Washington Capitals: Celebrating 10 Years With Hershey Bears
By Tori Hartman
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Hershey Bears’ franchise has become synonymous with victory since its origin in 1938. Many NHL affiliations have come and gone for the Hershey Bears, but the most notable in recent history is it’s 10-year affiliation with the Washington Capitals. The affiliation has undoubtedly brought success for both the Hershey Bears and the Washington Capitals. The Hershey Bears won the Calder Cup three times during the 10-year affiliation (2005-06 and back-to-back in 2008-09 and 2009-10). The Washington Capitals reached the post-season 7 of the 10 years, and saw an influx of AHL-developed talent emerge in the NHL. What’s even more impressive of this affiliation agreement is the Hershey Bears ability to develop players all while putting a winning team on the ice every night.
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One of the primary focal points in Hershey is to ready the Capitals’ prospects for time in the NHL. It’s about grooming players for the professional hockey lifestyle. Head Coach Troy Mann will have his hands full with a slew of young players anticipated in Chocolatetown this upcoming season. Prospects like Riley Barber, Madison Bowey, Tyler Lewington, and Jakub Vrana are starting to filter into professional hockey and could all see playing time with the Hershey Bears this season. Coach Mann should be ready to help these players blossom into full-time NHLers with his experience last season with players like Stanislav Galiev.
After returning from an injury for 2014-15, Galiev really hit his stride to become a solid first liner and a mainstay on the first power play unit. Coach Mann’s work with Galiev and faith in his talent helped Stanislav go on to play in his first NHL game, score his first NHL goal, and compete for a spot on the Washington Capitals opening night roster for the upcoming season. The Caps’ prospects should be in good hands with Coach Mann this season.
However, developing these young players can sometimes take a toll on an AHL hockey team. The Capitals will want these guys getting playing time and honing their skills. While these young guys are battling on the ice, some the veteran guys are sitting in the rafters expected to be leaders in the locker room while they aren’t seeing any playing time. Even though the veteran players may be the better option, the prospects seeing playing time is a bigger priority in Hershey. For the most part veteran guys have handled experiences like this before and have adapted, but it still must be hard for a hockey player to sit while his team is playing. I’m not sure how Head Coach Troy Mann and his staff manage to juggle this night-in and night-out.
The Hershey Bears’ coaching staff balances out the right amount of youth and experience in the lineup, but also has to account for a player call-ups at any time. Here’s an example from last season: The Hershey Bears were finishing up the second round of the playoffs last year and their leading point producer, Nate Schmidt, was called up to the Washington Capitals. Schmidt was recalled on the day the Bears had a game, and the Washington Capitals weren’t playing.
The real kicker, though, is that he was only brought up to act as the seventh defenseman. I understand the Washington Capitals not wanting him to play for the Bears and risk getting injured; I also understand them wanting an extra man ready just in case; and I get these players want to make it to the NHL, but this can get incredibly frustrating when the Bears are also trying to win. The Hershey Bears had to adapt to missing Schmidt and change the defensive pairings that were previously producing most of the playoff points.
While I believe that Washington Capitals want to see success in Hershey, I think their main focus is on their own success. This is a harsh reality many AHL fans have to face every season, especially the Hershey Bears fans whose favorite NHL team is not the Caps and could care less about their success. Imagine a league higher than the NHL, and Braden Holtby gets recalled at the moment in the season when the team needs him protecting the net the most.
It’s hard because you want to see Holtby’s success, but you want to be selfish and keep his talent all for your team so they win. It’s basically an ball of emotional confusion, so take it easy on the fans who dedicated themselves to an AHL team. I have to say, though, nothing beats seeing the players make it to the NHL and score their first goal or come up big in net to save the game. It’s really awesome to see players grow and develop their game and achieve their dream of playing in the NHL. Let’s hope the Hershey Bears and Washington Capitals affiliation can bring 10 more years of success.