Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
The first day of really warm spring weather arrived in Hershey, Pennsylvania, this week.
it's sunny, the skies are clear above, the greens of Chocolatetown are in bloom, and the Hershey Bears are gearing up for another Calder Cup.
First up is an old rival, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Game 1 of the best-of-five Atlantic Division semifinal series is tonight at the Giant Center. And after a week of grueling practices, scrimmages, afternoons on the golf course, and team bonding, it's time to really play.
History and history surround the AHL's top franchise, a team in its 86th season, but the Bears lifted the Calder Cup last June in spectacular fashion – an overtime victory in Game 7 of the Finals at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif.
It was 1:17 when I returned home Mike Vecchione earned the Bears' 12 championships. Fans stayed up late into the night and into the early hours of the morning watching the game from home or together inside the Giant Center.
So what do you do for an encore? Hershey is trying to become the first team to repeat as Calder Cup champion since the Bears did so in 2009 and 2010.
“Once you win the championship,” the head coach Todd Nelson he said, “it's like a bloody shark.” He wants more.”
The protector Jake Massey he added, “I think the playoffs, especially when you win them, mature the players not only off the rink but also on the rink, the way they carry themselves… more confidence, more depression.” I think the guys who won it last year will take it to the locker room and hopefully motivate the whole team to win another one.”
The 2023-24 regular season went a long way toward giving the Bears the best chance to play through June again. They compiled a 53-14-0-5 record, set the AHL mark for winning streak at 72 games and registered the second-best fielding percentage (.771) in league history. They earned not only a first round bye, but home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, as long as they advance.
The Bears' returning core knows how hard it will be to get Calder Cup No. 13. And newcomers to this season are eager to learn what the journey is like. Of the 20 players who wore uniforms for Game 7 in the Coachella Valley, only 11 remain on the team.
“The young guys are just hungry because they want to be a part of something special,” Nelson said. “They understand how important it is to win here.”
Those new guys Alex Limoges, Pierrick Dube, Jimmy Huntington, Chase Priskie again Clay Stevensonall important contributors to this season.
“When you win, it's a great feeling,” said Nelson, this season's AHL coach of the year and a four-time Calder Cup winner as a player, assistant coach and head coach. “All the hard work you've done over the year… I think that's the biggest thing. Seeing these young players grow as hockey players, grow as professionals, makes you proud as a coach.”
Last year's postseason MVP Hunter Shepard returned to lead the league in goals against average (1.76) and save percentage (.929), earning the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL's top goaltender. With Shepard and Stevenson leading the way, Hershey allowed the fewest goals in the league, and posted a team-record 12 shutouts. The Bears also had the AHL's top penalty kill at 87.7 percent, while their power play was effective at 20.1 percent, sixth best in the league.
This club has very high goals, but has learned to break those goals down into something manageable each day, each week, each month.
“'Who are we with this weekend,'” said Limoges. “We want to win that game. Then we prepare for the next one, and we want to win that one. It was very easy to match [that]. I hope that's how we approach it in the playoffs. One round at a time, one game at a time.”
There's clearly a lot to like about the Bears' prospects this spring. But this team also knows enough to know that even a regular season won't mean much come Game 1.
And in a best-of-five series, the margin for error can get uncomfortably tight, uncomfortably fast. A hot opposing goal, a bad bounce or two, and six months of work could be in jeopardy.
Hershey has had plenty of time to recover and rest and hasn't played since April 20, the final game of the regular season. Nelson and his coaching staff have worked to keep everyone fresh and as close to game-ready as possible.
It's time to get ready for the game. Limoges saw that home stretch as a fan last June: the Virginia native went to Game 3 of the Calder Cup Finals at the Giant Center. Now he wants to feel that hardness in the snow.
You will do it. Just like Vecchione and the Bears running back did last spring.
Said Vecchione, “This is what you play.”
TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams has covered the American Hockey League for nearly two decades at outlets including NHL.com, Sportsnet, TSN, Hockey News, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and SLAM ! Sports, and most recently was the host of The Hockey News On The 'A' podcast. He was the recipient of the AHL's James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league's top scorer in 2016.
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