams across the league flex their creative muscles with fun and unique announcements in the form of graphics or videos. This year social media was flooded with an abundance of clever releases which left fans buzzing for days.

After consuming each schedule announcement multiple times, I decided on the “Top 5 AHL 2023-24 Schedule Releases.”

Honorable Mention: Ontario Reign

While most teams lean into using dogs to promote their team, the Ontario Reign decided to announce their 2023-24 schedule by following their “newest agility coach”, an adorable black and white cat, around the locker room. It’s nice to see an organization give our feline friends some love. Due to the fact I will one day become the local neighborhood crazy-fun cat lady, this schedule release holds a special place in my heart and has been given the honorable mention leading into our top five.

5. Tucson Roadrunners

The Tucson Roadrunners separated themselves from the pack by offering up a fancy schedule release complete with classical music and a 12-course meal. They added quaint touches to their release by announcing each team as a different course of the meal and marked their away games as “to-go” on the menu. An element of fun was thrown into the mix when they made each dish look slightly unpalatable.

This quirky and unique take on a 12-course meal would have landed higher on the list had the Roadrunners used a real Chicago-style pizza instead of a Lunchables pizza to announce their schedule against the Chicago Wolves.

4. Milwaukee Admirals

The Milwaukee Admirals schedule release is the only one on this list that was not in video form. Instead, they leaned into the upcoming release of the Barbie Movie and used AI to generate Barbie characters of each of their opponents in the 2023-24 season. While this idea may seem basic, the Admirals social team took things to another level of fun when they began interacting with teams around the league by asking them to change their profile picture to their AI Barbie and asking teams to have their players reenact the photos that didn’t make the cut for their schedule release.

pls get your players to reenact these, thank u pic.twitter.com/cMfjcFTHYS

— Milwaukee Admirals (@mkeadmirals) July 12, 2023

3. Utica Comets and Springfield Thunderbirds

The Utica Comets and Springfield Thunderbirds share the third spot in the AHL’s 2023-24 Schedule Release due to the fact they both played off of the hit sketch comedy show “I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson.”

Different sketches from the show were used to highlight different events and opponents on the schedule. Even “$3 Beer Wednesdays” for the Comets was matched up with a sketch. Fantastic job by their media team to scour through three seasons worth of sketches to make this video a success.

Oh my god, did you see ̶B̶r̶i̶a̶n̶'̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶t̶ the Comets' schedule release? 🎩

Full schedule: https://t.co/ZngXOVwnYh
Printable: https://t.co/V0Y2IxGI7E pic.twitter.com/4bKaJpetoE

— Utica Comets (@UticaComets) July 12, 2023

Springfield opted to use the most popular sketch from “I Think You Should Leave” – the pay it forward chain – for their schedule release. I was thoroughly impressed with how fast the actor for the Thunderbirds was able to spit out the schedule while keeping a straight face. The only thing that would have made this release better is if they dropped bloopers from the recording.

2. Henderson Silver Knights

Coming in at number two, the Henderson Silver Knights announced their 2023-24 season schedule with a wrestling spoof called the “AHL Royal Gauntlet ”. Decked out in hockey jerseys and wrestling gear, Henderson’s opponents made their way to the ring one by one to partake in a rumble style match. The amount of work and athleticism put into their schedule release paired with how well the video was executed makes for a top-tier announcement.

And the award for best AHL 2023-24 schedule release goes to………..

THE HERSHEY BEARS!!

This year has been quite the year for the Hershey Bears. First, they became the 2023 Calder Cup Champions. Then, they have the best schedule release of the offseason. Hershey simply can’t miss in 2023.

In this year’s schedule release, the Bears texted viral videos to their opponents and hilarity ensued as each conversation unfolded. On one side of the screen is a phone featuring the sassy texts between Hershey and their opponents. On the other side of the screen is the viral video they felt matched the personality of each team they are playing in the 2023-24 season. They also added both home and away dates for each team.

A captivating video chock full of laughs and information is what gave Hershey top honors in this year’s schedule release ranking.

Despite the fact our number has now been blocked by 15 different teams, we at least know when we'll see them again!

Our favorite memes, shared with our friends. pic.twitter.com/o88EkozzLS

— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) July 12, 2023

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