Hershey’s goalie situation becoming clearer with return of Copley, Vanecek

The Hershey Bears’ number one and two goaltenders returned to the ice earlier this week as Vitek Vanecek and Pheonix Copley were both cleared for full practice with the Chocolate and White.

Both netminders were injured in training camp and have yet to see any regular season action this season. “Certainly I’ve got a month of extra rest,” said Copley after practice Tuesday. “I’m excited to get going. Obviously, you want to be going at the start of the season. I’m just that much more excited.”

Vanecek echoed that joy to be back. “I’m right now happy because I’m back on the ice with the team,” said the Czech goaltender. “I will now just wait for games.”

It’s unusual for two goaltenders to be injured at the same time but allowed for the two to encourage each other to get back to the ice as soon as possible. “Me and Vitek were kind of pushing each other,” Copley said. “Learn as much as we can from the physical therapist and everything and how to not let anything like that ever happen again.”

That support from Copley assisted Vanecek to get through his first injury in his life. “That helped me and [Bears trainer] Beaker helped me. I feel much better.”

Now the two will hope to continue to keep the Bears hot after winning their first week of the season. “They play good,” Vanecek commented. “Guys play good. First three games we lost. Now we much better.”

“Guys are starting to get confident,” Copley remarked. “I think we had a lot of young guys starting the year so it takes some games to get going and get some confidence in the league.

“I think a lot of the young d-men look really good and have been producing offensively. I think it’s just getting that confidence and getting comfortable out there.”

Hershey made a roster move Tuesday, sending Parker Milner back to South Carolina, but leaving Adam Carlson in Chocolate Town. Carlson, 23, has impressed the Bears brass in his first three games with Hershey, going 2-1 with a .910 save percentage.

While his days with the Bears could be numbered for now, he’s kept a positive attitude about his future.

“Just show up to the rink every single day and get better,” Carlson said after Sunday’s game. “It doesn’t matter what they decide, I have to come in and get better every single day regardless of where I am. If I’m here, down in South Carolina, I just need to be doing my job and roll with the punches. I can’t control what’s out of my control and that’s something that’s out of my control. All I can do is control my play and I’m trying to do that to my best of my abilities right now.”