Friday Mailbag: Why Doesn’t Hershey Sign Long-Term Affiliation Contracts?

Welcome to the first ever Friday Mailbag on Chocolate Hockey. This is going to be a weekly Q&A section for you the fans to ask questions about the Bears. So without further ado, let’s jump right into the questions:

---

Brendon R. via e-mail:

I really like what you do on Chocolate Hockey and want to start my own Bears blog. Any tips?

I really wish there were more Bears blogs. They are great ways to express your opinion on the team and share your point of view in written form. If you’re also interested in journalism, this is a great starting place for high school students wanting to get into the field.

My two biggest tips would have to be: One – Always, always proofread. I’m still bad at this sometimes. The more professional your website look, A) It’s easier to read, B) The more readership you will retain. If I read a poorly written post with horrible grammar and simple writing, the likelihood I return to the website to read another story is low. A great tool to help you with this is Grammarly. It’s a free tool that helps you with grammar and writing. If you’re truly interested in blogging, it’s a great tool to have.

Two – have fun! It’s a horrible cliche, but it’s one of the best pieces of advice I can give. If you treat it too seriously, you’ll stop enjoying it and it will ruin the experience. I forgot how much fun I could have with the site last year and was extremely close to quitting and many occasions. But if you take a step back and look at what you’re doing — writing about hockey as a hobby — you’ll quickly realize it’s not that bad.

---

Chris G. via Twitter:

Can we get a poll going to see if fans agree that we should switch our goal horn to the roaring bear sound?

As much as that actually sounds really cool, I’d rather see a goal horn like what’s in the Old Barn. That classic fire horn that’s booted up every time a Bears player lights the lamp.

---

Jason Iacona from Chirps from Center Ice via Twitter:

“Top three in the division”

Hershey, Lehigh Valley, and Wilkes-Barre. If you asked me who was going to win the division, I’d say Lehigh Valley, but with all three teams stacked this season, the divisional title will probably come down to who wins the most games between the three teams in the final three months of the season.

---

Brandon A. via Twitter:

“Walker, Barber, Vrana. Who’s most ready to make the leap? Also, can Bowey “replace” Orlov if he signs elsewhere?”

Walker. After three seasons in Hershey, I think Nathan Walker will be the first to make his NHL debut this season. With that being said, I think you’ll see Chandler Stephenson, Walker, Barber, and Vrana all play a handful of games with the big club this season. With Bowey, I don’t think he can “replace” Orlov (mostly because I don’t think Orlov is going anywhere), but right now, he’s still another 20-30 AHL games away from being a player you’d call-up and play every night in the NHL.

---

Seamore Sports via Twitter:

Three questions – How many games will Vitek Vanecek play? The goalie called up the most from South Carolina this season will be…? Where does Jonas Siegenthaler play?

Vitek will probably start the season as the number two goalie behind Joe Cannata. In your typical three-in-three schedule, Cannata will more than likely see two out of the three games those weekend, with Vanecek getting the nod for one of the three most of the time. This doesn’t mean he won’t play two of the three games on any given weekend, but to start out, Cannata should be your number one goalie.

Adam Carlson will be South Carolina’s number one netminder this season, and should get called up if a Bears or Caps goalie were to go down and the Chocolate and White need a replacement. A bit of time with the Stingrays should make the 22-year-old ready for a few games at the AHL level.

I fully expect to see Siegenthaler in Hershey this season. If you’re asking about what pairing he might be on, that’s probably really tough to say right now. I’d expect he’s in the top four pairings, but with Tyler Lewington, Madison Bowey, and Chrisitan Djoos returning, that fourth spot should be a solid battle between the remaining players.

---

Peter Hassett from Russian Machine Never Breaks via Instagram:

Why have the Bears and Caps been making only one year franchise agreements? *toilet emoji*

Solid use of the toilet emoji. Really, it’s for flexibility for Hershey. The Bears are one of the top run AHL teams and lots of teams in the mid-Atlantic region want to be affiliated with them. If a better offer for the Bears comes long, the Bears will probably take it. With an expansion of the NHL coming, there will also be expansion in the AHL, meaning more affiliation changes. If I were a betting man, I’d probably put money on Hershey changing affiliates in the next 5-10 years. You never know, the next agreement could be a long-term deal with Washington, but I doubt it.

---

Brad T via e-mail:

Is there a reason the Bears are currently operating in secret? No play by play guy, no broadcast announcements, apparently no communication with the print media, website way out of date, etc.

I received this question in many different forms, but this is the one that stuck out to me the most. Let me start with the “operating in secret” part. There have been a lot of changes in the front office since the season ended only 82 days ago. You need to remember this is also a private company and they don’t need to disclose anything to the public.

With the play-by-play position, I’d expect that to be announced soon. The position is on longer listed on HersheyJobs.com and I know they aren’t sitting around each day doing nothing in HE&R offices while this position is unfilled. In terms of broadcast announcements, I’m not sure what you’re looking for with that. The radio contact is still in place where games are more than likely going to still be on the usual stations and online, along with a few games on Caps Radio 24/7. Press releases are still coming out on a regular basis for what is a slow summer, and the current website just was redesigned this year and looks beautiful.

But the comment I want to really focus on here is the one regarding print media. “no communication with the print media” really isn’t something you should blame on the Bears. If you look at the three major publications in this area, you’ve got The Patriot-News/PennLive, LNP Media Group/Lancaster Online, and the Lebanon Daily News. None of these three papers have dedicated full-time beat writers to the Bears. The closest you will get is Kevin Freeman with Lancaster Online, who also has to cover high school sports during the season.

The reason you don’t see more coverage of the Bears from these media groups is because of the lack of value they place on the team. Look at it from a sports editor’s point of view. What are people more interested in; high school football or Hershey Bears hockey? Unfortunately for Bears fans, they might think it’s high school football. If you truly want to see more Bears coverage from these groups, reach out to them and tell them. Your voice matters and if a large group of Bears fans expresses how much they want to see coverage from these media outlets, then they will have to listen.

---

Thanks so much for the questions for our first ever Friday Mailbag. If you have questions about the Bears you want to be answered, shoot us an e-mail by using the “E-Mail Us” button at the top of the page.