The Oklahoma City Barons advanced to the Western Conference Finals in style with their 5-1 win over the Texas Stars.  The Barons faced their neighbors to the south in a best of 7 series this past week. 

Teemu Hartikainen started the Barons offensive when he put a shot on Star’s Goalie Christopher Nilstorp, who caught a piece of the puck but was unable to keep it from sneaking its way into the goal.  Baron’s goalie Yann Danis had a series of stunning saves in the closeout win allowing just one power play shot to slip by him into the net.  He has played every minute of the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs, performing quite well with 317 saves, a 93.5 save percentage. Mark Arcobello stepped up to lead Oklahoma City offensively with an AHL leading 10 playoff goals with the support of Toni Rajala, who has put up an impressive 10 in the assist column.

The Barons needed just five games to seal the fate of the Stars when they closed out the series with four wins and just one loss. This will be back-to-back visits to the Western Conference Finals for the Barons who were defeated in the 2012 Calder Cup Finals by the Toronto Marlies. They will be traveling to Grand Rapids for the first two games of the series this Friday and Saturday night. They will be back in town for the next three games May 29 and May 31, and June 1.  Oklahoma City earned a 2-1-0-1 advantage in the season series against the Griffins with each team earning two wins on home ice. 

The Barons were the fifth seed heading into the playoffs and will find a determined opponent in the third seeded Griffins.  They knocked off the reining Western Conference Champions in an upsetting 4-2 series.

Tickets are on sale starting at just $11 for Baron home games and should prove to be a high speed, action packed series.