For Bourque and Mitchell, Hershey Bears Alumni Game provides great memories with former teammates

At the end of the first half of Friday night’s alumni game, Chris Bourque waited by the door Hershey Bears alumni would be exiting the ice. Former teammates of Bourque’s would stroll past, chatting about the game.

When Greg Amadio informed Bourque of his three assists in the game at that point, the two exchanged fist bumps. “Three?!” exclaimed Bourque. “Alright!”

“We went for dinner with all of those guys on Thursday night,” Bourque said Saturday morning. “It was great. I’ve had so many good memories with those guys. Winning two cups, some of them three cups. So many different guys, so many different personalities. Definitely miss those guys a lot. Kind of reminds you what it takes to win those championships and it just brings back all of the memories you had with them.”

Bourque was teammates with eight of the players on Hershey’s roster Friday night, sharing old memories all week long with a cast of characters. “We were laughing the whole night,” said Bourque. “You just have so many good stories. It’s just story after story of those two years we had there. The core group of guys we had there. It’s kind of a once in a lifetime team so to say. It’s so rare to win back-to-back championships and to do it with the core group of guys we have there was fun.”

“He was like a little brother in a sense,” Dean Arsene said of Bourque, a teammate of his for four seasons. “I was here and he was a rookie and watched him blossom and grow up. He was a very special player when he was a rookie in his first couple of years. And obviously the success he’s had; when I saw he was announced to the Olympic team, I was really excited for him. I’m pretty pumped to watch him.”

Quintin Lang spent three seasons in Chocolate Town with Bourque, playing on a line with CB17 and spending time together away from the rink during their time together. “It was nice to see him,” said Lang. “With all he’s done in the last few years and getting into the Olympic team; it was pretty special. [I am] keeping track of what he’s doing and what he’s done, and what he continues to do. I look forward to watching him in February and hopefully he can have some success there.”

Another player to have a special connection to a former teammate was Garrett Mitchell, who has followed a quite similar career path to another Bears Captain, Boyd Kane.

Mitchell watched Kane growing up while he was a member of the Regina Pats, later joining the Bears while Kane was captain of the team. “Probably one of the biggest influences in my game, especially in the pros, having Boyd there,” said Mitchell. “It’s something I’ve really tried to maintain and keep up after he left. From asking him questions about banking to anything.

“There’s so many things that once you turn pro that all the sudden you have to deal with. Mom and Dad aren’t there to look after it all. Just bouncing little things like that off of him my first couple of years. He has a great family with Shar and the girls; that’s something we’ve tried to be like.”

“I know he loves it here,” Kane remarked about Mitchell. “I knew him from back home, and him coming in as a young kid when I was the older guy here. He’s carved his way with what he’s done on the ice but also in the community here; it’s great to see. He’s such a good guy, a good, I say kid, but good person – it’s great to see he’s stuck around here this long.”

Mitchell and Bourque will each be playing in another Outdoor Game for Hershey Saturday evening. The 2018 Outdoor Classic will be Mitchell’s third as well as Bourque’s 700th AHL regular season game.