Chocolate Hockey is pleased to announce “Hungry To Help,” a special online telethon to benefit Cocoa Packs on Thursday, June 4, 2020, at 7 PM on YouTube.

Cocoa Packs is a weekly program that provides food assistance for students in need from the Hershey area. Founded in 2015, today their enrollment is nearly 600 students, enrolling 63 new students during the current pandemic. This number continues to rise weekly due to current family challenges and food insecurity caused by the Coronavirus.

Co-hosting the event starting at 7 PM on June 4 on Chocolate Hockey’s YouTube channel is a local favorite Hershey Bears hockey player Liam O’Brien. Liam has spent the past six seasons playing for the Bears, having strong community involvement during those six-seasons in and around the Hershey area in numerous philanthropic endeavors.  

“I was able to take part in a number of Cocoa Packs Events and appearances this year, and they do such a great job,” said Liam O’Brien. “The families who come in and pick up their food, toys at Christmas, and other necessities are so lucky to have them put in the work they do. The volunteers have the greatest energy and really do love helping these kids and their families. I think that’s the main reason why I want to get involved with them – they have special relationships with these families and kids, and it’s a really beautiful thing to witness.”

Also making appearances throughout the telethon will be other members of the Hershey Bears hockey team, including Matt Moulson, Pheonix Copley, and Riley Sutter.  Co-hosting the event with Liam is Kyle Mace, founder of Chocolate Hockey and the son of the late local television sports broadcaster Gregg Mace. Kyle has covered hockey in Hershey for ten seasons, while his late father hosted many telethons during his 40-year career in television.

Kyle Mace added, “I’ve seen firsthand how wonderful the people in Central Pennsylvania are and how they unite in times of need. During the many telethons that my father hosted, our family was inspired by how this region stepped up.  Our goal is to fight hunger and support the health and well-being of our youth who may not know where their next meal is coming from.”

Fans and donors can tune into the telethon at Chocolate Hockey’s YouTube channel, YouTube.com/ChocolateHockey, or head to ChocolateHockey.com for more information.

COCOA PACKS: Cocoa Packs provides supplemental food and other support to local children in need to enhance their overall wellness, with a vision of a world where all children have what they need to succeed. With schools closed, this leaves a bigger gap daily, on weekends, over the holidays, and in the summer for those children facing food insecurity. The aim of Cocoa Packs is to fill this gap, providing packs to students filled with a variety of nutritious breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack items.

NOTE: This event is not affiliated with the Hershey Bears, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, the American Hockey League, or any related properties of the aforementioned groups.

UPDATE 10:53 PM EST: Kale Kessy is in stable condition. For a full update, visit our new post.

Hershey Bears forward Kale Kessy was tended to by medical staff after a fight on Tuesday night against Charlotte’s Derek Sheppard. The fight happened midway through the second period as Hershey was leading 4-1.

Immediately after going down linesman and anesthesiologist Dr. Bob Goodman began tending to Kessy.

Emergency medical staff, trainers and team doctors also tended to Kessy. It took just under 10 minutes for staff to take Kessy off the ice by stretcher.

After he was removed from the ice, a large amount of blood was reveled under towels by Hersey’s blueline.

According to Hershey’s media staff: “Kale Kessy was struck in a fight. He lost, but regained consciousness on the ice. He is alert, and in stable condition, and being transported to a local medical facility. Kessy told his teammates before leaving the ice, ‘go win the game.'”

We will continue to update the situation.

UPDATE 8:53 PM EST: Representatives of both teams and officials currently meeting outside of Hershey’s locker room, on the phone with the American Hockey League to determine what will happen the rest of the night.

UPDATE 9:03 PM EST: Both Charlotte and Hershey along with the AHL have decided that tonight’s game will continue. The game will resume at 9:08 PM.

The American Hockey League has announced the election of Scott Howson as AHL President and CEO effective, July 1, 2020.

Howson is a former NHL player and executive. Most recently he was the VP of Player Personnel for the Edmonton Oilers.

He replaces Dave Andrews who has been in the role for the past 26 years.

Press Release:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League’s Board of Governors has unanimously elected Scott Howson as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2020.

Howson will become the tenth President since the league’s formation in 1936 and will succeed the retiring David Andrews, who will continue as Chairman of the Board of Governors after his 26-year tenure as President and CEO concludes on June 30.

A Toronto native, Howson has spent the last 26 years as an executive with the National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers and Columbus Blue Jackets organizations, with wide-ranging responsibilities including hockey operations and administration, player development, salary cap compliance, contract negotiations, scouting and evaluation, and business operations.

Currently the director of player development for the Oilers, Howson has served in various roles since rejoining Edmonton in 2013, including hockey operations, pro scouting and player personnel responsibilities. He was named general manager of the Blue Jackets in 2007 and spent six seasons in that role, guiding the franchise to its first Stanley Cup Playoff appearance in 2009.

Howson first joined the Edmonton organization in 1994 as general manager of their AHL affiliates in Cape Breton and later Hamilton. He was named assistant to the general manager of the Oilers in 2000 and served as assistant GM of the NHL club from 2001-07. Howson’s AHL clubs reached the Calder Cup Finals in 1997 and 2003, and as a member of the AHL Board of Governors he served on the league’s competition committee from 1996-2002 and on its executive committee from 2003-07.

A prolific scorer as a junior player with Kingston (OHL), Howson played five seasons of pro hockey from 1981-86, including 110 games in the AHL with the Springfield Indians and 18 contests with the NHL’s New York Islanders. He skated on championship teams in both the International Hockey League and the Central Hockey League.

Howson, 59, holds a bachelor’s degree from York University and is a graduate of York’s Osgoode Hall Law School. He and his wife, Antoinette, have three children: son Max and daughters Rebekah and Joanna.

ESPN will feature the Hershey Bears’ Teddy Bear Toss on their newsmagazine program E:60 this Sunday, January 26th, at 7 pm on ESPN2. 

E:60’s crew visited Hershey during the week of the world-renowned event, capturing moments from the teddy bear toss itself, to the distribution of plush throughout the community, and much more. 

“The Teddy Bear Toss is a sight to be seen, and no one does it better than Hershey,” said Bears Manager of Media Relations and Broadcasting Zack Fisch. “Working with Scott Cikowski of ESPN and his entire crew was a treat, and the piece is something that will warm your heart, and make you proud to be part of not only this historic organization, but the entire Central PA community.”

Chocolate Hockey’s own Kyle Mace is also set to be featured in the story. “Being a part of a feature produced by some of the best storytellers in the world is an honor,” said Mace. “To have an audience like ESPN’s see what Hershey is all about is something Bears fans should be extremely proud of.”

Longtime ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose narrates the piece. “It’s not just the smell of chocolate that makes Hershey the sweetest city in the world,” said Melrose. “It’s the fact that the people who live there, found a way to get 40 thousand Teddy Bears into the hands of children who need a hug.”

Watch the trailer here:

📺EXCITING NEWS! Our world record Teddy Bear Toss will be featured by @ESPN. The Bears will be showcased on @E60, this Sunday, Jan. 26 at 7 PM ET on ESPN2. #HersheyBearsCares #HBH pic.twitter.com/dpbZdHZbQW

— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) January 24, 2020

On Friday the Hershey Bears held their exit interview day. Over the next few days, we will be providing you the transcripts of each player’s interview with the media.

Following a strong 2017-18 campaign with 17 goals, Liam O’Brien returned to the Bears in a leadership role for the 2018-19 season. O’Brien finished the season with 28 points, spending most of the season on Hershey’s top line.

Q: Now that you’ve had a few days to digest how and what happened. What are your emotions looking back on how the season ended?

Liam O’Brien: Yeah obviously you’re very disappointed when you don’t win the Calder Cup, that was everybody’s goal this year. I felt like we had a really special group and I thought we were going to do something pretty incredible. I think we still did a lot of really amazing things this year. But yeah definitely disappointing that we weren’t able to get it done. Looking back at the year there’s a lot of positives, so I’m just trying to keep my mind on those.

Q: On those positive notes and how a lot of people on this team grew together. I really thought there were guys on this team that just took a huge step forward this year. What was it like seeing this team every single day just grow?

LOB: That was pretty awesome. It’s awesome to be a part of that, to see your teammates have success. It was great to see a lot of young guys’ maturity grow in their game throughout the year. And I’ll say it again, I think the coaching staff and the guys that were the leadership group here did a really good job, and I’m just proud of where we got to.

Q: Sort of a different leadership group than maybe in years past where there wasn’t just one captain to point towards, it was kind of a collective effort. What was that like being a part of that, both as a leader but also seeing other people step up and be leaders?

LOB: Yeah it was awesome. I think that worked really well for us this year, having you know more than six guys, we had seven or eight guys that really stepped up and took on that role, and it was great for the young guys to have multiple resources they could run to if they ever needed anything. It wasn’t just one guy that was trying to take care of everybody. It was a big group of us that were able to do a really good job. So, yeah it was awesome.

Q: For you personally this season in terms of your style of play and how you played this year, getting a lot of top line minutes. What was that like for you and how your game grew?

LOB: It was definitely different. Playing with Sgarbs and Barbs for the majority of the second half and you know a little bit in the first half too. That was fun. You know for me when I play with two guys like that I know what I need to do. And obviously my game needed to change a little bit. I had to make the small plays. I had to be in the right place at the right times, and it’s a little bit of a different game, but they really helped me out. You know it was great. I can’t complain.

Q: How was the bond with the guys different this year compared to other years passed?

LOB: I think the biggest thing was that there’s no clickiness. Every now and then you have a couple of guys on the team that are kind of outsiders, we don’t really have any outsiders. When you came into the room, everybody was talking to everybody. We were just a group of guys that really liked each other. You don’t come across groups like that at this level very often. I think we had a lot of young guys and even our leadership guys were all young guys too, so that’s special too. It almost felt like Juniors again you know, and it was great that way.

Q: You go into free agency, and I know it’s restricted free agency, but there is a core four of you, Barbs, Walks, and Nesser as well that were part of that run in 2016 and all came in together. You all could possibly be going your separate ways. What has this group meant to you here these last five years?

LOB: Yeah I mean I think it’s the last of that group right? Pretty crazy. I mean me and Walks have been here for five years. Barbs and Lewy four and Nesser as well. But it’s pretty crazy for me. I’m not a hundred percent sure I will be saying bye to all those guys, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be saying bye to most of them. Yeah, it’s interesting, it’s a different feeling for sure. We’ll see how everything plays out. Not too worried about anything right now but we’ll see what happens.

Here is the contract status for the 2019-20 season for players who spent time in Hershey in the 2018-19 season:

Under contract with Washington:
Juuso Ikonen, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Garrett Pilon, Beck Malenstyn, Joe Snively, Lucas Johansen, Tobias Geisser, Kris Bindulis, Connor Hobbs, Tyler Lewington, Bobby Nardella, Ilya Samsonov.

Unrestricted free agent – Washington contract:
Jayson Megna, Mike Sgarbossa*, Nathan Walker*, Riley Barber*, Aaron Ness, Parker Milner.

*players qualify as a Group 6 UFA. More information on Group 6 can be found here.

Restricted free agent – Washington contract:
Vitek Vanecek, Shane Gersich, Mason Mitchell**, Hampus Gustafsson**, Brian Pinho, Liam O’Brien**, Colby Williams**.

**players qualify as arbitration-eligible.

Under contract with Hershey:
None

Free agent – Hershey contract:
Ryan Sproul, Steve Whitney, Joey Leach, Adam Morrison, Grant Besse (signed with Krefeld Pinguine,) John MacLeod, Jordan Samuels-Thomas.

Under contract with Washington, did not play in Hershey:
Kody Clark, Riley Sutter, Alexander Alexeyev, Martin Fehervary.

PTOs – Free agents:
Hunter Fejes, Andrew Cherniwchan, Chris McCarthy.

ATOs – Free agents:
Dylan Steman.