Connor Hobbs was given the role of ‘stat boy’ while injured – Hershey Bears practice update
Since Connor Hobbs’ injury in early November, the rookie defenseman has had a different role with the Bears during his recovery: statistician.
“Reid Cashman, our d-coach, has me doing specific stats on defensemen and stuff like that up there [in the press box,]” Hobbs said Thursday. “It keeps me into the game so I’m not just screwing around on my phone or whatever. It’s good. It’s been really good, and I’ve taken a lot away actually from the last games watching.”
Having work to do while watching a game is something that is new, but enjoyable for Hobbs. “It’s different. I hadn’t used a pen and paper in quite a while I realized,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve had lots spelling mistakes there, and you can ask Cash. It’s not pretty.
“It’s really interesting, and it’s something that I’ve never really thought much about those kind of stats. Like taking down what kind of breakout we did – was it a wall bump, was it a wheel – with that kind of thing. It’s interesting, and it’s very helpful.”
As a rookie, Hobbs is always trying to learn more from the game, and while using pen and paper might not be the ideal way to learn some lessons, it’s been a unique experience. “You learn the best from actually being out there and doing it. Just seeing it from a different perspective and watching from up there, it’s really easy to nitpick it when you’re up there. It’s a lot different when you’re on the ice and nothing compares to when you’re actually out there in the fight.
The 20-year-old fractured his wrist in a game against Toronto after Timothy Liljegrena jumped out of the way of Hobbs in front of the Bears bench.
“I probably won’t be making that exact same hit anytime soon, but I’m not going to change how I play just because of a freak incident like that,” said Hobbs. “It shouldn’t change the way that I want to be physical and the way that I want to play out there.”
Hobbs returned to practice as a full participant with the Bears after skating with just a brace for the last few weeks but has not been cleared to play yet. That could change during a road trip next week in Charlotte. “We’ve got to get through tomorrow night,” said head coach Troy Mann. “Hopefully no injuries and then he’ll definitely play one of the games in Charlotte; I’m kind of thinking probably the second game.”
Once Hobbs returns, Mann and company will have to make a decision on how to run the blueline with an extra body thrown back into the mix. “We haven’t really sat down to talk about it, but obviously we’re going to have to manage it because the three young guys need to play. I don’t think we’re taking [Aaron] Ness and [Tyler Lewington] out right now – I think they’re our top pair. We’re going to have to manage it really well here.”
Hobbs is known as an offensive defenseman, and scoring is something Hershey has struggled with lately. His skill set could provide the Chocolate and White a boost at a time they need it.
“I think not only his shot, but the power play,” Mann believes Hobbs can contribute to. “Our power play has had it’s ups and downs, but it had a great stretch before he got hurt. We had moved him into the Bourquey unit, and that big shot allows a little bit more things to happen from an offensive perspective because they got to monitor his shot from up top. He’s probably a little bit rusty to start. We’ve got to manage not only his ice time but the games he plays in. It should be a good addition where we can maybe start getting a little bit more offensive production from our back end, which I think Nesser’s helped.”
After a rough first game, Vitek Vanecek has been looking rock solid in his second season in Chocolate Town.
While Pheonix Copley will start Saturday night’s match-up against Providence, Vanecek is putting the pressure on Copley for more playing time. “Vitek is certainly pushing Cops for a rotation for sure or maybe even two of three [games a week.] I love the fact there’s going to be some competition there, but we need our goalies to steal us one as well. That really hasn’t happened here recently. And that needs to happen here for us to make a push and win some games here to get back in the playoff race.”
Hershey is known as a team that likes to generate offense, but this season that story has been a bit different. While all of the Bears wins have come in games where they’ve scored more than three goals this season, until last Friday, the Bears had not scored more than two goals in any loss since the first week of November.
“We just got to find a way to score some goals here,” said Mann. “Especially the games where we play really well and probably deserve the two points. I think there’s probably five or six wins out there. Of course the first 28 games where our offense has led us down where we’ve played some really good games and not allowed any chances. I mean Providence the other night we had them at nine chances, and we lose the game 3-0, so that right now is where we need to find some areas to improve on there offensively to give us ourselves a chance.”
The coaching staff and reviewed video with the team to help them improve from that perspective, but they’ve also given players some freedom while on the attack. “Guys got the green light to be as creative as they need to be in the offensive zone play. We certainly show them some things that we can accomplish, but at the end of the day, we need guys to get inside. We’ve got to get guys to get close to that net area because the majority of the goals, whether it’s the NHL or the American League now, are scored from that inside the dot area. I think we lack some consistency in getting there. And when we do that little bit more guys might get rewarded with one going off the shin pad or putting in the rebound.
The Bears recalled Dylan Margonari on Friday morning in place of an injured Jeremy Langlois, who will miss Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury.
Margonari was named ECHL Player of the Week, which helped earn him his first call-up to Hershey since the 2015-16 season. “Coming off player of the week, really liked his training camp here, gives us a little bit more speed, high energy, real good work ethic. Not known as a scorer, but with Langer hurt and not playing tomorrow night, we just felt that might be a good fit there.”
