Shepard and Stevenson Pair to Claim the 2023-24 Harry “Hap” Holmes Award
Luke Brown for ChocolateHockey
Harry “Hap” Holmes retired after the 1928 season with the Detroit Cougars, and since 1972, the AHL has awarded the Happy “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award in his name to the goaltenders on the AHL team that allows the fewest goals per game in the AHL regular season. The Bears’ Clay Stevenson and Hunter Shepard have allowed a league-lowest 151 goals in 2023-24 in the best regular season in franchise history. The 151 total equals an average of 2.10 per game.
This is behind a monster season for Hunter Shepard, an AHL first team all-star who went 27-4-4 in his 34 appearances this season, and led the league with a personal 1.76 goals against average, the fifth lowest in AHL history. Sheppard also posted a .929 save percentage and five shutouts.
Shepard, who’s now 28-years-old, started his career with the Bismarck Bobcats of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), where he won a similar award in the NAHL Goaltender of the Year award, prompting the Minnesota-Duluth ice hockey program to approached Shepard about playing NCAA hockey. He became a co-captain at Minnesota-Duluth, setting various records for the program, including starting in over 105 consecutive games, an NCAA record, let alone program. After leading the team two two straight NCAA championships, Shepard was signed by the Bears on June 25, 2020. Due to COVID complications, his start in the AHL was halted, but he finally got his start in Hershey into the 2021-22 season and is now the AHL’s top goaltender.
Stevenson, playing in his first full AHL season, appeared in 36 games and finished with a 24-10-2 record with a 2.06 goals against average, a .922 save percentage and posted seven shutouts, tying an 85-year-old Hershey Bear record.
Stevenson spent time in Hershey with three appearances in the 2022-23 season, but spent the majority of his days in South Carolina with the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays, where he appeared in 36 games. So far, he’s appeared in the same amount, 36, in his full-size chocolate bar season in PA.
This is the fifth time in Hershey Bears history that the team has claimed the Harry “Hap” Holmes Award, the latest since 2020-21 with Pheonix Copley and Zach Fucale. The Bears also won 1996-97 with Jean-Francois Labbe, 1966-67 with Andre Gill, and 1958-59 with Bobby Perreault.
* The Harry “Hap” Holmes Award was awarded from 1948-1971 to the goaltender with the best goals-against average in the AHL.
