Reaction to Doug Yingst Retirement Announcement

Saturday night during Hershey Bears opening night, Bears President and General Manager Doug Yingst announced his retirement from the team at the end of the season. There was an audible gasp from the crowd in attendance at Giant Center, and lots of reaction online and offline from those who know Doug.

Former voice of the Hershey Bears John Walton reacted to the news on Twitter.

Quite simply, I wouldn’t be where I am today without Doug Yingst. He was my boss, is still a great friend and supporter of mine…

— John Walton (@WaltonCaps) October 24, 2015

I wish him the absolute best in his retirement at the end of the year. Still stunned to hear him say the words. A true Hershey legend.

— John Walton (@WaltonCaps) October 24, 2015

Members of the Bears reacted much the same way. Captain Garrett Mitchell, currently the longest tenured Bear, said: “It kind of shocked me. It shocked a lot of guys. He’s been around here so long and had a lot of success. I know that he’s not going anywhere, he’ll still be around the rink. It’s exciting for him to be around his family a little more, too.”

Chris Bourque, who came to Hershey as a 19-year-old in 2005, was shocked to hear the news of Yingst’s retirement. “[You] never think he’s going to leave. Such a big part of this franchise. Obviously he’s won a lot of Calder Cups and built a lot of great teams. Hats off to an unbelievable career. Hopefully we can win him a sixth Calder Cup.”

The voice of the NHL, Mike “Doc” Emrick make a great comparison between him an former Bears GM Frank Mathers. “A seamless transition from Frank Mathers to him. Now I realize Jay Feaster was involved for a couple of years in-between, but when [Doug] wound up taking over, it was like an extension of Frank Mathers. The best thing that was historically always said about Frank Mathers: ‘The best thing about him was, Frank Mathers,’ because of the type of person he was. And when you wound up coming to Hershey, you realize the team was an extension of him, and also the way fans were treated was an extension of him. I think that was the same thing in Doug’s case. I never noticed a difference when it was him or whether it was Frank. You could tell Doug was trained by Frank, because it was the same thing, and that’ll be missed.

“I don’t know if this retirement is permanent – it is from the Bears – but if he decides to consider other options next summer, and the Kings don’t sign Anze Kopitar, they’ll be the two biggest free agents in the sport.”

And head coach Troy Mann commented on Doug bringing him into Hershey as an assistant six years ago under Mark French. “He’s played a big part in my coaching career. I met him back in 2005-2006 with Bruce Boudreau and Bob Woods here as a tandem. I used to come up here as a guest coach. Obviously it’s about building relationships so when Bruce got the promotion to Washington they needed an assistant coach and I was there. So not only my relationships with Bob and Bruce, but Doug was part of that.

“He’s done a great job here and won five Calder Cups. Hopefully as our team progresses, it’s not easy to do but hopefully we’ll have a chance come next spring to get a 12th for the franchise and a sixth for him.”