Bears Down Binghamton Devils

The Hershey Bears finished out the pre-Christmas portion of their season tonight at Giant Center on Saturday night in festive fashion, downing the Binghamton Devils, 5-2.

Travis Boyd book ended the Bears’ attack scoring their opening goal of the game at 6:54 of the first period, and finishing his multi-goal effort with their final goal at 12:12 of the final frame.

Riley Barber also contributed a multi-point effort, collecting a helper on a goal by Dustin Gazley, and then later registering his 100th AHL point by netting the game-winning goal.

Zach Sill struck for the Chocolate and White’s other goal, potting his second goal of the season, and his first at Giant Center since January 14, 2017.

Vitek Vanecek won his second straight start in net for the Bears, stopping 31-of-33 shots.

Johansen Adjusting Just Fine...Again

Adversity can come in many forms for a professional hockey player, and the challenge is to come out of the other side of those trying times stronger, and former Kelowna Rockets defenseman Lucas Johansen, for whom the sky is the limit as far as how high he can soar in his professional hockey career, taking them in stride, facing them down and coming out better on the other side has been a way of life throughout his career, and has continued this season in his first season in the pro ranks with the Hershey Bears.

Being the younger brother of NHL star Ryan Johansen, currently a member of the Nashville Predators, and a former 2010 first round draft pick, 4th overall, of the Columbus Blue Jackets via the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks, means that Lucas always has, and always will be, compared to his older brother.

Lucas and Ryan, 2016 NHL Entry Draft. All
photos courtesy russianmachineneverbreaks.com

"Growing up, he set a pretty high standard for me, which was tough adversity at first, but I learned how to deal with it and learned that him playing in the NHL had a lot of benefits for me," said Lucas, a first round draft pick himself, selected 28th overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2016 NHL Draft.

Lucas continued, "I took it in stride and did the best I could with the situation and hopefully one day we will eventually get to compete against each other at the top level and that’s exciting. He definitely taught me a lot over the years, and if we were compared it didn’t matter, he was all for me, and I was happy that he was there."

Johansen's Rockets career got off to a flaming start in the 2104-15 WHL season, when the "Kids from Kelowna", aided by Lucas' eight points and plus-20 rating, captured the WHL title, but ultimately fell just short of capturing the Memorial Cup, falling to the Oshawa Generals, coached by former Bears defenseman D.J. Smith in heartbreaking, overtime fashion.

A second season in Kelowna resulted in a second head coach for Johansen, former Bear Brad Ralph, but despite the coaching change he posted career highs in goals (10), assists (39), and points (49), and the Capitals took note and selected him later that summer in Buffalo in his first year of draft eligibility, with Ryan on hand for the festivities.

So, after solidifying himself as a standout WHL defenseman in his sophomore season by posting outstanding numbers, having been selected by the Caps, therefor knowing where his NHL future was going to be spent, one would think that maybe season three in the Orchard City would be a smooth, peachy ride, but a third coach in as many season awaited Johansen when former NHLer Jason Smith was hired to steer the Rockets' ship just two weeks after the draft. 

Smith, who captained the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers over the course of his NHL career which consisted of 15 seasons and over 1,000 games played, certainly could identify with Johansen, although thanks to being removed from the WHL for such a long period of time due to his extensive playing career as well as a two year stint as an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators limited his exposure to both the league and the Port Moody, B.C. native.

But that's not to say that he didn't or couldn't identify with Johansen's situation. Like Johansen, Smith also played in the WHL, spending three seasons with the Regina Pats, like Johansen, he was also a defenseman, and finally he knew all about the pressures of being a first round draft pick who was selected after his second season in the WHL, having experienced the same situation in 1992 when the New Jersey Devils chose him.

"After I took the position I spent time watching video and asking questions about his game, and how he could be a factor for our team. Coming to a new spot and coming from pro hockey back to junior hockey I didn’t know a whole lot about the Rockets and all the players, but I spent time in the summer watching their games and talking to the assistant coaches who were here and still here to this day. I tried to learn as much as I could about him as a player, what positives he had in his game, and what things we might need to work on."

Smith continued, "From the start of the year he had a huge role on our team, whether it was defending, being on the power play, or being relied upon to be a puck mover. He also played against quality players on the opposition every night and was relied upon each night to not only defend, but to provide offense by being involved in the offensive zone and getting pucks to the net."

Fully capitalizing on the unique opportunity presented to him last season, Johansen excelled under the watchful eye of Smith, combining his abundance of natural talent with the wealth of experience and hockey knowledge that Smith possesses to nearly match his offensive totals from the previous season, while at the same time refining his defensive game, as evidenced by his doubling of his previous season's plus/minus rating.

"We had those three coaches in three years, which is also more adversity that people sometimes forget about, but my time there was awesome," said Johansen, reflecting fondly upon his career with the Rockets. "They have such a high standard there and there are so many great people throughout the organization who work so hard and strive to do their best to help the players move on, with Jason in particular. I remember the first practice that I had, he gave me a tip that I’ll always remember, and that told me right away that he had some good intel. It was a tip that only a 15-year NHL vet would have up his sleeve kind of thing.”

It takes an attentive student, one who is willing to learn, to make a teacher look good. The student has to possess excellent listening skills, with the ability to absorb the words and then take what he has heard from his mentor and apply them to excel and avoid the potholes that can be avoided by drawing upon the words and experiences that his mentor encountered, and that's a lesson that Smith learned early in his pro career, and it's one that he passed on to Johansen.

"There are certain things that are really important to allow yourself the opportunity to play at the highest level. I think me having the having the experience of being a player at the National League level, and going through all of the steps of developing along the way, when you speak to players and you’re trying to give them direction, I think they have an understanding that you’ve experienced it and obviously not one player is exactly the same, but the information that you give is about trying to get them to the next level and allow them to have the most success they can."

Smith continued, "I think anytime along the way when you’re a player, and I can speak to this, as I was lucky enough to have Larry Robinson in New Jersey when I first came into the league. The knowledge that I took in from him in my three, three and a half years with him was as much as I learned all the way coming up playing hockey. You can rely on people who have experience and have gone through the stages of being a player in that league. Lucas was very coachable and he wanted to get better and prove that he could be a real dominant player in our league."

On the hockey ladder, the step from the junior level to the professional level is only one rung up, but when a rookie, even one as highly touted as Johansen takes that step, there are guaranteed to be positive moments, and then those not so positive moments, and it didn't take long for Johansen to experience his first "minus moment".

In the Bears' season opener, he was on the ice for a goal against less than three minutes into the contest, and it didn't get any better as the game progressed as the rookie rearguard finished the contest with a minus-4 rating, and it also didn't get much better in the following four games, after which he found himself sporting a minus-8 rating, and then found himself out of the lineup in game six.

'We didn’t sit him based on play," said Hershey assistant coach Reid Cashman, who works with the club's rearguards. "It’s just that we had a lot of young defensemen and there was almost a rotation going on. Connor Hobbs (a former Regina Pat) sat out a game, and then some injuries happened."

Undoubtedly sitting out as a healthy scratch for the first time is a moment of awakening, there is potential for the player to sulk and spin further into a downward spiral, but if approached the right way, both by the coaching staff and the player, it can turn into a learning opportunity where the player gets to rest, watching the game from the vantage point of the press box, and exercise, and Johansen did both.

"It happens to everybody, right? For example, our captain was scratched this year too, and that’s no shot at him at all. I’m not going to let it get me down or let it bug me or anything. They were very clear on why it happening and I used it to get a great workout in, because for me it’s about gaining as much strength as I can. I was able to get in a good quality workout that day and it’s all part of the journey. So I had no problems with it."

Johansen has responded in a most positive way since sitting out, finding himself in the lineup every night, finding his name on the good side of the plus/minus column on most nights, and often finding his name in the goal scoring column, including his first pro goal, which was netted exactly one week after the benching.

"Lucas has continued to get better week in and week out. He works his butt off every day in practice, and he’s taken the initiative to continuously get better,", said Cashman. "He has great poise and a high hockey IQ, and he's found a level of urgency. What he's really good at is slowing the game down. We had to find a way to speed the game up so he could slow it down, if you know what I mean. He’s found that sense of urgency to play fast, and then let his natural instincts take over when there's time to make a play."

For the majority of the season, Johansen's defensive partner, or "right hand man", has been another former WHL alumnus, Tyler Lewington (Medicine Hat Tigers). To say that Lewington's style of play and Johansen's style of play are different would be a huge understatement.

Yet, despite their contrasting styles, with Lewington being a bruising, in your face contact type of defender who never met a collision that he didn't like, with an underrated offensive side, and a skating stride that can be characterized as something less than smooth, and Johansen being an elusive type of player, who describes himself as a "smooth skating defenseman who has good poise with the puck, who can produce offensively by either joining or leading the rush, and uses his stick well defensively", the distinctly different duo proved to be a near perfect pairing, but some recent roster moves have broken the pair up.

"We like that Lewie is a very stabilizing force for Lucas both on the ice and in between shifts.  They work well together and have good chemistry, but with Aaron Ness coming down that has changed some things, and we've moved him over on the right side with (Hubert) Labrie,", said Cashman, "With the way our lineup is now we have four lefties in it, and Lucas played right D all last year in juniors, so we feel very comfortable with him on the right side. But we try to make our D pairs as interchangeable as possible to set us up for later in the year, and a recent example of that was the game the other night when we down, and Lucas and Colby Williams (another former Regina Pat) got shifts together to try and create some offense."

"We have different styles of play for sure,” said Johansen, discussing his pairing with Lewington. "He’s definitely a lot more hard-nosed than I am and a lot more physical, and he can also make great plays. I think we complement each other pretty well. We were joking that he’s one of the vets on the team even though he’s only had two years at the pro level. He’s a great guy to play with and he’s also a great communicator, and that makes my life easy out there on the ice."

It's very easy to get consumed by the numbers, and forget the fact that young rookies like Johansen are in a mighty struggle as they take the first steps in the infancy of their professional careers.

If it wasn't enough that they are challenged almost on a daily basis by any number of factors, such as fatigue, their veteran teammates, a coach, or an intimidating foe in or near the rink, in an environment that they are familiar with, there is also that added factor that most of them, and Johansen is no exception, are also adjusting to a new life in a different environment, the kitchen, far away from home and family.

"It’s definitely different,” said Johansen, who recently turned 20, and celebrated the occasion by scoring a goal on the eve of his birthday. "Even when I was in Kelowna, I was only four and a half hour drive away from home, and now I’m almost on the Eastern seaboard. On the ice, you definitely notice that the speed is up and your time and space is limited, everything is a level up from the CHL. But the most change is off the ice, in terms of I’ve got to figure out how to cook now, which is easier said than done, he laughed. “But it’s fun, it’s a new process for me, a new challenge, and I’m enjoying it thus far."

Bears Wallop Wolfpack

Buoyed by second period strikes from Zach Sill and Mason Mitchell, and a spectacular 27-save effort in net from Vitek Vanecek, the Hershey Bears bounced the Hartford Wolfpack on Saturday night at XL Center, 4-1 , reaching the .500 mark (9-9-0-2) for the second time this season with the victory.

Mathias Bau started the scoring for the Bears, beating Wolfpack starting netminder Chris Nell with a long range wrist shot at 3:18 of the first period. Hampus Gustafsson picked up the primary assist on the Bau goal, his first helper of the season, and defenseman Hubert Labrie picked up the secondary assist.

Riley Barber gave the visitors a 2-0 lead with 1:33 left in the stanza, potting his 5th of the season with assists going to Lucas Johansen and Dustin Gazley.

Sill struck with the Bears in shorthanded mode 7:08 in the second, with Labrie registering the lone helper. Sill’s strike was the 50th of his AHL career.

Mitchell managed his first red light of the season at 15:04 of the session, streaking down the left wing and launching a laser of a shot that eluded Nell, and ended his night as well.

Vanecek, who surrendered four goals on only twelve shots in his season debut on November 12, at Giant Center against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, was stellar all night, making several spectacular stops before Adam Tambellini spoiled his shutout bid with only 2:47 left in regulation time.

Notes- Labrie, who played in his 300th AHL contest in the Bears’ game Wednesday against Springfield, and skated in his 90th as a Bear in this encounter, posted his first multi-point effort in a Hershey uniform with his two assist effort...Sill’s shorty was the Bears’ third of the season, third struck on the road, and the clubs’ first since October 27…Barber’s GWG was his first of the season...The Bears were 0-for-3 on the power play, yet won for the first time on the road this season when not registering an extra strength tally.  

Bruins Best Bears to Split Weekend Series

The Providence Bruins stopped the Hershey Bears’ three game road winning streak on Sunday afternoon at Dunkin’ Donuts Center, prevailing by a 4-1 margin.

Liam O’Brien, who has managed to stay off the penalty side of the scoresheet (no PIM’s) and find his way on the scoring side since returning from the NHL’s Washington Capitals, netted the Bears’ only goal of the game and his 3rd marker of the season with his club on the power play at 11:23 of the first period.

Hershey netminder Pheonix Copley, who entered the game unbeaten on the season (5-0-0-1), stopped 16 shots in suffering his first setback of the season,. He also contributed to his own demise by turning the puck over in his own crease shortly after the opening faceoff, with his faux pas leading to an easy unassisted goal by Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson at the 1:43 mark of the first period. 

Notes- Hershey defenseman Tyler Lewington served a minor penalty in the game, marking the 14^th game of the 17 that he has played this season he has visited the “sin bin”…Chris Bourque added to his league leading point total by collecting the secondary assist on O’Brien’s goal…Hershey’s one-goal offensive output was the 5^th time this season that they have scored a goal or less in a game (1 shutout). 

Bears Bruise Bruins

The Hershey Bears traveled north on Friday night to battle the Providence Bruins and escaped the Dunkin’ Donuts Center with a 3-1 victory. With the triumph, head coach Troy Mann’s 140^th as the Bears’ bench boss, the Bears moved their record north of the .500 mark for the first time this season (8-7-0-2).

The Bears wasted little time finding the scoreboard, beating Providence netminder Zane McIntyre for the first time only 2:22 into the affair, when Riley Barber, potting his 4th goal of the season, struck on the power play. Liam O’Brien and Chris Bourque, the former P-Bruin, assisted on the strike.

Barber was back on the scoresheet a few minutes later, collecting the secondary assist on Mathias Bau’s 4^th goal at 5:57, giving the Bears a 2-0 lead. Tyler Graovac, in his 2^nd game with the Bears on a long term conditioning assignment picked up the primary assist on the goal.

A little over halfway through the 2^nd period, Bau was back in the goal scoring column again. Benefiting from an outstanding individual effort by Anthony Peluso, who controlled the puck along the boards, before dishing a pretty pass to Bau, who then cruised down the slot unimpeded before ripping a wrist shot by McIntyre at 12:19. Mason Mitchell picked up the secondary assist on the goal, collecting his first professional point.

The Bears and their capable keeper Pheonix Copley, carried a 3-0 shutout lead into the third period, but for the 16^th time in 17 games, they allowed a goal in the final frame, this one to Justin Hickman.

However, Hickman’s goal was the only one that Copley would allow, as the North Pole, Alaska native finished the night with 31 saves, raising his record on the season to 5-0-0-1.

Tyler Graovac’s empty-net goal at 19:54, the Bears’ third empty-netter of the season, assisted by Dustin Gazley and Bau, finished out the scoring. 

Bears Comeback Crack's Crunch

The Hershey captured their first victory when trailing entering the third period last night at Giant Center against the Syracuse Crunch, and in the process improved their record (7-7-0-2) to the .500 mark for the second time this season.

Jeremy Langlois started the comeback just 27 seconds into the third, gathering in the puck at the right point before coasting down to the top of the faceoff circle and launching a slapshot that caromed by Crunch keeper Connor Ingram. Langlois' lamp lighting was his second of the season, and the 40th of his AHL career.

Chris Bourque, cruising down the left wing, collected a precise cross-ice pass from Wayne Simpson, and then launched a wicked wrister by Ingram to give the Bears their first lead of the event at 4:05. Bourque's goal was the 250th of his pro career, his 185th as a Bear, and the 225th of his AHL career. 

The Crunch tied the game less than three minutes later on a goal by Alexander Volkov, but another goal by Bourque, once again assisted by Simpson, gave the Bears a lead they would not relinquish at 12:55. 

Lucas Johansen added an unassisted, empty-net goal at 19:51, giving the Bears the final margin of victory at 4-2. 

Notes: The win was the first of the season attained by the Bears when they failed to scored on the power play...The Bears have scored two empty-net goals in their last four games...Pheonix Copley captured the win in net for the Bears, stopping 20 shots to improve his season record to 4-0-0-1...Copley has allowed a total six goals against in his last 4 outings, after allowing six, all in the same period, in his first appearance of the season in Rochester.

Bears Struggling to Succeed 

Thus far the Hershey Bears’ 2017-18 season can be summed up in three words, surging and struggling.

Training camp injuries to both last season’s number one and number two goalies, Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek, both unforeseen when camp started, meant that bench boss Troy Mann’s charges, already thin in the defensive area, would be stretched even further without the services of that talented tandem for a few weeks.

“Everybody knows that Copley had a pretty significant injury in game four of the Providence series (an injury that shelved him for the remainder of the playoffs), but he came into training camp and everything was great, but unfortunately at the end of camp he tweaked that same injury. They wanted to make sure they got it right, there was no surgery involved in the summer, but we had to be very patient in order to get him back to 100%. As for Vitek, it was just a tough luck kind of injury. He pulled his hamstring in the first preseason game in Jersey and once I got back to Hershey, Dr. Black pretty much said hamstring injuries are a minimum of six weeks, and sure enough it was just over six weeks before he was healthy enough for us to send him down to South Carolina to get a couple of rehab starts in.”

With Parker Milner and rookie Adam Carlson trusted to “tend the twine”, backed up by the relatively inexperienced blueline bunch, the Bears struggled from the start, beginning with a sizable 7-2 road setback at the hands of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, an encounter in which goaltender Milner was victimized for six goals. That was followed up by a pair of home ice losses, one in regulation and one in a shootout to the Phantoms, and just like that the Bears found themselves without a win in three ties to open their historic 80^th American Hockey League campaign.   

“First and foremost, I don’t know how many AHL or NHL teams for that matter could survive without their number one or number two goalies, so that certainly played a major factor.  We were hoping to have Copley and Vanecek to start the season, knowing that we were going in with three rookies on the blueline, and actually that turned into four when Madison Bowey only lasted one game (before being called up to the Washington Capitals due to an injury on the Caps’ defense) . That all combined to play a part in It”, said Mann, whose club was winless in their first four outings of the season.

Mann continued, “Adam Carlson was certainly a pleasant surprise in terms of the couple of starts that he got, but there were some inconsistencies in Parker Milner’s game, mixed that with seven or eight rookies on the roster, specifically on the back end, and we knew there were going to be some growing pains.”

Like many other AHL coaches, Mann has lamented over the years about the abundance of games his club has against division rivals, but he had to be happy when we peered closely into the Bears’ schedule when it was released this past summer. Sure, it was still dotted with frequent appearances against Keystone State neighbors the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, but it also featured a three game early season Midwest road swing to Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, and Rockford, and the freedom of the road, although it only paid off with one win, in Grand Rapids, Mann says his club benefited in tangible ways from the experience.

“It was a very difficult road trip as it was basically three games in two and a half days with time changes and some tough travel. But we were able to get in there two days early, with the big amount of rookies on the team, and do some team bonding and get in some practices. I think that any time that you are able to do those things as a team, especially when you have a lot of new guys, it’s important. I still think that even though we only won one game on the trip, I think that trip played a big part in getting our guys together.”

After returning home from the Midwest trip, the Bears suffered another tough setback, on the road against the baby Pens. But, that was followed up by a pair of home ice wins, and the Bears’ fortunes appeared to be changing with the back-to-back wins, and the prospect of Copley returning to action in the next game, a road outing against the Rochester Americans.

In Rochester, the Bears bolted out to 3-0 lead, and Copley, who was perfect in the first period in his return to action, but in the middle stanza, he succumbed to six goals in a 19-shot barrage, and that left Mann with a bit of a dilemma.

“Anytime you have multiple pucks going in in one period, whether it’s to change the momentum or because of indifferent play it (pulling the goalie) always goes through your mind.  But he had missed some significant time, and hadn’t played a game in about five weeks, and I thought it was important that he fight through it, and he did (allowing no goals in the remainder of regulation and overtime).  I didn’t want to pull him and then have him travel five hours back to Hershey and start the next night.  My message to the team after the second period was that we could win the game 7-6, I just felt it was one of these games, and we were able to get two goals in the third before losing the shootout, which is pretty much a crapshoot.”

Mann added, “We also had a three-in-three that weekend, and we had a plan in place to get him in two games, and if not, we were actually going to play him one, and give Carlson and Vitek one as well.” 

Copley has followed up the rocky Rochester outing with three straight wins, allowing only a total four goals in the process.

Vanecek, on the other hand, had an easy night in his AHL season debut on November 12 against the baby Pens at Giant Center, easy at least in the fact that he only faced a total of twelve shots. But the rust in his armor from the injury showed, as he managed only eight saves in suffering a defeat that saw the Bears score just one goal in support of him.

The Bears offense is best characterized by the “surging and struggling” saying. Nearly half of the clubs 40 non-shootout goals this season (18, or 45%), have been scored on the power play, and when that extra man unit is surging and they strike at least once on the power play, they are 6-3-0-2 and score an average of 3.36 goals per game, but when they fail to strike with the extra man, they have yet to a win a game, going 0-4, and scoring only a total of four goals in those contests.

“It’s absolutely a concern”, said Mann, in response to whether his team’s reliance on the power play is worrisome. “Our skill set this year is certainly not as deep as in years past, especially when you compare it to two years ago when an influx of rookies came in like (Travis) Boyd and (Riley) Barber and those types of players turned pro. We’ve talked about it, and obviously we’d like to generate some more five-on-five goals, as it forces your special teams have to be good on a night-to-night basis, unlike last year when we could get by on nights when the power play wasn’t on.”

“If you look at the league numbers, we are in the top ten on both special teams units, and I think for us to continue to have success that’s going to have to continue. Last year I think we finished second in scoring in general, and that was also the case the year before, but I just don’t see our team, the way it’s currently constructed, I don’t see that continuing this year. Our scoring has been primarily coming from four of five guys, as evidenced by multiple forwards on the team with pretty low numbers, and that’s just the way it is right now, but it’s still early.”

Series Questions

Will iron man Travis Boyd, who played has played in every Hershey game including the playoffs dating back to the beginning of last season, find his offensive game in this series?

If Boyd, who failed to score and registered only 2 shots in the Lehigh Valley series, both in game three, finds his offensive game in this series, that certainly bolsters the Bears' chances of conquering the Bruins. However, there is certainly a bit of cause for concern, when considering the fatigue factor, and the fact the Boyd has not found the score sheet in eight games dating back to the regular season. A check back to last seasons Calder Cup Playoff stats for the Minnesota native reveals that he only put 22 pucks on net in 21 outings and only lit the lamp twice, but both of his markers were game winners, including the OT goal in game seven against the pesky Penguins from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the second round that propelled the Bears on to the next series.

When will Jakub Vrana return to the lineup, and will he be effective when he ultimately does?

There is no doubt that Vrana, a former 1st round pick of the Capitals who played in 21 regular seasons with the Caps this season in addition to the 49 games he appeared in with the Bears, is a prized prospect who possesses superior talent and has the ability to be a game changer, even in the post-season. Last spring with the Bears in 21 contests, he finished with 14 points, which tied him 5th in league scoring, and his 8 goals led the club, but his inconsistent play, which was also a factor in the regular season leading to a couple of occasions where he was a healthy scratch, resurfaced in the first 3 games against Lehigh Valley, earning him a spot in the press box as a healthy scratch for the final 2 games of the series.

Which team will win the special teams battle?

The Bruins led the league in the first round in power play goals (6) and power play efficiency (27.3%) in their opening round duel with the baby Pens, but in 6 regular season outings against the Bears that consisted of 16 chances, they were able to strike only once on the power play.

On the other hand, the Bears' late regular season power outage, which saw them register only 3 goals on 31 opportunities in the final 10 games (9.7%), continued in their opening round win over the Lehigh Valley as the unit failed to put a charge into Phantoms' penalty kill during their 13 chances.

It should be noted however, that the Bears' post-season success is not totally dependent on a successful power play. During last years quest for the Calder Cup, which consisted of 21 games and saw them advance to the finals only to be slayed by the Lake Erie Monsters, the Chocolate and White netted only 10 extra man goals and never netted more than one in any game.

Which Stan Galiev will show up?

Galiev, a gifted goal scorer, finished the regular season with 21 goals, but also finished it in quite the scoring slump, failing to light the red light in his last 14 outings and collecting only 4 assists in the process . However, 5 of Galiev's 21 goals were scored at the expense of the Bruins, including a pair of multi-goal efforts, and he led the Bears in scoring against the P-Bruins in the regular season by posting 7 points (5+2).

Once the post-season started, the regular season woes have become nothing but a memory for the native of Russia. He paced the Bears' conquest of the Phantoms with a team leading 5 points, including the secondary assist on Nathan Walker's overtime winner in the series opener, and has potted a goal in 3 separate games, and each of his markers have been the Bears' first of the game.

Who will come out on top in the goaltending match-up between two of the AHL's top goaltenders, Providence's Zane McIntyre and Hershey's Pheonix Copley?

During the regular season, each of the net-minders registered 20+ wins, with McIntyre managing 21 wins in 31 apperances, and Copley coming out on top in 26 of his 41 appearances, including one victory at the expense of the Bruins in his only outing against them. Each of the keepers also finished in the top ten in save percentage with McIntyre's .930 leading the league, and Copley compiling a combined .924 with Chicago and Hershey.

In their clubs' opening round victories, both McIntyre and Copley continued their stellar work between the pipes. Both have played 306-plus minutes, and once again McIntyre's (.936) save percentage tops Copley's (.933), but Copley can boast of owning the only shutout between his goaltending counterpart, and he has also allowed one less goal against.

Chris Bourque's Playoff Conquests

List of goalies Chris Bourque has scored on in his AHL playoff career:

1- **Philipp Grubauer- 6 Hershey
2- **Justin Peters- 4 Albany
3- **Jonathan Bernier- 3 Manchester
4- **John Curry- 2 WBS
5- Casey DeSmith- 2 WBS
6- **Tuukka Rask- 2 Providence
7- **Jeff Zatkoff- 2 WBS
8- **Adam Berkhoel- 1 WBS
9- **Antoine Bibeau- 1 Toronto
10- Alex Lyon- 1 Lehigh Valley
11- **Mike McKenna- 1 Portland
12- Martin Ouellette- 1 Lehigh Valley
13- **Carey Price- 1 Hamilton
14- **Cory Schneider- 1 Manitoba
15- **Jeremy Smith- 1 Providence
16- **Tyler Weiman- 1 Albany
Empty Net- 1

**=Played in NHL

Gilbert's Guile A Definite Plus for Bears

By: John Sparenberg

When defenseman Tom Gilbert joined the Washington Capitals organization in a February trade from the Los Angeles Kings organization for future considerations, the move was viewed as a depth move down the road for the Capitals, who were looking to add to their roster for the playoffs should an emergency situation arise that called for a veteran like Gilbert, who has skated in more then 700 games a pro, including 655 in the National Hockey League.

But the move brought immediate relief to the Hershey Bears' blueline when Gilbert was immediately assigned to the club, adding a solid defensive presence, with an offensive touch to their young, weary defensive corps. At time of the deal, the Bears sported an impressive 25-14-8-3 record, yet a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs was anything but solidified, as the defense/goaltending began to buckle, in part due to the loss of minutes eating defenseman Madison Bowey to injury on December 28th. In the 20 games after Bowey went down, the Bears went a respectable 8-8-3-1, but at one point won only once in 10 outings, getting outscored 47-24 in the process.

"It was a good opportunity for me out in LA, but it just didn’t work out. When things don’t work out, just getting out there is probably the best thing any player can do. Landing a spot in this organization, and Washington is obviously number one in the league, and Hershey was I think 6th in this league (at the time of the trade). To get a chance to maybe get an opportunity to play up there, or play down here for a minor league team that was doing really well was really a no-brainer for me, and the trade worked out really well", said Gilbert.

Bears bench boss Troy Mann, who has been around the game a long time, is fully aware that the needs of his club have to be in line with the needs of the parent Caps before they pull the trigger on a trade, had to be breathing a huge sigh of relief when he learned that they heard his concerns and eventually closed the deal that brought Gilbert to central Pennsylvania.

“Two of the biggest areas I was hoping we could improve on in the second half was to acquire a top-four defenseman to replace Bowey’s minutes, said Bears' bench boss, Troy Mann, earlier this month. "It’s difficult to replace a 20-25 minute defenseman on a long-term basis. You can do it on a short-term basis, but to replace a guy like that is impossible. We were hoping the Caps could address that, and they did. It took some time because it’s difficult to make trades nowadays. It’s not easy to find the right guy", said Mann, of Gilbert an 11-year pro who, prior to this season, had not played in the AHL since his rookie campaign with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the 2006-2007 season.

Mann continued, “We preferred a right-handed shot to replace Bowey (who is also a right shot). Gilbert gives us a veteran presence back there. He’s a puck mover, and that fits into how we play. He enjoys the style of hockey that we play, and he’s been great in the room with the young guys. He’s giving us some quality hockey, and he’s a real good fit.”

A new team and a new organization always brings on a learning curve, and that's true of any player, even one possessing the abundance of experience of Gilbert.

In his first six games with the Bears, the club went 3-3 and Gilbert sported a solid +/- rating of +2, but he was only able to chip in a single assist on the offensive side. However, starting with the Bears' win at Syracuse on March 3rd, a game in which he scored the first goal of the game, and continuing through the end of the regular season, in 19 games, the Minnesota native was +10, and registered 12 points (3g, 9a), as he fit smoothly into what he confirmed is unique to him, the Bears' system.

"They are very much about puck possession in every single zone, especially in the offensive zone. If we get outshot in a game it’s not a big deal, and this is the first time that I’ve been on a team like that, where they’re not forcing shots on you and for a great reason too", said Gilbert, whose last two goals of the regular season where both scored at precisely the same time, 4:49 into the scond period.

Gilbert continued, "They want us to have the puck and wear teams down and they want us to have great shots in good spots on the ice. That’s been the biggest thing, the biggest chance since I got here, and obviously as an offensive guy like me it’s great. You’re allowed to lug the puck and it gives you a better feel for the game. Yeah, there are a lot of times you could probably shoot the puck, especially coming down the stretch and this playoff run and in the playoffs, you can watch it on TV now and goals are going in from everywhere and everyone’s shooting. But, you still have to have that mentality of just holding onto the puck and trying to wear teams down."

A lot has changed in the game of hockey since Gilbert's rookie season with the baby Pens, where he was actually property of the Edmonton Oilers at the time, as the Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins shared an affilaition, and Gilbert gives a unique observation on what changes his eyes see in the AHL now, 10 years later.

"Both in the AHL in the NHL, you just see better players. I think the game has gotten faster first of all and you can see that down here. There’s plenty of guys that given the opportunity to go play up top would fit right in. The skillset down here is great, there are guys that make the exact same plays that you see up in the NHL..".

As the Bears prepare to take on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs, there will be few surprises for either team, thanks to the clubs clashing 12 times in the regular season, and although Gilbert only played in the last three of those dozen duels, he was lightning quick offering up an answer as to what the Bears have to guard against in the series.

"That’s an easy one, it’s their transition game. They are a very offensive team and they just kind of wait for their moments. When they get it, they are fast and they know how to score goals. For us, it’s going to be about how we control the puck and where we are positionally. We can’t be just flying around the ice because this team is just waiting for a turnover and they are gone.."

BEARS COUNTING ON COPLEY

By John Sparenberg

As the calendar year of 2016 closed out, the Hershey Bears seemingly had little to worry about in securing a spot in the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs. Entering their New Year's Eve outing at Giant Center against the Providence Bruins, the Bears sported a spiffy 18-6-5-2 after collecting points in eight of their previous ten outings, scoring 40 goals in the process, while their goaltending duo of veteran Joe Cannata, and rookie Vitek Vanecek, allowed a very respectable 26 goals against during that ten-game span.

But the Bruins bested Vanecek and the Bears in that outing, 4-1, and that started a disturbing ten-game spiral. Including the Providence game, and during the ensuing nine contests, the Bears’ offense sputtered as they registered but 24 lamp lightings, but more concerning were the struggles of the goaltenders, who combined to be beaten 47 times in the span..

Cannata, whose save percentage was never spectacular all season long, but whose win total was inflated by an abundance of offense during most of his earlier starts, started to stop making the big saves when the club needed them most, and Vanecek, who had pretty much battled Cannata for the number one goaltending slot up until this point, started to finally experience the typical rookie struggles that were to be expected of him as he grew up in the league. All totaled, the Bears managed just one regulation win during the ten tilts and suffered six regulation losses, including a combined five costly setbacks at the hands of division foes.

With the Bears fortunes having seen their seeding in the standings head south, and their record in their last ten one-goal outings in January and February resulting in just two regulation victories in the close encounters, the winds of change began blowing with a light breeze from the South. This resulted in journeyman netminder Parker Milner, who was having an outstanding season with the Bears' ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays, being summoned to Hershey as the organization attempted to alleviate the goaltending ailments from within. But after a strong start that saw Milner allow a combined six goals in his first three starts, all wins, he allowed five goals in his next two outings, a relief stint that saw him allow only one goal, but one that turned out to be the game winner, and an abbreviated start that saw him allow 4 goals in 21 minutes of action in a game the Bears eventually dropped 4-3.

So with the search renewed for a reliable netminder who could be counted on to come through and make the big save in the pivotal remaining games in this season, the light breeze became a prevailing wind, emanating from the westerly direction, specifically the "Windy City,” and the "Gateway to the West" as the Bears/Capitals reacquired former Bear, Pheonix Copley, who was playing for the Chicago Wolves and was property of the St. Louis Blues at the trading deadline.

Bears' head coach, Troy Mann, who has to be elated that the Caps answered the signs of distress from his club down on the farm as far as their goaltending situation was concerned, said he has "no inputs in trades, the organization takes care of that.”

"There’s no doubt that the communication has been wide open with the Caps. They were trying to upgrade their #3 hole, not only for us to compete in our division, but also in case of injury up top. They were talking to four or five teams, I believe, trying to get an upgrade at that position. Just happened that St. Louis was one of those teams, and that’s where he came from. As far as my input, certainly no, but I knew they were trying to upgrade the position.”

Copley, 25, is a native of North Pole, Alaska, but was born in Fairbanks for a very good reason-- there were no hospitals in North Pole, which is just outside of Fairbanks. He began his career with the Bears in the 2014-2015 season, which was also Mann's first season behind the Bears' bench as their head coach. During his strong rookie campaign in which he appeared in 26 games, probably a few more than he was intended to, he accumulated 17 victories, including posting three shutouts, and was first in the league among rookie goaltenders in save percentage and goals against average while helping the Bears to a first place finish in the East Division.

"We had Philip Grubauer that year, too, and we wanted to manage Copley’s game. We wanted to manage him and wanted him to work with Scott Murray (Hershey’s goaltending coach) as much as he could. We were going to pick his games strategically in terms of who he was going to play against, and we were able to do that for the most part. Grubauer had spent some time up in Washington, especially the second half, when they didn’t have quite the confidence in Justin Peters."

Mann continued, "So, Copley started to get a lot more game action in that second half, and he even started in the first two games of the playoffs against Worcester. We certainly had a plan of attack when the season started in October in terms of how we were going to handle him, but things ultimately changed. We were trying to do that same thing with Vanecek this year, but it just didn’t work out that way in terms of being able to manage his games the way we had hoped prior to when the season started."

During his two seasons away from the Bears, Copley primarily patrolled the pipes for the Blues' top affiliate the Chicago Wolves, but made two appearances with the Blues, including his NHL debut, a period-plus relief effort against the Nashville Predators on February 27, 2016.

The Wolves, who were the Bears' opponents in the first ever playoff game contested at Giant Center during the 2003 Calder Cup Playoffs, have had a strong Hershey flavor in their front office for years with Wendell Young, who backstopped the Bears to a perfect 12-0 post-season record when they captured the Calder Cup in 1988, continuing to serve as the clubs General Manager, and Gene Ubriaco, a Hershey legend, also continuing to serve in his longtime role as the teams Senior Advisor/Director of Hockey Operations.

However, this season that Hershey flavor became a little more intense; well, actually way more intense. when Craig Berube, who started his professional career with the Bears in the 1986-87 season, when he accumulated a career high 325 minutes in penalty minutes, which by today's standards is a career total for many players, but wasn't even enough to lead the AHL back in that era that season, took over behind the Wolves' bench as their head coach. Under Berube's watch, Copley compiled an impressive 15-6-3-1 record, which is impressive in itself, but a closer look into his numbers is even more impressive, as he allowed one goal or less in five outings, and two goals or less in 16 contests

In addition to his time spent "tending the twine" for the Wolves, Copley finally made his NHL starting debut against the Winnipeg Jets four days before his 25th birthday, and although it was in a losing effort in which he allowed five goals, he did make 24 saves, and three of his best came against former Bear Mathieu Perreault. He shouldered away a slapshot by "Perry" in the first period, used every inch of his 6'4” torso to fully extend his left pad and deny Perreault from the doorstep in the second period, and finished up the game in fine form by making a late third period glittering glove save on Perreault, who was captured on video looking into the rafters in disbelief after being denied.

"It was unfortunate we didn’t get the win, but St. Louis gave me good opportunities there, and it was a dream come true to get a start in the NHL. I’m going to build off of that and work for the next one."

As good as he has been in his AHL career, Copley has given up his shares of goals against and has the occasional bad game, but those are occupational hazards for any 'keeper, regardless of their abilities, but to his credit, he has honed his ability to put the last goal quickly behind him, at least until the next video session, and focus on preventing the next puck he sees in the game lighting the red lamp behind him.

“When you give up a goal, you really don’t want to think about it. You have to have a short memory, and realize it happened, but forget about it for the rest of the game. After the games can see what happened and see what you may have done differently and what you can improve on and you can work on that in practice. But in the heat of the game, you again have to have that short memory and move past the goals right away.”

Since coming back to the Bears, Copley has for the most part, been predictably stellar. He allowed only a single goal against in his return to the lineup in Syracuse, but, did not finish the game, leaving in the third period after going down awkwardly, apparently injured, and then being helped off the ice. That scene undoubtedly caused a lot of angst for both the Bears' organization as well as their fans, but thankfully, it turned out to not be an injury, but something that was easily explained and subsequently remedied.

"It was just a little dehydration, probably due to I think, all the travel lately. I just needed to make sure I was eating and drinking a lot of fluids. After the game that night, I just made sure I started eating fruit and veggies and regrouped."

After the Syracuse game, Copley and his new teammates boarded the team bus and travelled through the night, arriving back in Hershey in the wee hours of the morning, with a date with their bitter rivals the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on the schedule later that night. There was suspense in the air, with the question being would Copley be well enough to play in his return to Giant Center, and that question was answered with a resound yes. Copley not only played, but played exceptionally well, limiting the visitors to only a goal as the Bears triumphed 2-1 in a game that had the feel of a playoff game, which it essentially what it was for the Bears in their pursuit of a playoff spot.

"I had no doubt,” said Copley, as to whether he had any that he would not play. "The support these fans give us every night is unbelievable. I’m glad to be back here, and to win tonight made it even sweeter.”

Heading down the stretch there is little room for error, and a one-goal game whether it be a win or a loss, could have a profound effect on whether or not the Bears make the post-season. Copley will undoubtedly carry the bulk of the workload, but it's important for Mann and his staff not to overwork him, and that is going to be a delicate balance that will depend upon the standings and the balance of the schedule.

"Copley gives us the ability to win the lowest-scoring close games. When we beat Wilkes-Barre 2-1 (in Copley's first home start), that was the first time we won a 2-1 game all season, and their goalie, (Tristan) Jarry, was unbelievable. To compete in our division, we have to have solid goaltending, because when you start looking at the goalies, you see they’ve got Jarry and Casey DeSmith, who I think is also a number one with Wilkes, you’ve got Zane (McIntyre) and (Malcolm) Subban in Providence, Jaroslav Halak in Bridgeport, and (Anthony) Stolarz and Lyon in Lehigh. Those are pretty tough goal-tending match-ups for us. We play most of our games against our division, so now I think we have a very good tandem against most of those teams, and we are going to need that down the stretch.”

Mann continued, "He’s definitely going to play the majority of the games. Obviously in the three-in-three ticket, it’s very difficult to play the same goalie in all three of the games, and it’s not really the smart thing to do either,” said Mann. "Vanecek had a very good season as a first-year player that was 20 years old when the season started. He’s had a good year, and the comparison for me is Alex Lyon in Lehigh. He’s had a really solid rookie year. He’ll get some starts down the stretch here, certainly with the three-in-three. As a coaching staff, we haven’t really talked about the weeks when we don’t play three-in-three quite yet. I think it’ll all depend where we are in the standings."

As for Copley himself, asked minutes after the final buzzer of his return to Giant Center, how he looks at his current situation with the Bears, where he is unquestionably going to be the number one guy the rest of the season, and is being counted on to backstop the club to the post-season, as opposed to when he was last in Chocolatetown when he was in more of a supporting role, with limited expectations, which he ultimately surpassed.

"I’m just trying to give the guys a chance to win every time I get the nod, and I try not to think about games played or being the number one goalie. I just try to go in there and work hard and give them a chance to win."

Boyd Keeps Bringing It Every Night

By; John Sparenberg

In the corporate world as an employee, it is vitally important to meet the expectations set out by your bosses. Doing so will not only strengthen your current job security, but will also ensure the possibility of moving up the organizational ladder in the future.

In the hockey world, it’s much the same.  If you are Travis Boyd, the Hershey Bears’ sensational centerman who last year surpassed what was expected of him by his immediate supervisor, Bears’ bench boss Troy Mann, your future in the organization, in this case the Washington Capitals, is boundless.

“You just never know what these young kids are going to bring to the table,” said Mann of Boyd, a 6th round pick of the Caps in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.  “He was a later round pick, and when you’re putting together a lineup during the summer and knowing who’s turning pro, you’re not sure.  Can he be a fourth line guy, can he be a fill-in to start the year?  Does he have to start the year in the ECHL?  Those are all questions you ask.  He got better and better as the year went on, and at the end of the day, he was probably our number one center down the stretch and in the playoffs.  He certainly exceeded my and the organization’s expectations.”

Before coming to the Bears last season, Boyd played four seasons at the University of Minnesota where he was a business and marketing education major.  He missed only seven games, all in succession, as the result of a broken foot in his final three seasons with the Golden Gophers.

“Being in the lineup every night is something I definitely take pride in. It’s just part of being a professional, making sure you’re ready for each game and making sure you perform to the best of your capabilities. Whether you’re 80% or 100%, you still have to find a way to go out there and give all you’ve got to help the team get a win,” said Boyd at the all-star break last season.

While it’s anybody’s guess as to what the expectations of Mann and the Capitals actually were going into last season, if one had to guess, it’s a safe bet that one of them was that he would be in the lineup every night.  Boyd didn’t disappoint.  He appeared in all 97 Bears’ games last season, and was the only player on the club to accomplish that impressive feat in spite of one particular, painful period in which anyone other than a hockey player probably would have taken a day or more off from their job.

“The toughest thing was when I broke my jaw in a Thursday morning practice, and we had a game Friday night in Rochester.  I ended up getting a lot of dental work done, and then I hopped on a flight Friday morning and ended up playing three straight games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  That was definitely the time where it was the most questionable that I’d be in the lineup.  Sometimes, you get into the dog days of the season in January and February where it’s tough getting up for practices and games, but at the end of the day, it’s your job and that’s how to be a good pro,” said Boyd.

Watching Boyd perform and perfect his craft over the last three seasons-- two at the University of Minnesota and last year in Chocolatetown--one word comes to mind more than any other, and that is consistency, with the stats doing the talking for the 23-year-old native of Edina, Minnesota.

In his final two seasons with the Golden Gophers, Boyd was a point-per-game player; in fact he was precisely a point-per-game performer.  He posted 73 points on 28 goals and 45 assists in 73 outings, and that offensive output didn’t come at the expense of his defensive game, as he posted those solid numbers while also managing to stay on the plus side of the ledger in the plus/minus category.  

Last season with the Bears, despite the transition and “weighty” challenge of going from the college game where the game schedule is much lighter, and the players are as well, to the pro game, where the schedule and players are much heavier, the consistency continued for the 5’11” 191 -pound Boyd.

“There are so many big, strong, experienced men in the American League, which is obviously a big and drastic difference from the guys you play against in college,” Boyd said at the Capitals’ Development Camp in July.

He led the club’s rookies in game-winning goals, finished second in assists to only Chris Bourque, the league’s leading scorer and Most Valuable Player, tied for second along with fellow rookie Riley Barber in power-play goals and power-play assists, finished behind only Bourque and Barber in goals, and finished on the plus side with a plus-6 rating in addition to winning the Kenny Smith Memorial Award for most “Player of the Game” nominations.

In addition to the consistency, there were some “streaky stretches”, but they were all good streaks. There was one three-game-goal scoring streak, a stretch of 24 games in the second half of the season where he registered at least a point in 19 of those contests and collected 25 points during the run on 13 goals and 12 helpers.  Again, all of this offensive output was not put up at the expense of his defense, as evidenced by the fact that he finished the season with a plus-6 rating, and was a season “high” minus-2 on only two occasions, but finished with a plus or even rating in 58 games.

Establishing a new career high in goals (21), assists (32), and points (53), last season, eclipsing his previous high of 19, 22, and 41 in the respective categories while a Gopher, Boyd funneled most of his offensive wrath toward the Phantoms, the Bears’ Keystone State neighbors. Against the Phantoms, the club he played his first professional game against and scored his first professional goal against at the end of the 2104-15 season, he found his name on the scoresheet in 10-of-12 contests, notching eight goals, including his first professional hat trick, and six assists.

The onset of the 2016 playoffs meant that Boyd, as well as a host of his fellow rookie teammates, would be experiencing playoff hockey for the first time in their careers. As anyone who has ever witnessed professional playoff hockey, whether a fan, media member, or player can surely attest that the post-season intensity and physicality is unlike any other sport with the physical and mental toll that the players endure.

In the regular season, a mistake may lead to a conversation with the coach, possibly a benching for a shift or two, or in extreme cases a seat in the press box for a spell, and then you shake it off and move on in the schedule. In the playoffs, with the weak links or eliminated teams already on the golf course and the pressure rising to a new high, each shift carries the potential of your club gaining momentum if it’s a positive one, or changing the tide of the series if it’s a bad one.

“For a lot of those guys (rookies), it was eye-opening, the caliber of play in the playoffs and how it’s not easy to score,” said Mann recently.

In the playoffs, Boyd found out firsthand just how true his coach’s words were as he was able to find the back of the net twice in 21 games, but both of his goals proved to be big ones.

The Portland Pirates, against whom he scored his first point of the regular season by assisting on a Barber goal, were first up on the Bears’ playoff docket. In the series opener, despite Boyd’s two assists, the Bears suffered their first setback of the postseason. The Bears prevailed in game two in Portland, but when the series shifted back to Giant Center for game three, they suffered a devastating defeat in triple overtime and faced elimination in game four. Midway through the first period in game four, Boyd struck for his first professional playoff goal, and the marker proved to be the game-winning goal as the Bears staved off elimination and eventually plundered the Pirates to move on.

Next up for the Bears was their bitter I-81 rivals, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, who were the unfortunate victims of Boyd’s first professional game-winning goal in the regular season. After being held off the scoresheet in the first four games of the series, Boyd collected an assist in each of the next two games, and the series was tied at three, with a pivotal game seven set for Giant Center.

In game seven, a victor could not be established after sixty minutes of play, and the teams headed into overtime locked in a 2-2 stalemate.

Midway through the first overtime, the baby Pens were reeling after a couple of consecutive icing calls during which they were forbidden to make any changes to the personnel they had on the ice. The Bears were presented a faceoff in the WBS defensive zone, with Boyd taking, and winning the draw against the veteran Dustin Jeffrey.

After Boyd’s win in the dot, each of the other four Bears on the ice, forwards Dustin Gazley and Liam O’Brien, and defensemen Madison Bowen and Ryan Stanton, each touched the puck before Boyd gathered in a pass from O’Brien in the far corner, to the left of WBS goalie, Casey DeSmith. Once again, Boyd outdueled Jeffrey and escaped his attempted check with a quick spin move, after which he proceeded behind the WBS net, ultimately finding himself with the puck still in his possession to right of DeSmith along the goal line.

Now faced with the options of cycling the puck back behind the net to a teammate, sending a pass back to Bowey at the point, or launching a shot on net from the bottom of the faceoff circle, Boyd selected option “C” and sailed a shot over the left shoulder of DeSmith, sending the Giant Center crowd into a celebratory frenzy and forever etching his name into the history books as one of the few players in the Bears’ storied history to score the game-winning goal in a series finale in overtime fashion.

“He has a lot of composure with the puck, and he gained a lot of confidence in his ability to make plays during the season.  I think that was one of his strengths, to not only find people, but to make the right decision at the right time in terms of using a linemate to make a play or do it himself to take the opportunity to score,” said Man. “He became a very good player beating guys one on one in the corner, and that goal exemplified that ability, beating a great player out of the corner, and having the poise to make the decision to throw it on net.”

Speaking at the Caps’ Development Camp nearly two months after the goal, Boyd still lit up like the goal light that signified his historic goal.

“It still brings a smile to my face, and I still have the memory pretty fresh in my mind.  It’s the biggest goal I scored all season, and probably the biggest goal I’ve ever scored.  It was so surreal to score a series-winning goal, especially in overtime in Game Seven.”

In the world of hockey, last year’s memories, whether they be dim, or as in Boyd’s case, bright, are just that--memories, and a new season brings new challenges.  Mann, who has seen his share of rookies shine over the many years he has been involved in the game, first as a player and now as a coach, has a keen understanding on what his young charge needs to do to reach the goal of both himself and the organization, regular employment in the National Hockey League, and a couple of the words he uses are “C” words--consistency and confidence--two words that fit Boyd to a capital-T.

“I think like any young player, it’s consistency he needs, playing at both ends of the rink, making smart puck decisions and puck management.  Sometimes when they come off a successful rookie season, they come in with a lot of confidence and believe they can do more.  Sometimes less is more.  You just have to stay composed in terms of the game and not try to overdo it in terms of puck handling and maybe trying to make the extra play.  You still have to play the right way.  We want players like him coming off their rookie season, to have confidence in their ability to perform at the AHL level, but we also want them to play the right way because they still have room to improve in a lot of areas if they want to ultimately get to Washington.”