Blink, and you'll miss it. Next time you're at a hockey game, right after the national anthem, but moments before puck drop turn your attention to one of the two benches. You'll witness what's almost a circus act happening up…
As first reported by Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post, forward Nathan Walker will be placed on waivers with the intent to send him to the Hershey Bears if he is not claimed by another team.
Walker, 23, has played in only seven games for Washington this season and skated only 64 minutes all season.
As members of the Hershey Bears packed their equipment before heading home for the summer, five players prepared for free agency for the first time in their careers.
Travis Boyd, Nathan Walker, Liam O’Brien, Chandler Stephenson, and Christian Djoos are all set to become restricted free agents this summer. While typically restricted free agents are locks to be re-signed, due to the current standing of the Washington Capitals organization, no qualifying offer is promised this offseason.
The Hershey Bears’ 2016-17 season concluded on Wednesday evening with a 4-2 loss to the Providence Bruins in Game 7 of the Atlantic Division Finals. The Bears went down 3-1, and nearly came back, but stout defense from the Bruins kept Hershey off the board when they needed it most.
Chris Bourque celebrates his GWOTG against Providence Friday Thursday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in the Atlantic Divison Finals (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
Pheonix Copley has been a big story for the Hershey Bears this season. He was brought in at the trade deadline to give the team a chance to win games, and if that wasn’t evident at any point this season, it was on Thursday night. The Bears won Game 3 in Providence behind 39 saves from Copley and two goals from Chris Bourque propelled the Bears to a 2-1 victory over the Bruins in the second overtime in as many games. Hershey leads the series two games to one.
“We faced adversity many times this year, and we gotta go in and win a hockey game. Obviously, it’s not ideal what’s happened here the last couple days, but we’ve had success in [Lehigh Valley] the last three games…so we certainly can go win tomorrow.” Those were the words of Troy Mann following last night’s loss to the Phantoms at Giant Center, and the Bears responded by gutting out a 3-2 win on Sunday evening. Hershey advances to the second round where they will have home ice advantage against the Providence Bruins.
Stan Galiev and Ryan Bourque celebrate with Nathan Walker after Walker’s OTGWG to give Hershey the win in game one of the Atlantic Division semi-finals. (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
It took 67 minutes and 38 seconds, but the Hershey Bears were able to break a scoreless tie in overtime to take a 1-0 win in Game One of their first-round series in Lehigh Valley Friday night. Nathan Walker scored on a rebound of a Tyler Lewington shot to get Hershey the win in the extra session.
Back in February, I was tweeted a really cool video of some of our videos edited in a quick little video. After talking to the creator, @tmhjesslyn, she made a longer video with a ton of awesome clips. Now, she brings back some shorter edits, but with a few of your favorite players. First up: Riley Barber, Christian Thomas, Jakub Vrana, Nathan Walker, Aaron Ness, and Pheonix Copley
Three hours after the Bears got off the ice at Giant Center in their first practice after winter storm Stella dropped just over a foot of snow on Chocolate Town, the hopped back on with a very special group of kids. The American Special Hockey Association’s York Polar Bears and Hershey Heros teams joined some of the Hershey players for a skate Wednesday afternoon.
The Hershey Bears announced today that forward Nathan Walker will miss four to six weeks after sustaining a broken hand on Saturday.
