Welcome to the first ever Friday Mailbag on Chocolate Hockey. This is going to be a weekly Q&A section for you the fans to ask questions about the Bears. So without further ado, let’s jump right into the questions:
No matter what happens the rest of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs, at least one team will have a Hershey Bears connection in the finals. With the New York Islanders win tonight, each of the four teams in the Eastern Conference have some sort of Hershey Bears ties.
A Hershey Bears first will happen Wednesday night in Philadelphia. The first every matchup of two Hershey Bears goalies that played together on the same Bears Calder Cup team will face off in a Stanley Cup Playoff game. Michal Neuvirth and Braden Holtby, who played together on the 2009-10 Calder Cup team, will start for their respective teams in game four of the first round match-up between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals.
Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz during a game in 2015 at Hershey.
Sunday night, the Bears were handed only their second regulation loss in 2016 by the Providence Bruins. In attendance for the game was Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz. And as Trotz currently leads the Capitals to one of the best records in hockey history, his thoughts on the current Bears squad are very high.
“Obviously, I’m not going to judge the Bears on one game,” Trotz said after the game. “Just look at their body of work. I think they’ve been pretty consistent with both goaltenders, the defense has developed; they’ve got good leadership with [Mike] Moore and [Ryan] Stanton on the back.
The Washington Capitals have recalled Aaron Ness from Hershey the club announced Sunday afternoon. The 25-year-old defenseman had nine points in 21 games for Hershey this season, spending time on the first power play unit the last few games.
Ness was named 2008 Minnesota Mr. Hockey, and award given to the top senior high school hockey player in the state of Minnesota. He has been one of Hershey’s best defensemen to start the season, playing in 21 of Hershey’s 22 games, and losing a tooth in the process.
Patrick Wey looks on during a game in the 2013-14 season (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey, 2014)
After a second concussion suffered at the beginning of the 2014-15 season, Patrick Wey has chosen to retire from the game of hockey. On October 24th in a game against Lehigh Valley, Wey took a high to the head from Jay Rosehill, who would be suspended three games for the hit. This resulted in a consussion for Wey only three games into his season.
On Tuesday morning we were greeted with a news that Stan Galiev was recalled to the Washington Capitals. Galiev, who is having a career year, scoring 25 goals with 20 assists, including leading the AHL in power play goals. After grinding out the last two years spending time between the AHL and ECHL, struggling to stick in Hershey, the young star is getting his shot.
Photo: Kyle Mace
Dmitry Orlov finished his three game rehab stint with the Hershey Bears on Wednesday night. These were his first professional hockey games played in since May 2014 at the IIHF World Championships. Orlov broke his wrist after a collision into the boards during the series.
After a weekend stay in Hershey, goaltender Justin Peters was recalled by the Washington Capitals early Monday morning. Peters hasn’t seen any game action in over a month, since former Bear Braden Holtby has played in 23 consecutive games. The Caps decided to gave Peters a chance to get some of the rust off before returning to the NHL, where he is scheduled to start on Saturday against the Dallas Stars.
HERSHEY, PA – Nate Schmidt celebrates Casey Wellman’s goal in the second period of Hershey’s 3-1 win over Norfolk Saturday night (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
After spending the first three months of the 2014-15 hockey season in the NHL, Nate Schmidt returned to Hershey for the weekend home-and-home with Norfolk. The 23-year-old defenseman has been a healthy scratched a few game in a row recently for Washington, and as Caps coach Barry Trotz said before their game vs. Detroit today, they want to get “to get Schmitty more touches” in Hershey this weekend.