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."