Pheonix Copley To Start First Game This Season Friday Night

Pheonix Copley to start first game this season Friday night

Friday morning the Hershey Bears announced the rehab assignment of Vitek Vanecek to South Carolina, leaving only two goaltenders on the Bears active roster for Friday night’s game in Rochester.

Of those two, only one has played any regular season games this season in Adam Carlson. That will change Friday night as Pheonix Copley returns to the ice.

“I’m excited to get going,” Copley said Tuesday after practice to Chocolate Hockey. “Obviously, you want to be going at the start of the season. I’m just that much more excited.”

Copley returned to Hershey in a trade last season from St. Louis. In 25 regular and postseason games with the Bears, Copley went 16-8-1, helping lead Hershey to a Calder Cup playoffs berth.

The North Pole, Alaska native would pull his groin in Game 5 against Providence in the Atlantic Division Finals, leaving the game and ending his season in Rhode Island.

“Me and Vitek were kind of pushing each other,” Copley said about both himself and Vanecek being injured at the same time. “Learn as much as we can from the physical therapist and everything and how to not let anything like that ever happen again.”

Now Copley returns in a Chocolate and White sweater, making his 2017-18 debut in Western New York.

We will have game updates of the 455th matchup in Hershey and Rochester history on our Twitter account, @ChocHockey.

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