2005-06 Hershey Bears: 10 Years Later – Graham Mink
Ten years ago tonight, the Hershey Bears won their ninth Calder Cup – a team lead by Bruce Boudreau. One of the alternate captains on that team was Graham Mink, who went on to win another Cup with the Bears in 2009.
During a Bears game in November, Mink visited Hershey and we caught up with him.
“It makes me smile every time I think of that team,” Mink said. “It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years. I remember that team where it was really two different half of a season, where the first half we were bumbling and stumbling trying to find our way. When it all clicked, we made a couple of acquisitions and we just starting rolling – no team was going to beat us.
“It was a lot of fun – a lot of good players, a lot of good people on that team. I miss all of those guys. I wish had a ten-year reunion! I still stay in touch with them online, too. I miss that season. It kind of got Hershey back to its championship winning ways.”
Hershey rolled through the first two series, beating a Norfolk team that featured future NHL-ers in Corey Crawford and Dustin Byfuglien, a Wilkes-Barre team who had a young Marc-Andre Fleury in net, before facing a Portland Pirates team stacked with future NHL stars like Bobby Ryan, Dustin Penner, Corey Perry, and Ryan Getzlaf.
“When we started rolling, it started going good. When we played that Portland Pirates team – they were pretty loaded too. That went to a seven-game series and we beat them.”
Hershey’s team featured many future NHL stars as well, including new Stanley Cup Champion Eric Ferh. “I think were ten or twelve people that played in the NHL, had substantial careers in the NHL since we won that championship,” Mink said. “Certainly a lot of them played a lot more years in the American League. It was a very good team.”
And as always, you can never forget about the Bears bench boss. “Obviously, Bruce Boudreau was the best coach I ever had, and he really had us firing on all cylinders.”
Mink now owns rental properties in Vermont and is also rehabilitating historic buildings. He currently lives in Stowe, Vermont.