Bears Practice Update: Second Round Preparations, Johansen Arrival Delayed, Ness Return Imminent?

After a well deserved second day off on Tuesday, the Hershey Bears were back on the ice Wednesday morning at historic Hersheypark Arena. Two notable faces joined the Chocolate and White as they prepared for their second round series against Providence starting on Saturday.

The first was defenseman Aaron Ness, who left game two of the Atlantic Divison semi-finals against Lehigh Valley with a lower body injury, favoring his right leg. He missed the rest of series against the Phantoms, but there’s a possibility he makes his return to the lineup this coming weekend as Troy Mann noted after practice.

“It’s a slow process,” said Mann. “He went through it today; we’ll get an evaluation this afternoon. If he comes to the coaching staff on Friday and says he’s good to go, he’ll get back in the lineup Saturday night.”

A longer break between game five and game one of the two series has benefited the recovery of the 26-year-old defenseman. “We want to be a little bit cautious of this. The rest in between the series is going to help potentially get him back in for Saturday. We’ll just have to see as the week goes on with the [Chandler] Stephenson situation as well.”

That Stephenson situation has opened up a spot for 19-year-old Garrett Pilon to rejoin the team in the playoffs. After signing his first ATO late in the regular season, the Capitals third-round draft pick was re-signed to a second ATO to give the Bears some more depth at center ice. “With the Caps still in the playoffs, we don’t know from game to game whether Stephenson is going to be back…Pilon [has] real good skill and real good speed. We just felt that with our center ice depth being the way it can be, we bring [Pilon] back in, get him up to speed. If Stephenson doesn’t return for Saturday, maybe we throw him in there this weekend and see what he’s got.”

Hershey’s current depth at center ice is very limited, with Travis Boyd, Zach Sill, and Hampus Gustafsson being the only true centers on the roster. Gustafsson sat a good majority of the third period in game three against Lehigh Valley, and all of the third period in game four, and was a healthy scratch in game five as Mann felt due to the speed of play, the rookie was unable to keep pace at this time.

Nathan Walker, who has spent time as a center for parts of the last two seasons, and Liam O’Brien, who played as a center for a brief period during his time in juniors, gives Hershey some more depth. However, Mann’s preference is to play as many natural centers as he can and leave players like O’Brien and Walker on the wings.

A third face that is joining the Bears was not at practice Wednesday as Washington’s first round pick Lucas Johansen’s arrival to Chocolate Town was delayed. The 28th overall selection in the 2016 NHL Draft had a flight canceled as he joins Hershey after his season with the Kelowna Rockets ended with a conference finals defeat to Seattle on Sunday.

Unlike other players who signed ATOs over the last two seasons, Johansen has a realistic chance to crack Hershey’s lineup if Hershey needs a fresh body on the back end. “[Colby] Williams was excellent the other night. If Ness cannot play, we will probably return to the same set of D that won game five.

“Johansen is a left-shot skill guy, and he’s going to be here next year, or potentially in Washington. I think it’s important he comes in here, much like all the young players drafted, get up to speed with Hershey, and learn our systems. You just never know.”

BITES:

• Stan Galiev, who has played spectacularly in the second half of the season scoring 17 goals and 30 points in 41 games since the calendar flipped to 2017, currently leads Hershey in playoff points with three goals and two assists in five games. Even though he has found his groove, some of that comes from not thinking about stats at all. “To be honest, I stopped thinking about points,” said Galiev. “I just try to play the game and help the team get those playoff wins.”
• Jakub Vrana, who sat games four and five after Troy Mann publicly landed into him following a lackadaisical effort from the forward in game three, seems to still have his status up in the air for this upcoming series. “Vrana will get his opportunity at some point here,” said Mann. “He’s going to have to play a 200-foot game. If he’s playing 16 minutes of hockey, you’re not having the puck more than four minutes, so that means you’re going to have to get the puck back. How do you do that? You play good defense; you win one-on-one battles. Those are the type of things we are looking for as a coachings staff – regardless if you are a UFA, first rounder, or seventh rounder.”
• Forward Ryan Bourque is once again blond for the Calder Cup Playoffs, and now so is his brother Chris. We covered all the shenanigans and talked to #14.