HERSHEY, PA – Joel Rechlicz, seen here at the Hershey Bears award ceremony, is returning to Hershey for a fourth season in the Chocolate and White sweater (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
Wednesday afternoon, the Washington Capitals and Hershey Bears announce they have re-signed Joel Rechlicz and Dane Byers for the 2013-14 season.
HERSHEY, PA – New Hershey Bears head coach Mike Haviland poses for a photo after being name the team’s new head coach Tuesday morning (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
Mike Haviland made a very good first impression. Haviland was named the 24th head coach in Hershey Bears history on Tuesday in a press conference at Giant Center. Haviland comes with an impressive background in coaching, including being an assistant coach with the 2010 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
Washington, DC – Mark French, seen here at the AHL Showcase at Verizon Center, was named head coach of KHL Medveš?ak Zagreb in Croatia (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
Former Bears head coach Mark French has been named head coach of . After five seasons in Hershey, French heads overseas to coach the Zagreb Bears. The Washington Capitals announced in May they will not be renewing his contract for the 2013-14 season.
HERSHEY, PA – Ryan Potulny, seen here at the 2013 Outdoor Classic, has signed in the KHL after two seasons in Hershey (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
After 496 professional regular season games played in North America, Ryan Potulny will leave the continent and continue his hockey career in Russia.
Photo courtesy the Reading Royals
Last night, the Hershey Bears farm club, the Reading Royals, won the ECHL championship. The team included seven former Bears, T.J. Syner, Stanislav Galiev, Barry Almeida, Evan Barlow, Alex Berry, Patrick Wellar, and Brett Flemming who played in Hershey this season, and one former Bear, Nikita Kashirsky, who played in the Chocolate and White during the 2010-11 season. Reading beat the Stockton (Ca) Thunder in five games. The Royals had an Eastern Conference best 46-19-7 regular season record with 99 points.
Below the jump, check out some tweets from Reading players and a very familiar team after Reading won their first Kelly Cup.
Reading, PA – T.J. Syner scores in the Reading Royals’ victory in game two of the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
The Reading Royals are just two wins away from from their first ECHL Kelly Cup championship. The Royals won game two of the best of seven finals in convincing fashion, a 4-0 win over the Stockton Thunder. All the scoring came from players who have seen playing time with the Hershey Bears. Coming off a thrilling 6-5 overtime win, the Royals dominated game two, in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 4,693.
Photo by Kyle Mace
After four seasons behind the Bears bench, Mark French will not return as coach for the 2013-14 season. The announcement was made Friday morning by the Washington Capitals General Manager George McPhee. The move comes after the Bears failed to win a first round playoff series against the top seeded Providence Bruins, after winning the first two games of the best-of-five series.
Screenshot via abc27 sports
Friday night in the Eastern Conference finals of the OHL playoffs, the London Knights and Plymouth Whalers faced off in a game that London would win and eliminate the Whalers. On that Whalers team was Washington Capitals prospect, Tom Wilson.
After the loss, Wilson and teammate Connor Carrick were informed they were going to Chocolate town USA to join the Bears in their run at Calder Cup number 12.
HERSHEY, PA – Steve Oleksy waves to the crowd after making a surprise appearance to accept his Top Bears Defenseman award Sunday night (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
On a night when the Chocolate and White punched their ticket to the 2013 Calder Cup playoffs, the players also accepted their awards for their accomplishments in a Bears uniform this season.
Photo by Tim Stough
The Calder Cup Playoffs are finally here and the Hershey Bears Hockey Club for the eighth consecutive year will participate in the postseason dance. Beginning on April 26th, the Bears will kick off the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs with a first round, best of five series in Providence, Rhode Island.
Providence finished with the top record in the American Hockey League, capped a 50 win season and ended the campaign on nine game winning streak. Since hosting the annual AHL All-Star Classic in late January, the entire Bruins roster soon became stars of the league.