Doug Yingst Named Lebanon Valley College Director of Corporate Relations and Athletic Giving

doug yingst hershey bears

Former Bears president and general manager Doug Yingst has been names Lebanon Valley College’s new director of corporate relations and athletic giving.

“There has always been a passion for LVC, not only for myself, but also my family,” Yingst said in a press release. “It truly is a rewarding feeling to have the opportunity to work at such an outstanding College. I can only hope my employment will have a significant and positive impact.”

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Bryan Helmer Announced as Hershey Bears VP of Hockey Ops

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An emotional Bryan Helmer, on the same day as his seventeenth wedding anniversary, was introduced as the new head man of the Hershey Bears Hockey Club. Helmer, 44, becomes the first ever former Bears player, captain, and coach to take over the franchise, as he follows the path laid out by another former defenseman, Frank Mathers.

“Now I get to call Hershey home,” Helmer said. “I have stability with this job where I don’t have to move every one to two years. My family is excited. They get to stay in one spot.

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Hershey Bears UFC 2: Liam O’Brien vs. Jakub Vrana

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During the regular season, we began our Hershey Bears video game series with Bears forward Jakub Vrana taking on Jonas Siegenthaler in a game of FIFA 16. Now, only weeks away from UFC 202, featuring a rematch of Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, we have decided it’s now a perfect time to feature another match-up from that day. Vrana takes on Liam O’Brien in UFC 2. Vrana will fight out of the blue corner as Nate Diaz, as O’Brien fights out of the red as The Notorious Conor McGregor.

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New Alignment, Rules Coming to AHL in 2016-17

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The AHL Board of Governors has approved a new alignment for the league in the 2016-17 season as the league’s annual meeting has concluded.

With the movement of Portland to Springfield and Springfield to Tucson, Arizona, the AHL’s Eastern Conference will feature one less team for the upcoming season. 14 teams will call the East their home, while 16 teams will call the Western Conference their home. Hershey will stay in the Atlantic Division, along with Bridgeport, Hartford, Lehigh Valley, Providence, Springfield, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

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Photos From First Day of 2016 Washington Capitals Developmental Camp

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Monday marked the first day of 2016 Washington Capitals Developmental Camp at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Only 16 days after the Hershey Bears season came to an end, four members of the Calder Cup Runner-Up team participated in the Camp. Travis Boyd, Riley Barber, Madison Bowey, and Tyler Lewington took part in a day of drills and classes.

Below the jump are photos from the first day of the camp.

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Chris Bourque: 2015-16 Season in Review

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I wrote an opinion article on June 30, 2015, entitled “Is It Time For Chris Bourque to Return to Hershey?” Bears fans were still mourning a second round playoff exit at the hands of Bourque and his team, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Bourque was less than 24 hours from becoming a free agent and for the first time in three seasons, there was a real possibility of Bourque returning to Chocolate Town.

Wouldn’t you know it, I woke up late on the second day of free agency and was worried I missed something. So I unlocked my phone and opened Twitter right away. One of the first tweets I saw was from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton blogger Jason Iacona (awesome guy, by the way. Go check out his stuff if you’ve never read his site before,) and it read “I don’t ******************* believe it.” What was so shocking to the blogger of a rival team? The return of Chris Bourque to the most storied franchise in AHL history.

Looking back on it, the signing may go down as one of the biggest in Bears history if you take into account what would happen in the 350 days since the forward put pen to paper.

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Ryan Bourque: 2015-16 Season in Review

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When Ryan Bourque joined the Hershey Bears in a trade deadline deal, most Bears fans understood they were going to see a reunion between Ryan and his brother Chris. What fans probably didn’t know was the Chocolate and White were receiving one of the top penalty killers in the American Hockey League. Bourque made a sudden impact, joining Zach Sill on the top PK unit and turning the Bears into one of the toughest teams to play against on the man advantage. That was evident in the Eastern Conference Finals when the Chocolate and White held the top scoring team in the league to three power play goals in 16 chances. Without Ryan Bourque, we might be having a totally different discussion right now.

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Riley Barber: 2015-16 Season in Review

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Prior to January 14th, Riley Barber only had 15 points with five goals and ten assists, struggling to find a solid place in the line-up, bouncing between all three lines. Then the Bears made a major signing: Scott Gomez. Seven games after Gomez arrived, the 22-year-old found himself to the right of one of the best NHL centers in the past ten seasons and started on a streak where he recorded a point in 14 of 15 games. Barber scored 25 points in that time span, including his first pro hat-trick to kick off the streak, and February Rookie of the Month honors.

I remember attending a practice soon after Gomez arrived and the team was working on the power play. After Barber and Gomez’s line finished their portion of the drill, Gomez held back Barber to give him some pointers on working between the circles and in front of the net. In the coming months, Barber would make that location his home, scoring many of his 26 goals this season from that spot.

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Thank You. 2015-16 Hershey Bears Season

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Saturday night in Cleveland, the 2015-16 Hershey Bears season came to a heartbreaking end. But despite the end being disappointing, that does not mean the season was a failure. This was a team that was not picked by many people to make it past the second round. This was a team that once they made it past the second round, was expected to lose in five games to one of the best teams to ever play in the league. They did the exactly the opposite, making it to the Calder Cup Finals with eight players who are in their first or second year professionally, three rookie defensemen and three rookie forwards. If anything, the 2015-16 Hershey Bears season was a success.

Would have it been nice to have been able to raise the Calder Cup at the end of the season? You’re damn right it would have been nice. But everybody associated with the Bears, from the players on the ice to the fan sitting in the last row of 226, should hold their head high.

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