Scott Gomez Ready to Roll with the Hershey Bears
HERSHEY, PA – New Hershey Bears forward Scott Gomez shares a laugh with Bears assistant coach Bryan Helmer during Hershey Bears morning skate Friday morning. (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
At 36-years-old, Scott Gomez is not a typical AHL rookie. After a 16-season NHL career, the centerman is looking to revive his NHL career with a stint with the Hershey Bears.
“I think every guy in here is trying to make it to the NHL,” Gomez said Friday. “I’m here to do my part, here to play hockey, here to help out as much as I can. It’s kind of what you learn; hockey from the older guys and you’re here to pass it down to the younger guys and help them out.”
Saturday night is scheduled to be Gomez’s first ever game at the second highest level of professional hockey in North America. “To all the guys that made fun of me all those years saying I was a silver spooner, they can never say that again, so take that,” the Alaska native said with a big laugh. “I still love the game, no question about that. Do your thing, play hard, help these guys out. Once you get out there, it doesn’t matter where you’re at, the object is to win.”
The opportunity for the Bears to gain a big time NHL veteran like Gomez was one Hershey was not about to pass up. “When you have a guy,” said Bears head coach Troy Mann, “a former NHL-er, that’s three hours away looking for ice time, looking to get his legs back because he believes he can still play in the NHL, when it came to my attention as the head coach I thought it was a no brainer to bring him in.
“There’s no strings attached here. This could be a two game thing, this could be a three month thing. It just all depends on the health of our forwards, what he’s bringing to the table, and if there’s an NHL opportunity out there for him.”
Hershey has been playing with a very light lineup the last few weeks with centers Zach Sill in Washington and Chandler Stephenson out with in a injury. “We’ve been playing pretty short handed the last six weeks. We only had ten forwards to play Sunday’s game. Center ice depth from Washington and Hershey perspective has been not what everybody would like to see of that, and we’ve only had two natural centers in the lineup.
“He’s going to play tomorrow night. We’ll put some lines together after the game tonight. Obviously a skill guy like himself, we want to put him with some players that can move the puck and score because he is a very dynamic passer. He’s an offensive guy that’s going to center one of our top two lines.”
Gomez skated a bit on Friday with forwards Jakub Vrana and Paul Carey, two guys that would easily make up on of Hershey’s top two lines with Gomez once Vrana returns from injury.
Hershey has always been known as a top notch hockey town, and the message was no different from Gomez. “Everyone that’s played here has said the same thing: ‘It’s a first class organization. You’re going to enjoy it.’ You can tell it’s a great set up, great people. It’s going to be fun to play a game.”
One of the key components in helping Gomez make it to Chocolate Town USA was former Bears co-coach, Adam Oates. “He was probably the main reason I came here. He turned my career around, he turned many guys careers around last year that were probably out of the league. I hired Oatesy, one of many guys in the league, as a personal consultant. He was a major influence for me coming here. He knows it here, he knows the coaching staff.”
Despite not playing since the new year, the two time Stanley Cup Champion is ready to go. “Conditioning is there. You put in the work. My timing might be off, but that’s what these games are for. It’s going to be fun playing in a game where it means something. I’m sure the timings going to take a little bit, but we’ll go from there.
“The main thing is to play. This has been first class since I’ve been here. These guys don’t understand how good they got it. It’s a great organization. I’m looking forward to it.”