Capitals recall Hunter Shepard from Bears

The Washington Capitals are without Darcy Kuemper for the foreseeable future as he’s sidelined with an upper body injury. The length of time is day to day. The team needed to make a recall from the Hershey Bears and they went with Hunter Shepard. 

The 27 year old has posted a record of 6-0-2 with a 1.83 goals against average and a .932 save percentage in eight games with Hershey this season.

The six foot, 215 pound goaltender ranks first in the AHL in goals against average and save percentage while tied for ninth in wins. He was named the AHL Goaltender of the Month for November after posting a record of 6-0-0 with a 1.63 goals against average and a .936 save percentage in six games played.

The Cohasset, Minnesota native appeared in nine games with Hershey during the 2021-22 season finishing with a 5-3-0 record with one shutout, a 2.06 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.

Shepard also appeared in 23 games for the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL, posting a record of 12-9-2 with a 2.88 goals against average, a .917 save percentage and two shutouts.

In 20 career AHL games with the Bears, Shepard has a record of 14-3-2 with a 1.80 goals against average, a .934 save percentage and two shutouts. Shepard has a 24-15-4 record with a 2.73 goals against average and a .919 save percentage in 44 career ECHL games with South Carolina.

Shepard singed an AHL contract with Hershey on June 30, 2020 after a four year career with the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs of the NCAA.

In 119 career games with the team, which included an NCAA record 115 straight games from Oct. 21, 2017 to March 7, 2020, Shepard finished with a 76-37-5 record ranking first all time in Bulldogs history in wins, goals against average (1.94), save percentage (.922) and shutouts (17).

Shepard won back to back NCAA championships with the Bulldogs in 2018 and 2019, was twice named the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Goaltender of the Year in 2019 and 2020 as well as earned First Team All American honors in 2019 and Second Team All American honors in 2020.

Shepard also finished his NCAA career as a three time Mike Richter Award Finalist, given to the NCAA’s top goaltender, and a three time All NCHC selection.

Kuemper left the game in the second period on Saturday night against the Calgary Flames in what looked like a concussion. But he removed himself from the game, it wasn’t done by a concussion spotter.

It is likely Charlie Lindgren gets the start in tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oilers.