Wendell Young, Mr. Perfect

There is no doubt that the Hershey Bears, currently in the midst of their 75^th anniversary season, and about to embark on their adventure for another Calder Cup title, are considered the model franchise in the American Hockey League. During the course of their 75 campaigns, the club has not only been a perennial success at the box office, but they have also captured the Calder Cup 11 times, nurtured hundreds of players on their way to the National Hockey League, and also served as a stepping stone for numerous coaches and executives on their way to the NHL.

Through all of those years, there has only been one goalie who led the club to the league title in “perfect” fashion, Wendell Young, who went 12-0 in the Bears’ sweep in the 1988 Calder Cup Playoffs and now serves as the General Manager of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.  Although the Wolves failed to qualify for this year’s post-season festivities, this season, Young reached into Hershey’s rich history, both recent and long ago, in his quest to bring the Calder Cup to the Windy City.

Young, a fourth round pick by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft, a draft that saw the Philadelphia Flyers, then the Bears’ NHL affiliate select defensemen Steve Smith, a teammate on the ‘88 championship club with their first round choice. After spending his first four pro seasons with the Canucks organization patrolling the pipes in 113 contests for various Canucks’ farm clubs, in addition to thirty outings with the big club, Young was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers’ organization in the summer of 1987. In that deal, the Flyers dealt former Bears’ defenseman Daryl Stanley and goaltender Darren Jensen to the Canucks in exchange for Young and a 3^rd round draft pick in 1990 which turned out to be Kimbi Daniels who also spent some time in Chocolatetown during his career.

“Actually, I was quite surprised to get traded out of the organization. I guess after four years they had enough of me,” chuckled Young. “The situation with Philly was that Hextall got suspended in the playoffs the year before and they needed a goalie, actually two goalies, and Mark “Trees” Laforest and I ended up coming in because of that.”

Young’s tenure in the Flyers’ organization lasted only one season during which he spent six games with the “Boys from Broad Street”, but he spent the majority of his time that season with the Bears and appeared in 51 games, notching 33 wins in the regular season.

“As that season went on you could tell things were starting to look good, and we were turning the corner. We had a solid team talent-wise, but I think more importantly we were a very tight team who hung out a lot together.  We had a great dressing room with a lot of good leaders in it. That’s when you start realizing that you might be on to something special, when you end up winning the big games, because in those types of games, character really plays out.”

In the playoffs that season, the Bears and Young displayed their mettle and finished off their perfect 12-0 post season with a four-game sweep in the Calder Cup Finals at the expense of the Canucks’ top farm club, the Fredericton Express, in Fredericton no less, providing Young with a sense of vindication.

“Absolutely”, said Young without hesitation when asked if that championship meant more to him since it came immediately against the organization that gave up on him. “When players say it doesn’t mean anything to them, I don’t think they are being totally honest. When you leave an organization, you feel that they don’t want you, but the organization that you go to does. In so many words, I think people defend their honor by coming back to haunt people (in the old organization)” he laughed. “Also, I’m from the East Coast of Canada, and I had a lot of family and friends at the games in Fredericton, too, so it was great that a lot of people that I knew got a chance to see us achieve what we did live.”

During this season, Young’s Wolves had a distinct Hershey flavor as evidenced by the fact that three ex-Bears-Steve Pinizzotto, Zach Miskovic, and Andrew Gordon-all spent part of the season with his club.

“I should have Doug Yingst on retainer,” said Young responding to the sprinkling of Hershey players employed by his club this season. “It’s funny because before now I really didn’t realize we have had three guys on our team from Hershey this season. When we got out and look for guys, we obviously look for guys from winning organizations, and that’s just what these guys are. Andrew Gordon, you’ve got the great character that he brings; Zach, you had his talent level, but I think he was also kind of under the radar as far as a defenseman and Pinizzotto, every time I saw a game he played in, he’d be the guy I’d walk away noticing because of the way he plays the game.  He’s so intense. All three of them have been such pleasant guys to have on the team, especially from a GM standpoint of character off the ice, but they also they bring a lot to the team on the ice as well.”

“We don’t really rebuild here; we just try to win.  That’s what happens in Hershey.  Our organizations are a lot alike.  We have a lot of parallels with the older, quality guys.  We try to win every year.  Some teams are just trying to survive, and some teams are just trying to develop, but I think we try to develop and win at the same time.”

On the management side, the Wolves also have a strong Chocolate and White flavor.  Former Bears’ coach Mike Foligno is the assistant coach and former Bear Gene Ubriaco is the Wolves’ Senior Advisor/Director of Hockey Operations, and Young’s right hand man.

“I think we’ve been a big help to each other,” Young said of Ubriaco. “He’s the one who really pushed for me to be the GM here. I call him my godfather.  When he was coaching in Pittsburgh, he brought me in there, and then when was in the Tampa organization, he brought me in there in the expansion draft. I also played for him in Atlanta and during the 1994-95 NHL lockout, he was here as the coach and assistant GM and they needed a goalie, so he called up Tony Esposito and brought me in here. We’ve had a long relationship and we’ve always gotten along really well. He’s my senior consultant and has been a massive help to me because of his outstanding knowledge of the game, the players and the way that the game runs from a business perspective. I’ve leaned on him a lot, and that’s the reason he’s a senior and I’m a junior.”

“When Scott Arniel was hired as the head coach and we were going over candidates for the assistant’s job, we were shocked that Mike was available,” said Young of Foligno. “Mike wasn’t so sure (he wanted the job) because he was looking for an NHL job. But when Scott approached him, he said that he would be absolutely interested in coming here. He understands the game so well, both from his extensive experience in the game from a player’s standpoint as well as from a coaching standpoint.  He’s also a great guy to have around.  He’s what we call a guy’s guy. He’s and upbeat guy who is really good with the players, and wants what’s best for them and I think that’s what impressed us most about Mike. He does it in such a great way.”

Although he has yet to win a championship as the Wolves’ GM, Young is the only player in the history of professional to hockey to win the Memorial Cup (junior hockey), Calder Cup, Turner Cup (twice) and Stanley Cup (twice), and some may wonder what he envisions his reaction to be should his club ever capture the Calder Cup under his management.

 “I think it would be a different perspective for me.  People go into the Hockey Hall of Fame as builders and some as players, and I think I’m seen as being a builder.  Gene and I in our organization, we put a team together and we pick and choose our players to an extent.  We give everybody a chance to win.  There are no excuses.  Anything they need, they get to help us win.  If we don’t win, then we always know we tried the best we could.”

With the championships that he accumulated as a player, it’s not very surprising that Young has absolutely no regrets when looking back on his playing days, and that also applies to his current position, despite the lack of a championship under his management.

“I don’t look back on my career and wonder about anything that I didn’t do, or anything that didn’t happen. I look at my career and see how fortunate I am and how lucky I’ve been to be a part of those championship teams.  I was in the right spot at the right time.  A lot of great players haven’t been on one championship team.  I’ve had the privilege of being on many of them.  There’s nothing I would change.  Hockey has been great to me.  I’ve been in the right place at the right time so many times that I should have bought lottery tickets.  It’s long days and stressful and time away from your family, and I still say I’ve never had a true day of work.  In reality, I’ve loved every minute of it.”

Bears Bounce Phantoms 02.24.13

By: John Sparenberg

When the Adirondack Phantoms called Philadelphia their home, weird things would happen often when they faced the Hershey Bears. There was the episode in Philadelphia when current Bears’ captain Boyd Kane, then skating for the Phantoms, scored a goal when he should have still in the penalty box serving out his sentence, but was instead granted an early, illegal release from his penalty sentence.

Then there was the time with a playoff berth on the line, the game in overtime, and the Bears’ goaltender pulled for an extra attacker. Their season and playoff hopes vanished in heartbreaking fashion when Shane Willis’ pass to a teammate failed to connect and the puck bounced off the boards at center ice at Giant Center and into the Bears’ vacated net.

However, since the Phantoms relocated to upper New York State, such occurrences have been rare, mostly due to the clubs not facing off against each other as often as a result of the Phantoms’ move north. But last night at Giant Center, the ghosts of games past revisited the clubs in the Bears’ 3-0 win over the Phantoms at Giant Center.

Former Phantom Matt Clackson, who nailed former Bear Danny Syvret into the end boards on his first shift of the game, laid a hearty hit on Phantoms’ defenseman Brandon Manning seconds later, and then subsequently duked it out with Manning in a spirited bout in which he gained a narrow decision, indirectly figured into the Bears’ first goal of the game when he was whistled off for an interference infraction at 12:41 of the opening frame.

With Clackson cooling his heels in the penalty box and the Phantoms on their first power play of the contest, things were moving along rather uneventfully as Hershey the defenseman gathered the puck in his own zone and fired an innocent-looking clearing pass down the ice, but at right about the same spot on the ice where Willis’ wayward pass struck the boards, the puck took a wild bounce, changed directions, and then slowly slithered into the Phantoms’ net which had been vacated by goaltender Scott Munroe who had ventured behind the net to play the clearing pass that never reached him.

“It was quite a goal,” Hershey’s head coach Mark French joked of the tally, eliciting a chuckle from the assembled media at his post-game press conference. Then French expounded on McNeill’s reaction to adversity this season, first on the shorthanded goal that his miscue led to on Friday night in Binghamton and then on his early season struggles to maintain a constant presence in Hershey’s lineup.

“Patrick is the longest serving consecutive member of this team,” explained French. “I think it’s safe to say when Patty was first breaking into the organization, the one thing he had to work on was mental toughness. It wasn’t his fault on the shorthanded goal; he mishandled it and it went down. That would have rattled a young Patrick McNeill, but he was able to steady himself and come back and help score a power play goal immediately after. I think you see a lot more maturity (in him); we all know we’re hardened by the adversity that we face, and Patrick obviously faced a little this year and has approached it the right way and has regained tremendous resolve, and I think everybody can be happy for him.”

McNeill, lending credence to French’s claims and showing the maturity that his coach spoke of, said the “Binghamton bobble” was just part of the game, and he quickly moved on from the episode.

“Those things happen; obviously when playing on the power play, shorthanded goals happen from time to time. It’s not something you want to happen, but when it does, you’ve got to get right back out there, be a professional and do my job and play the game. I was pretty fortunate to be able to come back and assist on those goals last night and help us squeak out a point, and obviously I was pretty fortunate with that bounce tonight.”

McNeill continued, “This season hasn’t gone the way I would have liked it to, but now that I’m in there getting my chance, I’m just trying to do the things that I do best out there. I’m a big believer in if you do the right things, good things will happen, and things have been going pretty good for me lately, so I’m pretty happy.”

Meanwhile, goaltender Philipp Grubauer had a relatively quiet opening frame, stopping all seven salvos he faced, and the one he didn’t stop, a shot from NHL veteran and former Philadelphia Phantom, Jon Sim, a member of their 2005 Calder Cup winning club, was ruled to have been kicked in by Sim and was waved off.

Exactly fifteen minutes into the middle frame, Ryan Potulny potted a power play goal, his ninth marker of the season to give the Bears a rare two-goal lead, a lead that was preserved in spectacular fashion in the waning minutes of the period when Grubauer made a scintillating, stretching skate save on Garrett Roe’s attempt to beat him on the glove side.

Ryan Stoa’s power play strike at 10:42 of the third stanza essentially put the game out of reach for the visitors, but Grubauer made another quality save on Roe with just over five minutes remaining to play to put an exclamation point on his first career American Hockey League shutout, a masterful 40-save performance.

“We’ve been lucky all year having Braden (Holtby), Dany (Sabourin) and Philipp; they are all great goaltenders and that gives you a lot of confidence as a team, especially our defensive corps. That’s shown by our goals against average which has been a good stat for us this year, and our whole team takes pride in that, but that starts and ends with the guy in the net and we have been very fortunate to have three quality guys back there,” said McNeill.


Notes-

The Phantoms and Bears are scheduled to meet twice more this season, once more at Giant Center and once more at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

Former Bear, Matt Ford, who was dealt to the Phantoms by the Bears last February for Kevin Marshall, was a scratch for the visitors.

The Phantoms are coached by former Washington Capitals and Baltimore Skipjacks head coach, Terry Murray. Terry’s brother Bryan, currently the General Manger of the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators, coached the Bears before being elevated to the same position with the Caps.

Grubauer had one prior professional shutout with the Bears’ former East Coast Hockey League affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays in the 2011-2012 season, a 26-save whitewashing of the Toledo Walleye.

A Bittersweet Success Story

By: John Sparenberg

When Bruce Richardson came to the Hershey Bears in 1997 out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as an undrafted 5’9” 175-pound teenager, it was without a great deal of fanfare. He arrived in Chocolatetown without any fancy press conferences, big signing bonuses, or guarantees. He did not possess any gaudy offensive numbers, having never scored more than 19 goals in any of his junior seasons.

But what he did bring in tow was a fearlessness to take on any opponent, even those who outmatched him considerably in the size category, whether it be in a fistic encounter or in a battle along the boards. That admirable trait, while leaving him with a few less teeth in his mouth, also left an indelible mark in the hearts of Bears’ faithful followers as well as members of the selection committee who selected Richardson to participate in the recent Outdoor Classic Alumni Game at Hersheypark Stadium.

“When I finished junior when I was 19 years old, I got invited by Bob Hartley to come here to training camp with no contract, just an AHL deal. It was tough, and I did well, and I got signed to a two-year deal. That first year was basically just for conditioning (10 games with the Bears). I played a little that first year, and they even sent me for a two-game stint with the Chesapeake Ice Breakers (coached by longtime NHL tough guy Chris “Knuckles” Nilan, who was assisted by former Bear, Nelson Burton). In my second year, I won the Bears’ Unsung Hero Award. Hershey meant a lot to my career; they gave me an opportunity to play professional hockey in a lot of places,” said Richardson.

After the expiration of his Hershey deal, Richardson inked another two-year pact, but this time it was a two-way (NHL-AHL) deal with the Detroit Red Wings, citing “playing for the Bears allowed that to happen.” With the Wings’ organization, Richardson skated with the Manitoba Moose of the IHL, the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the AHL, and the Louisiana IceGators of the ECHL where he was coached by former Bear Dave Farrish.

In the 2002-2003- season, Richardson was biding his time in the bayou with the IceGators when he received a call from Bears’ President/GM Doug Yingst who wanted to bring him back to Chocolatetown once again. While happy to receive the call, Richardson had added more responsibility to his plate since he left Hershey, and after making sure Yingst understood the circumstances, made a return to central Pennsylvania.

“I told Doug I just had my son and I couldn’t come up for just three or four games. He told me to come and trust him, that he would make sure that wouldn’t be the case. I came back and did really well, and they signed me for the rest of that year and the year after.”

Richardson’s hockey odyssey which had already seen him call Hershey, Louisiana, Ohio, Maryland, Iowa, Manitoba, Florida, and Wisconsin home when he left Hershey for the final time after the 2003-2004 season, saw him add additional stops in Connecticut, Kansas (playing for current Bears’ head coach Mark French) and Indiana, in addition to jumping across the pond to Germany and the U.K. before he retired after the 2010-11 season at the age of 34.

“I went to Germany and after that my son started school, and we went to the UK to an elite ice hockey league there. My last year there in the UK, I started to coach and GM a team there in that league,” explained Richardson. “Then I came back and started to coach in Montreal at Grenadiers de Chateauguay, a prep school, which is in Midget AAA, just under major junior. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past few years with kids ages 15 to 17 years old.”

With nearly 10 years having elapsed since his playing career ended with the Bears, Richardson obviously noticed that abundance of growth in the greater Hershey area when he returned recently for the Outdoor Classic, but he also seemed to subscribe to the popular saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

“When I left here, my son was two. I remember living at an apartment in Palmyra, and we went around this weekend and went to visit. There are a lot of things that have changed, but not that much. There are new buildings, but that’s everywhere. To me, everyone looks the same. I walked in the arena yesterday and saw some fans, and they all look the same. I don’t know if it’s the Hershey air or what. The doctor and everyone looks the same. For me, nothing has really changed.”

While pondering the answer to what his best memories were while wearing the Chocolate and White, Richardson leaned on his stick before the pre-game skate at the Classic. He paused briefly and scanned the skies, his gaze tracking in the direction of Giant Center and eventually falling right on the Hersheypark Arena.

“My first professional goal against the Adirondack Red Wings at Hersheypark Arena is one of my best memories,” Richardson remembered. “It was a two-on-one with Paul Brousseau; he gave me a pass and I buried it. That was a big moment. The day I won the Unsung Hero award was a great moment too. When I got the award, the fans were all saying “Bruuuuuce.” Also, I have great memories of just playing at Giant Center and the Hersheypark Arena. I won a championship in the UK, but there’s nothing comparable to putting on the skates in the AHL for the Hershey Bears for a player like me. For me, it was kind of like being in the NHL. I never had a chance to play there, but to me, it felt like I did when I played for the Bears.”

Perhaps it’s only fitting that Richardson’s thoughts about returning to Hershey, the Chocolate Capital of the World, for the recent affair was like some chocolate can be: bittersweet.

“For me to be here for this, it’s a big thing. But I have mixed emotions about it because it’s the place I made a lot of friends. People liked the game I played, and I liked to chat, and I gave my heart to the team. To come back here and see old faces, it’s good to be back, but I wish it was still that time and wish I could still play here and help this team.”

Tim Tookey Program Article

By: John Sparenberg

Speedy is a term that has been used to describe many professional hockey players throughout the history of the game, and many of the all-time NHL greats of the game like Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, and Wayne Gretzky, all fit the speedy moniker and could bring the noise level of the crowds to a deafening level when they turned on the jets.

Former Hershey Bears’ great Tim Tookey, who was hobbled by knee and ankle injuries during the course of his illustrious career, never had an abundance of speed and had a quiet demeanor, but utilizing his smarts and savvy, his play brought the crowds at HERSHEYPARK Arena to it’s feet on many occasions, and rightfully eventually earned him the honor of having his number nine hung from the rafters and a place in the AHL Hall of Fame.

Tookey, who was selected by the Washington Capitals with their fourth pick in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, the same draft that saw the Caps also select forwards Errol Rausse, and Harvie Pocza, along with defensive stalwart Greg Theberge, all of whom spent substantial time in their careers with the Chocolate and White started out his professional career with the Bears in the 1980-81 after finishing up his junior career the prior campaign with the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League, setting a then team record by registering 141 points (58 goals, 83 assists).

In his rookie season, the Edmonton, Alberta native skated in 29 games with the Caps, netting ten goals, including his first one on December 20, 1980 in the old Capital Centre in Landover, Md. against the Philadelphia Flyers and goaltender Pete Peeters, who tended the crease for the Bears in a two-game stint a few years later. He also donned the Bears’ colors for 47 outings, registering 58 points and 129 penalty minutes, the only time in his career that he reached the century mark in that category.

Tookey’s sophomore was also split between the nation’s capital and the Chocolate Capital, but ended in Fredericton, New Brunswick with the Fredericton Express of the AHL after he was traded to the Quebec Nordiques, the parent club of the Express in an in-season trade.

After a couple of seasons with the Nordiques, Tookey signed a free-agent deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the summer of 1983. In two seasons with the Pens’ organization, with the exception of games, Tookey spent all of his time playing in “Charm City” for the Baltimore Skipjacks, bitter rivals of the Bears, and was coached by a man many longtime Bears fans remember fondly from his playing days in Hershey, Gene Ubriaco.

“Tim was a very good player. Often we were a little short on players and talent, and so I had to use him like you can’t believe. He had a couple of looks in the NHL before that, but with me he played all the time. He killed penalties, played power plays, and he could really handle the puck. When I had him, he was on his way, and he certainly helped me a lot, but when he worked in Hershey he became a legend.”

Tookey played an instrumental in helping Ubriaco guide his Baltimore charges to a berth in the 1985 Calder Cup Finals, averaging just under a point per game in the regular season in 74 games, and better than a point per game in 15 post-season encounters, but in the end, it proved to be not enough as the Skipjacks’ hopes for their first Calder Cup Championship were capsized by a young, then unknown goaltender in the finals.

“I’ve got nothing but respect for Gene. I think he was a player’s coach. He was a friend of ours, and it wasn’t just a job for him. He realized we were humans, and thankfully he gave me a great opportunity to play and show my talents. We had a heck of hockey team that year and it was a great run we went on, and we just fell a little short against Montreal’s farm team in Sherbrooke. They had a kid named Patrick Roy in goal that year, and look at the legend he is now. ”

The next season, Tookey came back to the Bears for his second stint with the club when the Philadelphia Flyers, the Bears’ new NHL affiliate inked him to a free-agent deal. That campaign saw the talented centerman return to the Calder Cup Finals for a second straight year, but once again he fell just short in his “Quest for the Cup”, as the Bears were grounded by the Adirondack Red Wings.

“Moving onto Hershey again was a great experience and playing for John Paddock was a good thing. He was a family man, and worried about what was off the ice as well as on”, said Tookey, who scored 97 points in the regular season. “Again, we had a great run but ran into a team that had a lot of guys who ended up playing in the NHL for Detroit. One of them is now coaching the Washington Capitals, Adam Oates. We gave it everything we had, but there were guys hurt, and we fell a little short again, but it was a great year.”

Despite the team setback that the Bears suffered being banished by Adirondack, Tookey, who scored 19 points in 18 post-season contests was given individual acclaim for his stellar stats, being named the recipient of the Jack Butterfield Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the playoffs. By claiming the hardware, first awarded in 1984, Tookey earned the distinction of becoming the only player on a non-Cup winning team to win the Trophy, a distinction that he still holds to this day.

On a personal note, things got even better for Tookey the following season when he devastated the AHL and demolished his previous professional season highs, leading the AHL in scoring in 1986-87 with 124 points by lighting the lamp on 51 separate occasions and aiding and abetting on 73 others, the 124 points still stand to this day as a Bears’ team record for points earned in a single season.

“When I first got there the year before, I started on the third or fourth line, and then Philly traded Len Hachborn away. That gave me an opportunity to move up the ladder. (In 1986-87) John Paddock gave me a chance to play with Ray Allison and Ross Fitzpatrick. It was probably one of the most fun times I’ve ever had playing the game. They weren’t just great hockey players, but they became good friends. We had so much playing on and off the ice, our families and everything. We had a bunch of great guys on that team, and it’s one of those years you’ll never forget. Probably one of the biggest thrills you can have as a hockey player is 50 goals in a season in any league. I’ll never forget the 50th. Don Nachbaur and I were killing a penalty and he blocked a shot and gave me a chance for a breakaway. I skated down and made the shot. I’ll never forget what Don did there, because that was a special play that will stay in my head for the rest of my life.”

No longer fitting into the Flyers’ plans, Tookey was claimed by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1987 NHL Waiver Draft and spent the next two seasons in the Kings’ and Pittsburgh Penguins’ organizations before returning to Flyers again as a free agent in the summer of 1989.

Tookey’s first two seasons after signing consisted of two injury plagued seasons for the man who ironically earned an associate’s degree in “Prevention of Athletic Injuries” from Portland (Oregon) Community College during his junior hockey days, and while those injuries kept him off the ice for a substantial part of time, it did allow him for plenty of quality time with Dan “Beaker” Stuck.

“I was around as a stick boy in the early 80s when he first came in. Everyone’s personality’s different, and when you got to know him, he opened up when he was around his comfort zone. When he was around the rink and in the locker room, he was a totally different person. I’ve been the trainer for the Bears for 25 years, but I’ve only skated three times and one of those times was with him. I put on the goalie stuff in the outdoor rink at the arena. He was hurt and I went out there to put the pads on so he could take some shots. That’s one of the only times I’ve skated in my life. I was very close with him.”

Tookey rebounded with a fine season in the 1991-92 season, playing in all 80-games and eclipsing the 100-point plateau with a 105 point season, but nearly didn’t make it back for another season when the Flyers initially balked at the Bears’ plans to bring back the very popular player, again citing that he was no longer a legitimate NHL prospect. Eventually, a deal was brokered between the Bears and Flyers that saw the clubs evenly split his salary, and he responded with another 100-point season (108), and then spent an additional season in Hershey before joining the Providence Bruins as a player-assistant coach for the 1994-95 season.

As fate would have it, Tookey and the P-Bruins had the Bears as their opponents in their opener that season and the stoked up Tookey potted a pair of goal and added a helper for the Bruins in that encounter.

“I think you are always amped up a bit when you go against your old team and teammates, even when I went from Baltimore to Hershey, you want to go back and beat your old teammates. It gives you a boost to play. I was lucky to get on a line (in Providence) where there were a lot of talented hockey players. My goals (beating Mike McHugh to the front of the net and fishing out a rebound from a sea of players in the crease) were more being in the right place at the right time. It was a nice feeling to win that hockey game.”

That season with the P-Bruins turned out to be Tookey’s last one as a player, and as a coach, and he retired as the fourth-leading scorer in AHL history with 974 points (353 goals, 621 assists) on his AHL resume, to go along with 58 points (22 goals, 36 assists) in 106 NHL encounters.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to (pursue a professional coaching career), but there are only so many coaching jobs. I think every man that plays the game wants to pursue a coaching career, but it just didn’t work out for me. I coached at junior levels and I still coach today in AA in Alberta.” The cards aren’t always meant to fall the same for everybody. It just wasn’t meant to be for me.”

Originally Tookey and his family had planned to settle in the Hershey area after retirement, but those plans changed and he and his family eventually headed out west to begin his post-playing career pursuits.

“I had an opportunity to come and coach here in Arizona, so I moved out here and my daughter was excited to see somewhere else, and so was my wife. We just took the opportunity, but it just wasn’t in the cards and didn’t work out. The financial situation in Arizona is not good, and there’s not a lot of work for people, so it fell through. We own a home here in Arizona and we reside here, but I work in Canada. I got home to Canada for most of the year and sneak down here whenever I can to be with my girls. My daughter Trista is going to the University of Arizona in Tucson and is in her third year studying physics, and my wife (of 31 years) Susan has a great job here working for a lawyer, and I install ceiling sprinklers. I had to go back to school for three years, and I made it through after all those years. I’m just becoming a journeyman in the next couple of weeks. It’s some hard work, but it keeps me in shape.”

Tookey once had ambitions of become a professional singer and songwriter in his younger years, and now at the age of 52 and nearly 20 years removed from skating in his last professional game on the hockey stage, he no longer pursues the life on the singing stage either, but he is still very much a music man at heart.

“I still play and have fun and write songs, but now they’re more for just myself and my family, but I’ve always loved music, and always will. I bought my daughter a guitar for her birthday last year. She’s going to college and trying to learn how to play a little bit, too. Music will always be in my heart and something I’ll always do.”

Any Bears fan that had the pleasure of seeing Tookey perform at HERSHEYPARK Arena will surely break into a smile remembering back fondly to those days recalling when the familiar tune of “Took” often echoed through that hallowed hall.

Holtby's Heavenly Return Helps Bears Down Devils

By: John Sparenberg

In the early going of this season, the Hershey Bears have found themselves in the uncustomary position of looking up at the rest of the American Hockey League’s East Division and showed only one win on the winning side of the ledger entering Saturday night’s tilt at Giant Center; However, bolstered by the return of goaltender Braden Holtby and with a solid contribution from defenseman Tomas Kundratek at both ends of the ice, they escaped their meeting with the Albany Devils with a 3-0 victory.

The Bears were on their heels defensively in the opening moments of the contest, but Holtby was on top of his game from the outset and showed no signs of his two weeks of inactivity between the pipes. Holtby made a big save on Adam Henrique, a 16 goal-getter last year with in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils during the visitors’ first power play of the evening.

Late in the first frame, with the clubs still locked in a scoreless duel, Hamill’s backhander at 17:10 gave the Bears a 1-0 lead. Hamill’s goal was his first in the Chocolate and White and was assisted by Kundratek and Ryan Stoa, who fed Hamill in the spot with a pretty backhand dish. Stoa was stymied by Albany netminder Keith Kinkaid a short time later when the Devils keeper kicked out his bid with a quality stop from just atop the crease.

Early in the second stanza, Holtby was stellar, quickly flexing his left pad in razor-like fashion to deny a point-blank chance by Albany’s David “Don’t call me Mark” Wohlberg. Seconds later, Wohlberg, obviously still in full frustration mode, slashed Hamill and then absorbed a couple of stiff jabs in the subsequent scrum that ensued, but when the dust had settled, he was the only player sent to the “sin bin” by referee Darcy Burchell.

“That was a big chance for them and for a goalie; that’s where you’ve got to come up with a save. I thought I played it patiently. I’ll have to look at it on video and find out if I was cheating or not, but it worked out well and I made the save. Luck was on our side tonight,” said Holtby.

Less than thirty seconds into Wohlberg’s sentence, the Bears, feeding off the “Good Vibrations” from Holtby’s big save, padded their one-goal cushion when Jeff Taffe, with a helping hand from Kundratek, sizzled a one-time slapshot by Kinkaid to give the Bears a 2-0 lead. Taffe’s goal went to video review, but Burchell eventually ruled on the Bears’ behalf.

“It was one of those shots where you’ve obviously got to elevate it because the goalie is going to slide over. But at the same time it’s one of those shots where if you get it on net, you’ve got a pretty good chance of scoring. Most of the guys on the team thought it went in, but it was just a matter of going through the review process,” said Taffe.

The Bears then went on to earn the games next three power plays, but did not score on any of them including a lengthy five-on-three advantage, and nearly squandered a shorthanded goal to Albany’s Jacob Josefson, but Holtby, aided largely by Kundratek who raced back to catch Josefson, the Bears avoided the crisis and maintained their two-goal lead in the process.

“Those types of play are always tough. If he gets that last half-step at the end, he can go right around me, but Kundy did a great job of holding him, and I was able to cut down the angle and force him into shooting,” said Holtby.

In the third period, the Bears sputtered again from the opening puck drop, and with Albany enjoying a 5-1 shot advantage through 4:38 of action, the Bears bench brain trust elected to utilize their timeout.

“We seemed to be stalled in our end and had to take a timeout. I think a lot of it started with not winning the draw and possessing the puck. It’s something that we’ve got to get out of the gate a little bit better; fortunately tonight it didn’t hurt, but we’ve got to better in that area,” said Hershey co-coach, Mark French.

Last weekend, the Bears wasted a pair of three-goal leads in their home opener against the Rochester Americans when they fell in a disappointing 8-7 loss; However, Taffe said that game is now a distant memory, although he conceded that the club held onto the memory for a bit after the stinging setback.

“When you lose big leads like that you can think about it for a day or two, but you’ve got to put it out of your head. Last week, we’ve kind of put that out of our minds. It was the first (three-in-three) weekend and obviously, you can’t play run and gun hockey like that, especially after last night getting down early. We just wanted to get a lead tonight. We know we are a different team when we do.”

The timeout strategy worked as the Bears allowed only seven more shots the rest of the way, with most of those coming in the final moments, and Kundratek added an empty-net goal at 17:53 to put the game out of reach for the visitors.


Notes:


Holtby’s shutout was his 12th as a Bear and fell just short of his shutout best performance (38 saves at Wilkes/Barre Scranton on October 9, 2009).

Holtby was seeing only his second game action of the young season after starting and being injured in the Bears’ season opening loss in Syracuse (28 saves, 4 goals against).


T.J. Syner was recalled prior to the game from the Bears’ ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals, before the game to take Sjogren’s spot in the lineup, while goaltender Philipp Grubauer was heading the other way on the Pennsylvania turnpike with Holtby’s return.

The Bears and Devils, who will meet a total of four times this season, don’t square off again until a December 29th meeting at Giant Center.

Ryan Potulny and Mattias Sjogren (injured in Friday night’s loss at Connecticut) were the injury scratches for the Bears, while Patrick McNeill (veteran), Julien Brouillette, Jonathon Kalinski, and Matt Clackson were the healthy scratches.

Pens Prey on Bears

When one considers the proximity between their respective cities, it’s not much of a surprise that the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have made Giant Center their unofficial home away from home. On Saturday night at the aforementioned venue, the visitors continued their recent mastery over the Hershey Bears and skated away with a convincing 3-1 win.

The Penguins, who with this victory have now won six straight outings against their Keystone State neighbors to the north, improved to 3-2-1-1 on the season while the Bears, who are a perfect 4-0 on the road, slipped to 0-1-1-0 at home with the setback.

Brian Gibbons, who scored the baby Pens’ first goal in their 3-2 loss to the Bears earlier in the season at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in the only prior meeting between the clubs on this young season, replicated that feat at 3:36 of the first period by deflecting a Jason Williams point shot by Hershey goaltender Braden Holtby while the visitors were on a power play.

The first period foretold the futility that the Bears would endure in this encounter as they failed to establish a prolonged presence in the Pens’ zone despite their 17 shots on net; Hershey also short-circuited one of their two extra-man advantages by taking a penalty of their own.

Holtby, who had a shaky outing in the Bears’ home opener a week ago, kept his club in the game in the first period by stopping 13 shots, including close-range bids from Gibbons (right pad save) and Colin McDonald (left pad, shorthanded) in the latter stages of the stanza.

Early in the second period, the Pens were pestering Holtby again, but he was up to the challenge and made a couple of early saves with some help from defenseman Patrick McNeill, who swept a puck out of danger when Holtby left a rebound in his crease.

However, the pesky Pens eventually doubled their lead when Penguins’ defenseman Simon Despres made it 2-0 at 7:19. Despres’ dart, which occurred with the teams skating at four aside, came only 29 seconds after Graham Mink derailed a Bears’ power play by committing a tripping infraction.

Bryan Lerg lengthened the Pens lead to 3-0 at 10:45 of the second period when he finished off a picturesque give-and-go sequence with Paul Thompson.

Hershey captain Boyd Kane thwarted Brad Thiessen’s bid for a shutout late in the third period by canning his second goal in as many days to make it 3-1 with a power play marker, but Kane’s caper would be all of the offense his club could muster on the evening.

Notes- Thiessen pitched a 26-save shutout on Friday night in Springfield against the Falcons.

With Dany Sabourin still on recall to the Washington Capitals, Holtby made his third straight start for the Bears.

The Bears scratched defensemen Danny Richmond and Brett Fleming and forwards Maxime Lacroix, Joel Rechlicz, Ryan Potulny and Kyle Greentree.

The Bears have now given up the first goal of the game in their last two games after scoring the game-opening goals in the prior four contests.

Hershey’s first period blanking was the first time season they failed to score in the first period and also marked the first time this season that they faced a deficit after 20 minutes of play.

Chris Bourque, who leads the league in shots on goal, registered only a single shot on net in this game, but did extend his point streak to six games with an assist on Kane’s goal, while his linemate Keith Aucoin saw his five-game point streak come to an end.

Bears Bounce by Pens

Longtime fans of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins already know what Hershey Bears’ goaltender Dany Sabourin is capable of, having witnessed his 30-win season in 2005-06when his outstanding work tending the twine for the baby Pens earned him the Baz Bastien award as the best goaltender in the AHL. On Saturday night, they were eyewitness to some more of his solid work as he backstopped the Bears to a 3-2 road win over the Penguins.

Sabourin got off to a rough start last season in his first season as a Bear, but eventually regained his form and finished with a solid 14-9 record. However, he struggled in two losing outings against his former club, including an October 30th outing at Giant Center where he only lasted 9:51 when he yielded way to backup goalie Todd Ford after allowing three goals on only seven shots.

“Those types of things are always there a little bit, but I came into this year thinking it doesn’t matter which team we’re playing. I knew they beat me last year, but that’s in the past. I’m just focused on looking forward, and I was pretty happy with my performance tonight. It was a team win where everybody played well and showed up,” said Sabourin, who finished with 23 saves and made his best save of the night in the first period when he beat down Bryan Lerg's shorthanded breakaway attempt.

In keeping with the night long “bounce theme”, the Bears benefitted from a fortuitous bounce in attaining the game’s first goal at 11:27 of the first period. With the puck high along the boards and just inside the blueline, WBS’ Eric Tangradi attempted to clear his zone, but Christian Hanson was able to get his puck on the attempt and the puck found its way to Kyle Greentree, who was stationed at the top of WBS goaltender Brad Thiessen’s crease. With little room to operate, Greentree stickhandled in a phone booth and skillfully slid a backhand shot behind Thiessen.

The Bears lead lasted exactly four minutes until the Pens’ Brian Gibbons went coast-to-coast with his team in shorthanded mode to knot the contest at one with an unassisted goal, but the visitors quickly regained their one-goal lead only twenty seconds after the Gibbons goal when Matt Ford intercepted a clearing attempt high in the WBS zone and then fluttered a shot on net that bounced off a stunned Thiessen and into the net.

The Pesky Penguins knotted the game at two when veteran Niko Dimitrakos, making his WBS debut, dented the twine 1:06 into the middle frame, converting a nice centering pass from Colin McDonald into his first goal as a baby Pen.

Things quieted down after Dimitrakos’ goal, but the Bears were presented with a glorious opportunity to take command of the affair just past the midway point of the session when they earned a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:09. Before the Bears went to work on their mission, head coach Mark French, with his team mired in a 0-for-6 power drought in this young season, called a timeout to talk strategy with his troops. However, despite the chalkboard talk from their coaches, the Bears squandered the opportunity, mostly as a result of excessive passing and minimal shooting (unofficially three shots on goal during the sequence).

“It’s one of those things that early in the year where you haven’t had a lot of time to practice,” said French. “So I thought it was good to use your timeout to make sure that everybody knew what their responsibilities were. I thought we had some pretty good chances to score on the 5-on-3 but the bottom line is that it didn’t go in. Oftentimes when you don’t score on those opportunities it comes back to bite you, but fortunately today it didn’t."

Christian Hanson, who scored his first goal as a Bear (shorthanded) in Binghamton on Friday, had a splendid chance at his second of the season in the fifteenth minute of the frame, but his breakaway forehand attempt was gloved by Thiessen and the game remained tied entering the third period.

Early in the final frame of regulation, the Bears finally put a positive number on their power play stats with Keith Aucoin doing the goal-scoring honors. Aucoin, after taking a pass from Ryan Potulny down low, had an option to pass to Matt Ford, but decided against that option and buzzed a blast by the glove of Thiessen at 3:33.

“The 5-on-3 was pretty frustrating. We had a couple of good opportunities, but the rebounds bounced to the side and to them. We stayed confident in ourselves and remained upbeat because we knew we’d get another chance, and we capitalized. It was kind of 2-on-1 and I saw him there, but the d-man actually played it really well. My last option is always to shoot, and knew I had to get it up and I was able to get it up over his glove,” said Aucoin.

Notes- The Bears scratched defenseman Zach Miskovic and Brett Flemming and forwards Joel Rechlicz and Graham Mink (veteran scratch).

The Bears have only allowed a thrifty 13 shots against in the first period of their two games this season.

Hershey defenseman Patrick McNeill left for the dressing room area in the first period after absorbing a hard hit, but later returned to the game.

Penguins forward Zach Sill missed the game, serving a suspension for illegal hit to the head that he laid on Miskovic at Giant Center in a pre-season game on October 1st.

Winds of change bring Stuccio to Hershey

It has been 10 years since a memorable trade has been consummated by the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins organizations, and that exchange was a significant one for both clubs as the Pens shipped Jaromir Jagr and another player to the Caps for a trio of players which included Kris Beech.

But over the summer, the clubs essentially created another transaction when Scott Stuccio was named the play-by-play voice of the Hershey Bears, replacing John Walton who was elevated to the position of the radio voice of the Washington Capitals of the NHL.

Stuccio, 38, a lifelong resident of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area who will reside in Derry Township for his initial season of calling the action for the Bears, did not have an AHL team to cheer for while he was growing up as the baby Pens did not join the league until the 1999-2000 season.

“On our cable system, we used to get the Flyers games out of Philly on PRISM and we also got the New York Rangers games out of New York on WWOR. I have three older brothers and because of WWOR showing the Rangers’ games, they all became fans of the Rangers. But I’m eight years behind my youngest brother and WWOR eventually started showing a few New York Islanders games as well. I decided to be different and root for the Islanders and ironically, the first hockey game that I ever saw in person was the Islanders and Rangers in Madison Square Garden.”

Undaunted by the prospect of having no local team to support, Stuccio, despite cell phones being years away from becoming a staple of society, became a bit of a revolutionary by rallying local neighborhood troops for some impromptu pick-up games to fill the void between games on the tube.

“We didn’t have many kids around where I lived who were into hockey, but when the Mylec company started to come out with more street hockey equipment, I started to buy it. Some friends and I would often get games going in the driveway, so I guess you can say I started hockey in our neighborhood. “

After graduating from high school, Stuccio journeyed off to Penn State University where he graduated with a degree in meteorology in 1995. He had his eye on a local job that was attractive to him, but Mother Nature had other ideas and opened up the door to the entertainment field.

“Compared to today, getting a job as a meteorologist was relatively easy back then because there were a lot of jobs open at that time. The National Weather Service still had an office at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton airport and that’s where I wanted to go. TV was the last thing that I wanted to do, but after the big blizzard in 1996, the government shut down the airport and relocated it to Binghamton and various other places.”

Stuccio continued, “So, in the spring of 1996, I was working at the only other job I’ve ever had that wasn’t in TV and radio, at the Wilkes-Barre golf club in Bear Creek, when I was approached by some people at WYOU about the meteorologist job. Keep in mind that this was when the internet was only two years old and I have no idea how they found out my information, but somehow they did. After they twisted my arm several times to come in and try the job out in front of the weather wall, I finally went in and did it, and they liked what I did and offered me the job, and that’s where I stayed for twelve and a half years.”

During the first couple of years of his employment with WYOU, Stuccio and a few of his meteorologist buddies from Penn State took up a rather daring pursuit in the summer months and racked up a plethora of miles on the odometer by storm chasing around America’s heartland in pursuit of tornadoes, all in the name of science.

“Me and a couple of my classmates from Penn State who went to Oklahoma University to get their masters and their doctorates decided to give it a try. We were pretty confined to Oklahoma and Kansas for much of the first year that we did it, but unfortunately there was not much going on that year storm- wise, so we just basically sat around and enjoyed the summer there, which was burning hot.”

“The last year we were up in Minnesota and South Dakota for most of that time, but we ventured down through Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and a lot of Texas. We ended up driving 8,118 miles in two weeks through 21 states and saw three tornadoes.”

During the latter years of his stint at WYOU, Stuccio became involved with the WBS Penguins, first as an off-ice official, and then he eventually found his way into the broadcast booth.

“I actually started doing color when I was still at WYOU, and I was also an off-ice official for the Penguins. After doing a couple of the Penguins’ games in the color role, I started thinking to myself what it might be like to call a game myself. However, because of dabbling in the color role, I couldn’t do the off-ice official job anymore due to the possibility of bias which you are not supposed to have as an off-ice official.”

Then, his big break in hockey broadcasting came late in the 2006-2007 season when the Pens’ play-by-play man Tom Grace was sidelined with back woes, and the door was opened for Stuccio to live out a childhood fantasy, a pursuit that his TV gig prepared him well for.

“Weather is the only segment of TV news broadcast that is not scripted; it’s totally ad lib on the part of the meteorologist unless the weather person has no knowledge of the science. Otherwise, it’s all off the cuff and it’s filling or stretching time or getting out quickly depending on what somebody is telling you in your ear. I never thought there would be a tie in, but there is.”

“When I was a kid and we were watching the Rangers or Flyers on TV, I would often mute the sound and call the game myself; when I filled in for Tom for those games, I told myself that I could get used to this.”

When Grace left the Pens to pursue other interests at the start of the 2007-08 season, Stuccio assumed the play-by-play position first on an interim basis and then eventually on a full-time basis. However, Grace eventually returned to the club prior to last season, and Stuccio kept his foot in the broadcasting door by serving as Grace’s color commentator for all home games and a handful of road games. He also took on the new job of Director of Communications for the Pens which was a position that he was content to stay in had he not been named to his new position with the Bears.

“That job was a lot of fun, and it also allowed me to do color. So, I can honestly say that I would have been happy to stay there in that job, because I would still be able to do color in that position, and there was always a chance of possibly doing play-by-play again somewhere down the road.”

To be continued tomorrow.......

After Briefly Celebrating Championship, French Eager To Repeat Feat

By John Sparenberg jsheynow
@comcast.net

It’s been just over a month since the Hershey Bears, under the leadership of bench boss, Mark French, captured the franchise’s 11th Calder Cup Championship; while he was able to briefly rest on his laurels, the Washington Capitals’ recently concluded rookie camp signaled it was time to move ahead and start focusing on going for a three-peat.

“It seems like it’s been the blink of an eye, but it’s been good to enjoy it for a month. The rookie camp is kind of the official opening of the hockey season again for us. All you need is just a little bit of time off and then you’re ready to get it going again.”

With French behind the bench, the Bears have captured back-to-back Calder Cup titles in his two full seasons behind the pine, the first in 2009 as head coach Bob Woods’ assistant and the second in the recently concluded playoffs as the bench boss himself.

For French, whose previous head coaching experience was with the Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League, playoff success was not something he was familiar with prior to coming to Central Pennsylvania, as he had never guided the Thunder beyond the first round in two playoff outings.

Entering the 2009-10 season as a rookie head coach in the AHL, French had big shoes to fill trying to follow-up upon Woods successful act, but he thrived upon the pressure.

“Everything’s more highlighted and more intense at this level, and the quality of play is the highest I’ve ever coached at,” he said. “There’s a pressure to win from the organization, and from the fans here, but you find out that’s a really good thing because the organization does an excellent job of providing the players that you need to allow you to win.”

In the past, when faced with the same situation French encountered this season-being an assistant coach with a club one year and then ascending to the head coaching position the next-others have had difficulty making the transition. One of the great challenges of the switch in roles could be the scenario of having to call out a player for sub-par play whom they had to coddle when they were in the assistant’s position; however, thanks to his predecessor, someone who had experience making the same move, French’s transition seemed to be rather seamless.

“No, I don’t think there was (a period of adjustment), but the players might be the ones to ask,” chuckled French. “You do find that the losses probably hit you a lit bit harder when you are the guy making the final decisions, but I didn’t feel uncomfortable moving positions, and I give a lot of credit for that to Bob Woods for giving me so much responsibility when I was his assistant.”

Just as French’s move behind the bench went off rather smoothly, his new assistant, Troy Mann, managed to find comfort quickly behind the Hershey bench, with the two gentlemen rapidly finding a rapport with each other although they had never had a face-to-face meeting prior to the 2009-10 season.

“It’s funny because there wasn’t (an adjustment period),” commented French. “We had talked to each other on the phone before about hockey-related matters, but our paths had never really crossed. You take the recommendations of Bruce (Boudreau) and Bob (Woods) and they both thought that we would have good chemistry together and they were right. It didn’t take long for us to develop a good relationship and I thought he did an outstanding job this season.”

At Washington’s training camp prior to the beginning of the 2009-10 season, French told me, “You find out a lot about yourself in adverse situations. Everybody’s a good coach when things are going well and you have great players, but you truly find out a lot about your character and intestinal fortitude when things don’t go well.”

Those words certainly proved prophetic in the Bears’ Calder Cup matchup with the Texas Stars when the heavily favored Bears trailed the series, 2-0, after dropping a pair of home games at Giant Center where they had been practically invincible all season.

“ I had never seen our dressing room as low as it was after the second game, but it was a different mood the next morning where we met quietly as a group before leaving for Texas,” revealed French. “After that meeting, everything was positive and we were feeling very good about our chances of winning the series.”

After arriving in Texas, French said the players took it upon themselves to have a meeting of their own, with no coaches allowed, and although he did not name the player responsible for organizing the get together or what was said in it, French liked the ensuing results of the gathering.

“I don’t know what was said in that meeting, but I do know who held it, and he was the right person to do it. I believe a lot of the right things were said at that meeting, because there were a lot of things that changed after that point in time.”

In game three in Texas, even with the meetings that came after game two, the Bears found themselves trailing 3-1 midway through the game. At that point, French made what turned out to be a brilliant decision by dropping Alexander Giroux off the top line and onto a line with Jay Beagle and Mathieu Perreault, and elevating Chris Bourque to Giroux’s spot on the top line with Keith Aucoin and Andrew Gordon.

Those line changes had a dual effect, alleviating some of the pressure from Giroux’s shoulders, and also spreading out the Stars’ defense which had been so effective up until that point of shutting down the top line. The Stars defense never fully adjusted after the line juggling, and Giroux went on to score goals in each of the next two outings in the Lone Star State, including the overtime winner in game five, but in true French fashion, he refused to take all of the credit.

“I thought there was more than one turning point in the series; certainly the meetings played a part, but you could also say when we were down 3-1 in game three. Even as dire as the situation looked, you could not feel a sense of panic on the bench. When we came back in that game, we really gained a lot of confidence. If I had to pinpoint one thing, it would be battling back from that adversity of being down 3-1.”

If the Bears are to three-peat in the 2010-11 season, it will be without at least eight players, including goaltender, Michal Neuvirth, who were in the lineup for the clincher against Texas. However, French is quick to realize that for the most part, the player personnel decisions are out of his hands and in the very capable hands of the Bears/Capitals brain trust, who have made some quality additions to organization to compensate for the players that have moved on.

“Doug Yingst deserves a lot of credit, but honestly also guys like Brian MacLellan, the assistant GM in Washington and George McPhee (Washington’s GM), also do a great job of evaluating players. I think everybody knew that there would be a sizable transition of players this year, but it’s nice to see that we have gotten some quality individuals as well.”

“As a coach, we don’t get too involved in the player acquisition part of it. Other people do that, so as a coach you can refresh. You’ve got mixed emotions with some of the guys who are leaving, but also very motivated to do it again with another bunch of guys.”

Bears Beneficiaries of Neuvirth's Net Gains

If there is one word to describe the career of goaltender, Michal Neuvirth, it would be resilient. Seemingly in one situation after another, he has been able to bounce back into his game, even after facing long odds.

In fact, one can trace the beginning of the pattern back to his junior career when he played for three teams in two years, and ironically, was once traded for a guy with the same name as one who is known for his bouncing abilities, Michal Jordan.

Selected by the Washington Capitals with the 34th pick in the 2006 draft, eleven slots behind Semyon Varlamov, Neuvirth has had to battle for ice time with the Capitals ever since. Though Varlamov has played more games in the show than Neuvirth, and has also appeared in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Neuvy has spent the majority of his time backstopping the Hershey Bears to back-to-back Calder Cup championships.

With the Caps unsettled goaltending situation heading into next season, Neuvirth seems poised to give Varlomov a run for his money to be the number one man in the district to start the 2010-11 season.

“You never know because it’s a crazy business,” he said. “I don’t really know what’s going to happen, but I have nothing left to prove in this league. My goal is to play in the NHL and that’s where I want to play next year. I’ll do whatever it takes to get there.”

Neuvirth continued, “I feel good about my game, but maybe I can improve something. I definitely want to get stronger. I’m feeling exhausted right now, and if I want to play 60 or 70 games in a season, I have to get stronger and get in better shape. I’m going to take a few weeks off and then start working out and getting ready for next season and hopefully I’ll be in the NHL.”

Heading into the playoffs as the reigning MVP of the Calder Cup playoffs where he had set an AHL record with a glittering 1.92 GAA, Neuvirth shouldered the pressure gracefully and rose to the occasion.

“I was coming back from a tough injury during the regular season and I was just coming back from that,” said Neuvirth. “I had the good playoffs last year, so I didn’t think about the pressure. I knew that I had already done it last year, and I was just focused on playing my game.”

After giving up a soft game-winning goal in the closing moments of game two on home ice against the Texas Stars, Neuvirth buckled down through the rest of the series and stopped all 46 shots he faced in the third periods and overtime, and allowed only six goals through the remainder of the playoffs.

“It was just a lucky bounce; crazy bounces happen all the time,” he said of allowing the game-two winner. “I felt bad we lost, but I still believed we were a better team than them. It was a huge win for them, but we came back and made sure we won three games on the road and clinched it at home, which was something special.”

At the Bears’ Calder Cup Championship celebration where the players saluted their fans on home ice, the Czech native couldn’t help but talk about his home.

“I haven’t seen my mom in 10 months, so I’m going to visit my family right when I get home. When I get home on Friday night and I’ll go downtown and see my buddies and hang out. I’m really pumped about going home.”

Photo courtesy of JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

Bears Trip Up Tigers Again

Though the Hershey Bears had limited experience with coming back from behind in games in the regular season, they’ve handled the challenge like pros in the first two games of the series against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

With their 3-2 victory on Friday night at Giant Center, the Bears take the 2-0 lead in the playoff series to Bridgeport this weekend for games three and four.

Bridgeport broke free for the first goal of the game when defenseman, Dustin Kohn, canned the rebound of his own shot by Michal Neuvirth at 16:14.

Although Kohn’s goal was the only one to hit the back of the net during the first period, there were plenty of other hits to go around as the Bears bruised the Tigers with numerous bone-crunching hits, most notably Andrew Gordon’s wallop on Bridgeport’s Mark Flood.

“I wanted to make sure I had good contact,” explained Gordon. “He was trying to one-time the puck and it was the kind of hit they have been talking about in the NHL these days, so I wanted to make sure I kept my elbow down and kept it shoulder on shoulder.”

Hershey’s high scoring duo of Keith Aucoin and Alexandre Giroux, the league’s leading and second leading point producers in the regular season respectively, tagged up to tie the game 16:32 into the middle frame. The sequence actually started with the twosome doing yeoman’s work along the boards and culminated with Giroux cleanly beating Sound Tigers’ netminder, Nathan Lawson.

“We have to make sure we win battles along the wall, and that’s why I got that goal,” said Giroux. “We put it deep and got the forecheck and we got the goal.”

The Sound Tigers, as was the case in game one when Andrew MacDonald struck late in the second period with a goal at the 19:59 mark, received a fortuitous bounce to take the lead at 19:15, when Kohn’s backhanded attempted pass pinged off the stick of Bears’ defenseman, Patrick McNeill, and then trickled through the pads of Neuvirth.

Kohn’s marker was the first power play goal of the series after the two teams combined for 22 unsuccessful attempts.

Giroux tied the game at two just 1:32 into the third period with his 25th career playoff goal as a Bear, and his 3rd of the current playoff season.

With an ailing Aucoin on the bench, and Lawson in the dressing room due to injury, Aucoin’s replacement on the power play unit, Mathieu Perreault, beat Lawson’s replacement, Scott Munroe at 7:06 to give the Bears a lead they would never relinquish.

“The puck was bouncing a little bit and I was looking to go to Helmer back door,” Perreault said. “The lane wasn’t there, so I just pulled it back and shot it short side because the goalie was playing the back door.”

Neuvirth, making just his 7th appearance in seven weeks, preserved the lead by making a glittering glove save on Flood just shy of halfway through the final period.

“My glove was working good tonight; pretty much every shot, they were going high glove for some reason,” said Neuvirth.

Gordon who contributed two assists to the winning cause and was named the number three star of the game, attributed his team’s two comebacks to the confidence level of squad.

“We have a lot of belief in ourselves,” he said. “We’ve won a lot of games in the last couple years, and a majority of us have been around for most of it, so we’re a team that knows how to win and deficits don’t really bother us. Tonight was a good testament to that.”

**PHOTO COURTESY OF JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY**

Beagle Takes Bite Out of Sens

When a team win 55 games in a season like the Hershey Bears have entering Sunday’s matchup against the Binghamton Senators, logic dictates that they must find a myriad of ways to accomplish that impressive feat, and the Bears did just that it the contest.

The boys from Hershey, employing the “Oreo cookie approach” by sandwiching a creamy second period in the middle, in which they scored three goals in rapid fire succession, between dark first and third periods, ultimately emerged from the encounter with their 56th win, a 3-2 triumph.

Binghamton defenseman, Paul Baier, netted the only goal of the first period, canning the rebound of a Geoff Kincade point shot behind Hershey netminder, Braden Holtby.

Playing their third game in as many nights, the Bears could only muster seven shots on net in the first period, with Francois Bouchard’s bid at the buzzer the best of the bunch; they were unable to manage any sustained pressure against the stingy Senators defense.

“They played a bit of a different strategy tonight,” explained Hershey head coach, Mark French. “They were playing a 2-3, which meant that in the offensive zone, they sent two guys in and kept three guys back. I thought we struggled with that. We turned over the puck a lot coming through the neutral zone because there were even man situations...”

The Bears altered their approach from the outset of the second frame, putting immediate pressure on Binghamton netminder, Mike Brodeur, with Alexandre Giroux eventually getting the equalizing goal at 2:02.

Giroux’s goal, the 300th of his AHL career came with his parents in attendance after he was allowed to wander uninhibited to Brodeur’s doorstep. Brodeur, while able to beat back Giroux’s initial attempt, could not prevent his rebound attempt from finding paydirt.

“It was originally an odd man rush and Coiner took a shot and it got deflected into the corner,” said Giroux. “I saw Gordo getting the puck and the D overplayed it. I was able to get my own rebound and put it in on the far side.”

Andrew Gordon and Keith Aucoin were credited with the assists on Giroux’s goal; however, Karl Alzner, who absorbed a punishing check from Binghamton’s Jason Bailey just after he launched a long outlet pass to Aucoin, started the Bears march into the offensive zone and deserves an honorable mention for ‘taking one for the team’.

Less than a minute after the Giroux goal, the Bears sensed the kill against their wounded opponents and took their first lead of the night when Bouchard beat Brodeur at 3:00. Bouchard, by virtue of being on his off wing, was able to release a one-time rocket after receiving a pass from Kyle Wilson, something that would not have been possible were he on the left wing.

The Boys from Chocolate town finished off their bruising of Brodeur when Jay Beagle deflected a Bryan Helmer point shot home at 5:07 to give the Bears a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.

“There were so many people in front, and it was just bouncing off bodies,” Beagle said. “It could have hit my pants on the way. I just know it was hitting bodies and I got a piece of it; thank goodness it went in.”

While Beagle is not a goal-scoring machine like Giroux, when he finds the back of the net, he makes them count, as seven of his 14 goals of the season have been game winners.

“I didn’t even know I had that many game-winning goals. I just try to contribute to the team, if that’s getting a goal or trying to get some energy for the team,” said Beagle.

In the third period, the Bears and Holtby allowed a single strike by Jim O’Brien, but did not allow the B-Sens to garner the tying goal, even with Brodeur on the bench for an extra attacker in the final moments.

Willsie captaining the cause and leading by example

When former Hershey Bear, Brian Willsie, was growing up, his first job was framing houses with his dad. This, of course, is a job that can leave those who choose that line of employment with various aches and pains of body and mind.

However, that initiation into the working world was probably a breeze to the 31-year old native of Belmont, Ontario, compared to his rookie campaign in Chocolatetown during the 1998-99 season, in which he endured a lengthy goalless streak to start the season, before finishing strongly with a very respectable 19 goals.

“The adjustment to pro was more difficult than I expected; I didn’t score a goal until my 26th game,” said Willsie, a junior teammate of former Bear, Nick Bootland, with Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League. “I had a big zero on the board up until that time, but Mike Foligno who was the coach, still showed a lot of confidence in me, and worked a lot with me. Once I got those first couple, I was fine, but getting there was a challenge.”

Willsie’s second season in Hershey, which saw him earn his first NHL recall, a one-game stint with Colorado Avalanche, started just like the first one, very slowly, with him finding the net only once in his first 16 contests before he again found his stride and finished the season right at the 20-goal plateau.

Hampered by a nagging back injury incurred during training camp, Willsie missed the first 30 games of his third season and spent the entire season in Hershey. He again finished the season hovering around the 20-goal mark, with 18 markers.

The 2001-02 season brought a couple of firsts for the wily Willsie: his first full season in the NHL and his first NHL goal, the game winner, scored against the Carolina Hurricanes and goaltender, Arturs Irbe. Irbe is currently the goaltending coach of the Washington Capitals and also periodically commutes to Hershey to mentor the Bears’ goalies. Willsie’s goal also had another Hershey flavor, with former Bear, Brad Larsen, picking up a helper.

Willsie’s fifth and final season in the Avs’ fold, 2002-03, was a roller coaster ride filled with ups and downs, consisting of five rides on the Hershey-Denver shuttle; however, that season also saw him register a career high 29 goal with the Bears, including the first overtime game-winning goal by a Bear in Giant Center history.

While his impressive showing in the previous season was not enough to earn a spot on Colorado’s talent-laden opening night roster, the Washington Capitals took a flyer on Willsie and acquired him in the NHL waiver draft just prior to the opening of the 2003-04 NHL season.

Willsie spent the entire season in the district and netted 10 goals, including the game-winning goal against the Atlanta Thrashers and goaltender, Byron Dafoe. Dafoe and Willsie, intertwined by Wilsie’s first game winner as a Capital, also are both members of Athletes Against Autism, an organization founded by a group of athletes to raise awareness and funds for autism research, treatment and education programs. The group was founded by a pair of former Baltimore Skipjacks and Washington Capitals netminders, Dafoe and Olaf Kolzig.

When the NHL returned in 2005-06 after a lockout wiped out the previous season, Willsie found himself back with the Capitals, and the Capitals thought enough of his leadership skills, first honed in Hershey, to entrust him with mentoring future NHL superstar, Alex Ovechkin, in his rookie season.

“I was actually the captain for a few games here in Hershey (2002-03), when Brent Thompson was out of the lineup with an injury,” said Willsie. “It was kind of a last minute thing that I ended up being his roommate. It was a lot of fun, and I tried my best to teach him a little bit of the off the ice stuff. Obviously, he’s turned into a pretty special player.”

Willsie continued, “Likewise, the Capitals have developed into one of the marquee organizations in the league--not only the parent club, but the club they have here in Hershey. George McPhee has done a spectacular job in the trades before the lockout and developing the players and championships here, and I’m sure there will be championships there in the years to come.”

After a couple of seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, Willsie rejoined the Avs organization prior to the 2008-09 season, and has spent the majority of those two campaigns in the AHL with the Lake Erie Monsters, but has also spent a few games with the Avalanche in each season.

This season, Willsie has taken on the full-time captaincy role with the Monsters, a role he has enjoyed.

“It’s been fun. Darren Haydar is part of the leadership group and he’s been around a while, and Tom Preissing and Brian Fahey (former Bear) has also been a big help. It’s a fun group, and it’s nice to have the honor. It’s rewarding to see how far the team has come and the direction we are heading.”

While he may be enjoying his leadership role in the city that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame calls home, Willsie, who at 31-years of age, could be considered old by AHL standards, but in his prime for an NHL player, was very honest in answering the question of how he can balance his role of captain while on one hand he is partially responsible for nurturing the Avs prospects for a shot in the NHL, but on the other hand is still keeping his eyes on the NHL prize himself.

“That’s a good question, but I think that’s part of the leadership role,” Willsie said. “ I’ve played quite a few games in both leagues, so not only do I want to get back there, but I can also show the young guys what it takes to get there. In one sense, it’s rewarding to see the guys go up, but at the same time, a little bit selfishly, I want to be going up as well.”

Willsie, who stated that he always looks forward to retuning to Hershey, and recently he returned to Giant Center for the second time as a visiting player. Just like his first visit as a member of the Portland Pirates in 2004-05, he netted a goal, this time against former Monsters’ teammate, Jason Bacashihua.

“It’s partly due to the crowd and the building. I seem to get up a little more for games, where there are big crowds, especially in the former places that I’ve played.”

Like just about any other player who donned the Chocolate and White and skated for the Bears in their former barn, the HERSHEYPARK Arena, Willsie gets very sentimental about the venue and about the special players that he called teammates during his time spent there.

“I was trying to tell some of my teammates here how great it was to play over there. I was trying to explain to them how the crowd was right on top of you and the wonderful atmosphere that was in the building. Some of the playoff series we had against Philadelphia there were great to play in. I was fortunate to play with a lot of good players in that building. A couple that come immediately to mind are Mitch Lamoureux and Steffon Walby, but there were so many of them; it was a very special place to play.”

BEARS FOIL PHANTOMS

Trailing for the first time at home during their record-tying 22 home winning streak, it looked like the Hershey Bears might have to reset the clock and start another home run because of the relentless Adirondack Phantoms; however, buoyed by a pair of goals by former Phantom, Boyd Kane, the Bears extended their streak to a record-breaking 23 home wins.

“We really came out hard in the third. Going into the third, we weren’t happy because we hadn’t played a good game. We wanted to break the record, and we knew what was on the line,” said Bears’ center, Keith Aucoin.

Kane initiated the scoring at 16:10 of the first period denting the twine for the 20th time this season.

“I gave it to Bourque up high and he went down low and made a great pass to me,” said Kane, who has reached the 20-goal mark twice in his career, both times with the Bears. “I was all alone in the slot and I was able to put it far side.”

Adirondack’s Andreas Nodl knotted the score at one by fending off defenseman, Karl Alzner, and then beating Bears’ goaltender, Michal Neuvirth through the five-hole at 18:24.

Rob Bellamy gave the Phantoms a 2-1 lead 6:11 into the second period by taking advantage of Neuvirth turning the puck over in the trapezoid behind the net and banking the puck off the glove and body of the second year netminder.

The Bears opened the third period on a power play and seemingly tied the game when Chris Bourque’s bullet appeared to bounce quickly in and out of the net. Though the goal light went on, the goal was waived off and play continued. Shortly after the controversial shot, Zach Miskovic’s missile from the point eluded Phantoms’ netminder, Johan Backlund, and officially tied the game at two.

At 6:25 of the final frame, Aucoin, thanks to a solid screen provided by Kane, put the home team in front for the second time.

“My job on the power play is to go stand in front of the net and screen the goalie,” Kane said. “That’s what I was doing, and Aucoin was actually trying to pass it to me and it just went through me and Mormina and got through the goalie, too.”

Hershey head coach, Mark French, who was not with the organization when Kane captained the club to the Calder Cup in 2006, realizes what Kane’s presence means to the team.

“He’s every bit a professional,” said French. “He’s a great asset in our dressing room, and a workman’s type player. You appreciate his work ethic. He shows up every day with his lunch box and his work shoes and he goes to work. I think everybody can appreciate the type of player he is. He’s very versatile, as you mentioned. He can step up and play, as he did at times this year, on our top line, or he could play on your third-line checking line and do each equally as well.”

Kane capped off the scoring with an empty net goal at 19:40, establishing a new career-high goal total of 21.

“It’s nice. When you come so close and don’t get there, you want to get there,” said Kane of breaking the 20-goal barrier. “It’s a good feeling to get it out of the way, and now I’ll just keep going.”

While playing against players that one called teammates just last season may present problems for younger, less experienced players, for Kane, it’s all in a day’s work.

“It’s a lot of fun to go out there and play against your friends. I’ve been around a bit and done it a lot, so I think it brings the best out of me sometimes.”


*Photo courtesy of JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

ARRIVEDERCI LOUIS ROBITAILLE

Louis Robitaille is now officially an ex-Hershey Bear. Robitaille has signed a one year deal with SG Cortina of the Italian Hockey League.

With the departure of Robitaille, who led the AHL in PIM's for the 07-08 season, and the retirement of the AHL's all-time career PIM leader Dennis Bonvie, the penalty box attendants in Hershey and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton might have to look for other gainful employment during games between the Southern Division rivals.

From day one of the Hershey affiliation with the Washington Capitals, Robitaille, largely because of his antagonistic style of play, became public enemy number one to any team facing off against the Bears. The offensively challenged Robitaille, while scoring only 17 goals in his 200 game Hershey career, contributed mightily to the Bears' success with his ability to lure opponents into taking untimely penalties.

One of the best examples took place during the first round of the 2006 Calder Cup Playoffs. Robitaille, with Hershey, up two games to none in the series, but down 2-0 early in the 2nd period of Game 3, was able to goad Norfolk defenseman James Wisniewski and Norfolk enforcer Shawn Thornton into penalties during the same sequence, which swung the momentum of the game. During the skirmish, Robitaille and Wisniewski each drew coincidental minor penalties, while Thornton received a major fighting penalty and two game misconducts. On the ensuing power play, Hershey was able to score a power play goal, their first of four straight goals, which paved the way to a 5-4 OT win and a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.

While this change of address from Chocolatetown to Cortina will force a drastic change in culture, the move also figures to dramatically increase this former 4th liner's workload. In order to fulfill his responsibilites with the Italian club, including increased ice time and the chance to be part of special teams play, Louis will undergo a positional change from left wing to defense. The switch is nothing new to Louis, who played defense the majority of his junior career with the Montreal Rocket of the QMJHL and early in his pro career, before being converted to forward by Portland Pirate head coach Tim Army.

Despite leaving Hershey for a season abroad, the controversial Robitaille also leaves behind a lasting impression on all who came into contact with him, seemingly an equal number of critics and supporters. Perhaps current Washington Capitals and former Hershey Bears coach Bruce Boudreau said it best when he commented that "Louis is a guy that you hate when he's on the other team, but hate him a little less when he's on yours."