2016 Stanley Cup Final Will Feature Hershey Bears Connection

No matter what happens the rest of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs, at least one team will have a Hershey Bears connection in the finals. With the New York Islanders win tonight, each of the four teams in the Eastern Conference have some sort of Hershey Bears ties.

The Washington Capitals feature 12 players that spent some time in Chocolate Town USA, along with radio play-by-play guy John Walton who called Bears action for nine seasons. Their opponent the Pittsburgh Penguins have only one player, Eric Fehr, who spent parts of three seasons in Chocolate Town, winning a Calder Cup with the Bears in 2006.

On the bottom half of the Eastern Conference bracket, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s radio play-by-play commentator is Dave Mishkin, who spent eight seasons with the Bears. Mishkin had the call for Hershey’s 1997 Calder Cup win. And the New York Islanders also have one connection as defenseman Johnny Boychuk spent one season in Hershey, 2004-05, playing 80 games on the Bears blueline.

On the Western Conference bracket, of the six teams left, three of the teams have a Bears connection. Dallas Stars forward Cody Eakin played 47 regular season and 10 postseason games for the Chocolate and White in 2009-10 and 2011-12. Chicago Blackhawks forward Tomas Fleischmann played on the Bears 2006 Calder Cup winning team and 2007 Calder Cup finalist team. And Anaheim Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau lead the Bears to their ninth Calder Cup in 2006.

The last former Bears to win a Stanley Cup were 1988 Calder Cup winner John Stevens, who was an assistant coach with the 2014 Los Angeles Kings, and Jeff Schultz, who played seven playoff games with the Kings and had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.