The 2012–13 AHL season was the 77th

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

. The regular season began on October 12, 2012 and ended on April 21, 2013. The 2013 Calder Cup playoffs followed the conclusion of the regular season. The

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League. It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In its cur ...

was won by the

Grand Rapids Griffins The Grand Rapids Griffins are a professional hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and play home games at Van Andel Arena. They are the AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey Lea ...

for their first Calder Cup in franchise history.

Regular season

On June 28, the Board of Governors approved a minor realignment for the league for the 2012–13 season. The only changes were made in the Western Conference, as three teams swapped divisions for this season: Abbotsford moves to the North Division, Grand Rapids moves to the Midwest Division and Charlotte moves to the newly renamed South Division (formerly West Division). The Eastern Conference remains the same as the previous season. Among the rule changes for this season, the league has adopted video-review for goals, which has been in use in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

for years. Because of the 2012–13 NHL lockout, all NHL players who were still eligible to play in the AHL without clearing waivers were assigned to their AHL teams for the duration of the lockout. The lockout also forced the cancellation of one of the two AHL Outdoor Classics for 2012; as a result, there was only one O