Hershey Bears Announce Opening Night Roster, Captain

HERSHEY, PA – (Left to Right) Garrett Michell, Dane Byers, and Jeff Taffe were name as captain and alternate captains earlier Friday (Mitchell and Taffe Photos courtesy: Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth, Byers Photo courtesy: Tim Stough / Sweetest Hockey on Earth, Graphic by: Kyle Mace)

The Hershey Bears have announced their opening night roster and new leaders of the team. Dane Byers is the new captain for the Hershey Bears’ 2013-14 season.

The 27-year-old Byers was traded to Hershey late last season and played in five games for Hershey. This is the third AHL team that Byers was named captain of (Hartford and Springfield.)

The two alternate captains for the season will be Garrett Mitchell and Jeff Taffe.
Mitchell, 22, was drafted by Washington in 2009 and will be playing his third full season with Hershey. Taffe lead Hershey with 71 points in 73 games last season. The Hastings, Minnesota native also was named to the 2013 AHL All-Star game.

Twenty-eight other players will be on Hershey’s opening night roster. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer returns for another season in Hershey and will be backed up by free agent signee David Leggio.

Hershey will carry 11 defensemen, including Tomas Kundratek, Dmitry Orlov, and Nate Schmidt, and 18 forwards, including Michael Latta, Joel Rechlicz, and the first Australia native to play in the AHL Nathan Walker.

The Bears and Adirondack face-off Saturday night at 7pm.