By: John Sparenberg

Coiner Calls It Quits As A Champ

With the puck having already been dropped on another hockey season in Europe and about to drop for another one in North America, the 2018-2019 season will mark the first one is nearly 20 years that Keith Aucoin is not on a professional opening night roster.

Aucoin, 39, who always battled the “too small” label and had more of a reputation as a table setter due to his amazing pinpoint precision passing abilities to setup his linemates, proved the label makers wrong.  The numbers show he was very much a finisher, as well, throughout his spectacular 17-year career, which he finished in fine fashion last season in Germany, going out a champion.

"My body feels good now, but it wouldn’t feel too good after a day or two of training camp,” said Aucoin via phone on the day NHL training camps opened. "I’ve been keeping pretty busy though.  I took a new coaching job with my son’s hockey team, so I really haven’t had too much time to think about it, but I’m sure after the games kick in I’ll miss it a bunch, that’s for sure."

Peering deeply into the North American portion of Aucoin's career, beginning with his college days at Norwich University, some things are as crystal clear, such as his penchant for putting up a plethora of points as he did in both college and the minors. He proved himself when given true opportunities and abundant ice time, and the numbers added up to tell a story of an amazing talent and champion. Unfortunately, there are other numbers that simply do not add up to tell the true story of Aucoin.

At Norwich, he was a dominant player who led the Maroon & Gold to their first ever national title in his junior season in 2000, all the while accumulating exactly one goal per game, 116 tallies in 116 encounters.  In addition, he added a helping hand in 124 tallies of his teammates.

Yet the number that the scouts focused on, Aucoin's small-by-hockey-standards 5’8” frame, led to him being overlooked and undrafted.  However, throughout his career, he used being passed by to his utmost advantage by showing that heart and determination-qualities that cannot be measured but were abundantly ingrained in his hockey DNA- forced those who once overlooked him to take notice.

After bouncing around the minors in his first four campaigns as a pro, playing in four different leagues including the American Hockey League where he skated with the Lowell Lock Monsters, the Providence Bruins, and the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, the first NHL call of Aucoin's career came from Carolina Hurricanes during the 2005-2006 season. By joining the NHL ranks, Aucoin became one of the less than twenty Division III players to ever reach "the show", and joined, among others, his fellow Norwich and Hershey Bears alum, Frank Simonetti. He appeared in seven regular season outings with Canes and registered an assist in his first game against the Montreal Canadiens. Carolina captured the Stanley Cup that season with Aucoin along for the playoff ride, and although he did not appear in any playoff games or have his name inscribed on the hardware, he was presented a Stanley Cup ring.

Right around that time, with the word growing around hockey circles of Aucoin's exploits, something else started to grow and grow and grow, and it wasn't his collection of championship rings which would also continue to grow a few years later.  It was his hockey stick, which by the latter stages of his career was a sight that could elicit a chuckle when viewed in proportion to his frame.

"When I became full-time in the AHL, I was having a tough time getting around defensemen, so I figured I’d try the longer stick. It helped me with my reach, and when I went wide on the defenseman, it would help me get around their long reach. So I started extending my stick in the summertime and it slowly kind of got longer and longer, and it got to the point where it couldn’t get any longer, or shorter, because if it got shorter, I wouldn’t be able to play (effectively). It worked out for me, as it made me like 6’2” instead of 5’8”. The only drawback that I really had playing with the long stick was that I didn’t have a very good one-timer, because by the stick being so long I didn’t have any torque.”  Aucoin, who netted in excess of twenty goals six times in his career, chuckled and then continued, "But I was ok with that, because I didn’t shoot much, as you know.”

The Washington Capitals came calling for Aucoin's services in the summer of 2008, and after failing to make the Caps opening night roster and being assigned to Hershey, he made an immediate impact on their fortunes by netting the club’s first goal of the season less than two minutes into his debut and bookended the Bears’ capturing of the Calder Cup by sealing the championship with an empty net goal in their Cup clinching game.

Aucoin spent four years in the Capitals' organization and appeared in their colors in at least one contest in each campaign, including the 2011-2012. He actually made the club out of training camp, but was soon sent back to Hershey. However, his fine work in Hershey, 70 points in only 43 games, was too much for the Caps to ignore, and they eventually recalled him. He suited up for the Caps beginning with their first game in February, and never returned to Hershey because the Caps thought he was valuable enough to them to keep him on their roster the rest of the season. The brass in Washington wanted to avoid the risk of losing him to another club via waivers, which was a distinct possibility if they would have tried to send him down after he spent ten games on their roster.

All totaled, the craft centerman appeared in 27 games for the Caps after the recall, his longest tenure up top during his four years in the organization, and also appeared in all 14 of their post-season battles. He accomplished that despite the obvious, though happy and exciting ,distraction of his wife Maureen being in latter stages of her pregnancy, and eventually saw his son Brayden come into the world as a leap year baby on February 29, 2012.

And although he was not physically in Hershey and had a lot on his mind, not only adjusting to the NHL grind on a nightly basis as well as the obvious adjustment to Brayden, Aucoin's true character still shone through just a few days after Brayden’s birth. The boys down on the farm were about to head to Newfoundland on a road trip, one that is notoriously noted for being quite an ordeal, involving various forms of transportation and long hours of travel.  However, the Bears, sans Aucoin, departed on their journey with full stomachs, because Aucoin had a catered lunch sent to his Hershey teammates in Central Pennsylvania before the club departed.

One name that became synonymous with Aucoin's during their two seasons with the Bears was Alexandre Giroux, his linemate. The dynamic duo terrorized the AHL with their scoring exploits, and while their physical makeup couldn't be more different, with the 6’3” 200-pound Giroux, that’s seven inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than Aucoin, their numbers together in their two seasons together in Chocolatetown couldn't be much closer.

Aucoin's point totals in those seasons totaled 202 compared to Giroux's 200, Aucoin appeared in 138 outings with Bears compared to Giroux's 142, and they both saw twenty-one games of action with the Capitals.  They also each took turns in leading the loop in scoring and winning the league MVP, in addition to appearing in both all-star games.  So with that amount of success attained, it would safe to surmise that these two scoring machines had a history of playing together before meeting in Hershey.

"Going into my first season playing with Alex, we had never really played against each other and didn’t know each other, but I knew what type of player he was, and I thought we’d have good chemistry. I knew he could score from any part of the ice, and he was probably the best player I ever played with as far as knowing how to get open,” said Aucoin. "Every shot he took seemed like it went in.  Alex didn’t have the hardest shot, but he always had an accurate shot, and he always got it off even in tight areas. That type of chemistry you don’t always find with linemates, and we were lucky enough to play together for two years, and we actually played another year together in Europe, are we’re still good friends and talk all of the time."

Giroux, when questioned in 2011 about the duos amazing run in Hershey, paused for a while and then finally found the words to explain the formula for their amazing chemistry.

"I don't really know, but it all started from that first game together.  We just gelled from the start,” said Giroux, who along with Aucoin and their other linemate, Graham Mink, combined for 13 points in that game. "Keith's a very smart player and he finds guys when they get open, and that made it easy for me because all I had to do was find that open spot, and he would surely get the puck to me. It seemed every game we played together, he'd put the puck on my stick for at least a shot or two when I had a pretty easy shot to score.  So, I could have a bad night and still have a goal at the end of the game."

Also, you can't forget Graham Mink and Andrew Gordon's part in our success. “They are both hard working guys who could get the puck to Keith and he would get it me and I was the finisher. It turned out to be a good system. Keith and I knew what to do, and the coaches (Bob Woods and Mark French), knew what to expect from us."

Potting a playoff goal against the baby Pens. Photo by JustSports Photography

As "good" as Aucoin was in putting up stellar offensive numbers in his professional career, 1,160 points in exactly 1,160 games, it kind of boggles the mind to think of how many more points would have been added to his offensive numbers if he hadn't been "bad" enough to serve 871 minutes in the "sin bin" during his career.

"I was unable to get to Division One coming out of high school; I kind of developed a chip on my shoulder and decided to prove people wrong. So, I always played with an edge. Then when I got to the minors in my first couple of years, I wanted to make a name for myself. I wanted to somehow stick out and for people to know that I could not only score, but play on the edge. Though I never really bothered with it too much, the physical side of hockey was never something I shied away from.  I was undrafted, and I wanted to prove wrong the scouts and coaches who never gave me a chance growing up, that’s what it all stemmed from,” Aucoin said, before sheepishly adding, “I’m sure there’s a lot of 10’s (misconducts) in there from yelling at the referees; I had a few too many of them."

The Toronto Maple Leafs were the next team to ink Aucoin after the Caps passed on him, but his time in T.O. was spent entirely with their AHL affiliate, the Marlies, where he posted better than a point per game numbers (10g, 27a, in 34 games), before being claimed on waivers by the New York Islanders in mid-season. Aucoin spent the rest of the season with the Islanders, and potted six goals, including his first at the Leafs' expense.  He also appeared in all six of their post-season showdowns, but once again history repeated itself, and the Isles opted not to re-sign him, despite their showing enough confidence in him to have him in their lineup on a regular basis.  

"I thought that was probably going to be the year (that proved he could be an NHL regular)," said Aucoin. "Going into that free agency period, I thought I was going to sign with a team, and I’d be up there for a (whole) season, as I thought I proved that. I played mostly on the third line with the Islanders that year, and I was good at my job, doing what we were supposed to do as a line. I figured that type of role was a spot that I could fill and going into that summer, I thought I could sign in the NHL that next year and for the next couple of years, that’s what I was hoping for. It was very disappointing, as that was the year that I was looking forward to the most just being up there (for a whole season), battling for a spot. It was frustrating, and that’s why after the following year, (and only the two meaningless regular season final games with the St. Louis Blues) I went to Europe.  I was done with all the crap."

Taking the trip across the pond meant obviously meant a drastic change of scenery and culture.  In addition to those changes, he was entrusted to still be the catalyst for his club’s offense and also had the added responsibility of being the team captain of his Munich, Germany club in his last two seasons in the DEL.  He shouldered the added load and responded to the challenge like the true champ he proved to be throughout his career, and led his club to the league title both seasons.

Being a five-time champion, answering the question of which one was the most special would seem to be a tough one, and it was for Aucoin when asked, but he eventually divulged it was the first one, the one that essentially said "stick it" to all his critics.

"It’s hard to pick out one, but the first Calder Cup was pretty big for me. I had been in the AHL for so long, and that was the trophy that I wanted. That team we had that year, we were such a close bunch. It was just a group of guys who to this day are still close. You talk to anybody on that team and they’ll say that. That’s the one that really stands out for me because of the closeness of that team. You could tell by the way we played that year, how much fun we had as a team. To get that off my shoulders was huge, but to win back-to-back was pretty sweet, as well."    

Another foe conquered. Photo by JustSportsPhotography

With the last chapter having been written in his brilliant career, the final reviews are in. The Keith Aucoin story: He was short in stature and long on talent, spoke softly with a distinctive New England accent, played with a big stick and succeeded at every level, and is a true success story, no matter how you size it up.

Bourque's Legend Continues To Grow

By: John Sparenberg

When the National Hockey League cancelled the entire 2004-05 season due to a labor dispute between the players and management, there were many residual effects.

One of the biggest, if not the very biggest issue in the dispute was money. Prior to the impasse, many of the teams made preemptive moves to cut costs and unload the salaries of players on big money contracts by trading them, usually for prospects or future draft picks, both of whom would be paid far less than the players being shipped out. The Washington Capitals were one of the teams that were in selling mode in the months leading up to the lockout.

George McPhee, the Caps’ General Manager at the time realized at some point during the 2003-04 season, one that saw his club finish twenty-three games under .500, that he needed to import some young talent into the organization and export some of his highly paid veteran talents. The best and quickest way to get the renovations underway was via the trade route where he could accumulate both young prospects and draft picks.

McPhee’s maneuvering that season proved to be pivotal in revitalizing an organization that obviously missed the post-season in 2003-04, and had not progressed beyond a first round in six. His trade of Capitals legend Peter Bondra brought Brooks Laich into organization, and his trading of Robert Lang, who at the time he was sent motoring to the Detroit Red Wings was leading the NHL in scoring, yielded Tomas “Flash” Fleischmann along with a 2004 first round draft pick. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar was also sent packing and the return on him was a player and another first round draft pick in the same draft.

Washington also won a lottery that gave them the first overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, and giving them a total of four of the first 33 picks, and McPhee and his staff selected very shrewdly. Alex Ovechkin was chosen to be the first selection, defenseman Jeff Schultz was selected with the pick acquired for Gonchar, and Washington closed out their first round with the selection of defenseman Mike Green, obtained in the Lang trade.

It can’t be denied that Ovechkin, Schultz, Green, and Laich each played integral parts in the restoring of the Caps since that 2004 draft. Ovechkin, “The Russian Goal Scoring Machine”, has lit the lamp with regularity ever since he first stepped onto NHL ice, and he is undeniably the face of the franchise. Schultz, Green, and Laich all earned Calder Cup rings with the Bears in 2006, and then graduated to become NHL regulars in the nation’s capital, but the 33rd selection in the 2004 draft, Chris Bourque, has had as much to do with turning the Bears’ fortunes around since he arrived in Hershey.

Prior to Bourque joining the Bears in the 2005-06 season, the club had failed to qualify for Calder Cup play for two straight seasons, but he, along with many other ultra-talented teammates, helped turn the Bears into a perennial AHL powerhouse and three time Calder Cup champions, and he has returned to Chocolatetown this season to try and reverse the playoff fortunes of a team that hasn’t advanced beyond the second round in five seasons, a situation that he had a mighty hand in contributing to.

After inking a two-year, two-way, free agent contract with the Caps/Bears over the summer, Bourque, the Boston native, instantly added more footnotes to his already impressive AHL accomplishments in the season opener in his home state against the Springfield Falcons, collecting his 500th AHL point.

“The 500th point was an exciting milestone,” said Bourque. “It wasn’t something I was really even aware of. It’s just one of those things that happen when you play in the league for a bunch of years with a bunch of great players. It’s something I’m proud of, but it’s more important that the team is doing well.”

A few games later, in the Bears’ home opener against the Hartford Wolf Pack, with whom Bourque skated with last season, he made his return to Giant Center in storybook fashion and sent his former mates howling off the ice in defeat after he lit the lamp in overtime.

“Opening nights are always exciting, but this one was even more exciting than usual because we were playing them, and my brother is still playing with them.”

In this day in age, in all contact sports, there is a heightened awareness of concussion-type injuries. Substantial emphasis is now being put on equipment and precautions to prevent such injuries with a heightened sense of caution being utilized when they do, where in the past in similar situations, players often played on after “getting their bell rung.” 

Unfortunately, Bourque has had share of concussions over the years and missed a substantial part of the 2012-13 season with Providence with a concussion. He was also involved in a harrowing Halloween eve collision in his rookie season when his 5’7” 170-pound frame absorbed a bone rattling hit from a significantly bigger and heavier opponent, 6’4” 210-pound Johnathan Aitken, who like Chris’s father Ray was a former first round pick of the Boston Bruins. The result of the Aitken body belt saw Bourque being stretchered off the ice.

“They’re doing a great job now. It’s a lot different than when I came into the league because there wasn’t a lot of attention paid to head injuries at that point. As the game gets faster and the guys are bigger and stronger, the hits and impacts to the head are a lot more vicious than they used to be. It’s nice to see that people are taking a big notice because obviously you need your head and your brain. They’re real important parts of your body. It’s great they’ve taken steps in the right direction because it affects you not only when you’re playing, but during life after sports. You don’t want to be having post-concussion syndrome later after you finish playing. At that point, you just want to relax and not think about and deal with old injuries. The preventive steps and the monitoring are definitely good things.” 

Following in the footsteps of Ray, the NHL rookie of the year in his first season in “Beantown” and a perennial NHL all-star who finally captured an elusive Stanley Cup in his 22nd season with the Colorado Avalanche, would seem to be a daunting task. Simply put, the mere mention of the name Ray Bourque causes folks who know their hockey to immediately take notice, but Chris has obviously proven himself to be a solid pro with exceptional skills and has earned every accolade thrown his way based on the merits of his own play.

“I would never ever say it was a disadvantage because of my dad,” said Chris, who placed strong emphasis on the word ‘never.’ “Growing up, whenever I had a question, or whenever he was coaching me, it was good to get advice from one of the best players to ever play the game teaching me to play the game.” 

On the heels of his outstanding performance in the 2009 Calder Cup Playoffs, during which he registered 21 points in 22 games, including the series winning goal against the Providence Bruins and the Calder Cup winning goal against the Manitoba Moose, Bourque was claimed on waivers by the Pittsburgh Penguins just before the start of the 2009-10 season, and thus began a journey that has taken him nearly all over the world.

The stint with the Penguins lasted but twenty games before a combination of a lack of production, three points (all assists), and salary cap issues moved the Pens to put to put him on waivers in December. The Caps then reclaimed him, and Bourque was assigned to the Bears for the rest of the season, although he did appear in one game for the Caps. Once again, Bourque excelled in the post-season, averaging better than a point per game and earning the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the playoff MVP for the Calder Cup champs.

At that point, having already earned the three titles in the AHL, incidentally the only player in Hershey history to do so, but getting limited opportunities to succeed in the NHL, Bourque elected to go overseas as the next stop in his hockey odyssey, signing with a team in Russia. Early into his stay in the Soviet Union, he moved on to a team in Switzerland in mid-season. A few years later, he was back in the USSR, but once again he was off to Switzerland in mid-season, and while it may not have worked out as well as he had envisioned, he chooses to look at the positive side of the adventure.

“I thoroughly enjoyed playing in Switzerland. It’s really open style hockey over there, with lots of offense and a big ice surface. The country is also amazing. It’s probably the most beautiful country in the world. It was a great place to travel and see all the great scenery. There’s so much going on in the area. Italy is pretty much right there, and we went to London and Paris and a bunch of other great cities. I’d be open to going back there in the future. Russia, on the other hand, was tough for me and my family. It was not the best experience, but I’m best for the experience.”

Bourque’s playoff proficiency in the AHL hasn’t been limited to his time spent with the Bears. In fact, in both of the seasons that he has toiled in the league in other jerseys, as fate would have it, his clubs have met the Bears in the post-season, and the end result of both saw him making significant contributions to his teams sending the Bears scurrying for tee times, and he and his boys moving on to the next round.

Did he derive any extra satisfaction in eliminating the Bears while in enemy colors? “For sure, because definitely I wouldn’t have heard the end of it if it was the other way around, especially coming back here this year. You never want to lose to your former team,” said Bourque.

So all of this begs the questions, why hasn’t Bourque spent more than 51 games in the NHL, and why hasn’t he produced as expected when he has been afforded his limited opportunities? Could it be his size? That was the question posed to Bourque when I asked him if he thought he might have been afforded more of an opportunity if he were six foot plus.

“It’s a good question, but it’s hard to answer,” said Bourque, who has played in the NHL with the Bruins, Penguins, and Capitals. “Anybody can say ‘what if I had this or that,’ but it’s not something I like to think about. Obviously, everybody wants to be bigger, stronger, and faster, and obviously I’d like to add more height, but it wasn’t in the cards for me. If I had to do it all over again, I think there are some things I would have done differently, and obviously I’d like another chance to prove myself again. Hopefully that opportunity comes, and I’ll be able to produce more with the chance next time around.”

Or could it be simply being in right place, at the right time?

To back up this theory, consider the facts. In the AHL where Bourque has been a consistent scorer, he usually plays on the top line on a regular shift He usually finds himself surrounded by equally talented linemates, mans the power play from his patented place on the point, and also spends an abundance of time on the penalty-killing unit. However, with the Capitals in thirteen career games spread out over three seasons, he has usually played on the third line, often with players not known for their offensive prowess, has averaged less than ten minutes of ice time and 12 total shifts per game including three games where he received less than six minutes on the ice. He has averaged less than a minute per game on the power play and has not patrolled the ice for a single second on the penalty killing unit.

“Up there, when you’re only playing five to ten minutes a game, you have to use your ice time wisely and try to make an impact in a very short period of time. It’s almost more that you’re trying to not make any mistakes and not give them an opportunity to give you more ice time. It’s definitely hard to show your tool set when you’re not put in the best situations to succeed. Sometimes, that’s just the way it happens, and you really can’t blame anyone. You’re not going to go up there and take Alex Ovechkin’s ice time, or someone like that’s ice time. They are the best players in the world up there, so you have to earn your ice time. Those things make it hard for guys to go up there and stay up there. Often getting up there is the easy part. Staying there is the hard part.”

Hopefully, there are still plenty of points and records to be added to Chris Bourque’s legacy in the American Hockey League, and a healthy sprinkling of NHL games would complement that quite nicely, but what if he retired today? Would he be satisfied with his accomplishments?

“Honestly, I haven’t thought about it,” said Bourque, who then hesitated and offered up an “I don’t know” before another brief moment of silence while he pondered the question. “Winning the Calder Cups and playing in All-Star games and getting MVP trophies are all nice, and winning championships is something to be proud of, but the thing I would be most happy about is the people that I’ve met and the teammates that I’ve played with. When you win, there’s a certain bond that you form with your teammates, and I’ve been a part of three of those. I’ve played with some really special people, people I still keep in contact with today. That would be the part of my career I’m most thankful for.”

Peters' Professionalism Shining Through

By: John Sparenberg

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in late December, 2015

When Justin Peters inked a contract with the Washington Capitals on July 1, 2014 and elected to leave the Carolina Hurricanes, the organization that had drafted him in the second round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and the only one he had played for in his professional career, many assumed that his days in the American Hockey League were over.

Both Peters and the Caps’ management were pleased with the deal. At the time of the signing, Washington’s General Manager, Brian MacLellan, was quoted as saying, “We are pleased to sign Justin to a two-year contract. We feel he is just entering his prime and has a tremendous upside…”, and Peters said recently, “I enjoyed all my time with Carolina, but things just didn’t work out for me to go back. I was really happy to sign with Washington.”

Peters’ stats from the prior season with the ‘Canes also add credence to the assumption that he would stay in the NHL for at least the duration of the deal. The Blyth, Ontario native was coming off a 2013-14 season that saw him appear in an NHL career-high 21 games, saw him notch another NHL career high, seven wins (including one against the Caps), and sport a spiffy .919 save percentage.

And in fact, his Washington career was launched on a good note on a bad night in Washington’s third game last season when he relieved former Bears netminder Braden Holtby, who had a shaky outing allowing three goals on seven shots in less than ten minutes of playing time. Peters was solid the rest of the night in net, allowing the Caps to mount a comeback in a game that they eventually lost in a shootout.

Four nights later, Peters patrolled the Caps’ crease for the first time as a starter, and he was stellar, garnering first star of the game honors by stopping 20-of-21 shots in backstopping the club to a 2-1 shootout win.

But the smooth sailing hit some turbulent waters beginning with his next start, a loss in Vancouver in which he stopped 30-of-33 shots, and he would start only four more games in the 2014 calendar year (two losses, a no decision, and an overtime win against the Hurricanes). The no decision game was contested in Toronto, a two and a half hour drive from Blyth. In that contest, Peters surrendered only two goals on six shots in the first period, but was replaced with Holtby by Caps’ first year head coach Barry Trotz to start the second stanza. Holtby was shaky in relief, allowing three strikes on twelve shots, and Trotz put Peters back in net to begin the third period, and he finished the game allowing only one additional tally in a 6-2 Leafs’ victory, one in which Holtby took credit for the loss.

After the tough Toronto outing, which occurred on November 29, 2014, Peters did not appear in another game until January 9, 2015, and when he returned to the crease that night, he undoubtedly felt like he was back home again. However, home was not Washington or the NHL. It was in the AHL in Albany where he appeared for the Bears on a conditioning assignment start. New York’s capital was where Peters had launched his professional career, and was his home base for the first four years of his career spent under the guidance of the River Rats’ head coach, Tom Rowe.

“I didn’t know he played here,” said Peters of Rowe, who played in 34 games for the Bears in the 1981-82 season, and also played for the Capitals. “He was a huge influence. Being a first-year pro, he taught me what it takes to come to the rink prepared every day, and just little things. He’s a very detailed coach. He doesn’t let anything slide and holds everyone accountable. I think he’s one of the ultimate guys as far as development of players.”

In the Albany start, Peters was at the top of his game, stopping all 24 shots he faced to record his 14th career AHL shutout, and his first in Albany since he blanked the Bears on December 11, 2009, stopping all 36 shots sent in his direction, with current Bears’ coach, Troy Mann, witnessing this event firsthand while serving as Hershey’s assistant coach at that time.

Following one more start with the Bears, Peters was recalled to Washington, and made a couple of starts that resulted in losses, but rebounded with a win in what would be his last start of the season with the Caps on February 15th, stopping 30 shots against former Bears’ head coach Bruce Boudreau’s Anaheim Ducks to record his third win in a Washington uniform.

Two relief appearances followed for Peters after his downing of the Ducks, the first a perfect nine save outing and the second, an outing of 43:30 during which he allowed only a single strike against which concluded his season and his career in Washington to date. But recently recalling last year’s season of ups and downs, there is not a trace of bitterness in Peters’ voice as he reflects on last season and it’s ups and down and his current situation.

“My last start was against Anaheim, and it was a win. The last half of the season, I only had that one start against them and those two relief appearances, and they were all positives,” said Peters, who relieved Holtby three times last season but finished all nine of his own starts. “When you don’t get an opportunity to play a lot, you try to find as many positives as you can. There was a lot of team success, and that was part of the positives for me. Last year was last year, and it’s in the past. I’m here now and focusing on what I can do to get back to the NHL.”

Peters entered this season’s Caps’ training camp in a three-way battle with his current partner with the Bears, Dan Ellis, and Philipp Grubauer, and he had a solid showing, allowing only one goal in 84 minutes of playing time, but the Capitals elected to go with Grubauer serving as Holtby’s backup, and Peters was assigned to the Bears after he went unclaimed after he passed through waivers.

Being back in the AHL on a full-time basis has been an adjustment for the 29-year old Peters, although he downplays the challenge of the change of leagues that include the unpredictability of the majority of the players in the loop, where shots can come at any time from any angle, as opposed to the NHL where the players are very structured and the play tends to be highly predictable.

Additionally, he has already exceeded last year’s combined game total (12) with the Caps and Bears, having already appeared in 18 outings in Hershey’s crease entering the Christmas break. He also downplays the challenge the change of leagues presents, saying it’s more about keeping his sights on what’s ahead and keeping his mind on the present and his continued growth as a goaltender.

“For me, it’s just about taking the same approach. You’re so close to the NHL; the AHL is an awesome league and a development league. That’s the main focus here, to develop and get better, and that’s what I’m trying to do here, too. I’m trying to work at my game and develop further and improve. That being said, when you’re here, you’re only a phone call away. An injury or anything like that, and you’re so close even though sometimes it’s feels like you’re not. But the reality is, at any given time, you never know when that call is going to come.”

Entering the Christmas break, it’s been pretty much a 50-50 split in games between Ellis (14) and Peters (18), and that is no surprise to either of the veteran goaltenders, who were clearly informed before the start of the season by Mann and his staff that that would be the case, and that sits just fine with Peters, who knows that the grind of the season and challenges of the AHL’s schedule requires multiple goaltenders to carry the load.

“With the schedule in the AHL and the three-game weekends, you need two goalies. The coaches were clear with us from day one that we were going to be splitting the starts. Just knowing that I was going to have the opportunity to play on a regular basis was exciting to me. I’ve played with Dan before (in the Carolina organization in Charlotte of the AHL), and we get along well. He’s a veteran guy, and we have a good relationship. For me personally, it’s fun to be able to play again.”

Mann’s take on the goaltending situation that he has been charged to manage by the Caps acknowledges the complexity of it, and also shows his understanding of Peter’s situation and professionalism in dealing with the hand that he has been dealt.

“We were upfront with them right from the start. It’s not the ideal situation to have two experienced former NHL goalies. At the 20-game mark, we had individual meetings with all of the players, including the goalies, to review their game and to tell them where we thought their game was at. Since that time, we’ve gotten a little bit away from the rotation, even though both goalies have played since then. Now it’s more of a game-to-game basis.”

Mann continued, “Certainly the rotation has worked, but at the same time, we want to make sure that both goalies were get rewarded for their good play. Justin came down with a great attitude. He’s acclimated himself well with his teammates and has taken a leadership role. He’s helped our leaders in different ways, whether it be supporting our core leaders and organizing various parties, including the recent rookie party. He’s been right in the mix, and that’s great to see from a guy who spent a couple years in the NHL. It can’t be easy to be sent back down, but Petey’s been the consummate professional.”

Development is the name of the game in the AHL. For a veteran like Peters, while he obviously wants to shine and stand out individually and prove himself worthy of another NHL recall, he is also counted on heavily by Mann and his staff to provide on ice leadership that will substantially aid and expedite the development of the Bears’ rookie heavy roster, particularly the defensemen.

“We talked about that going into the season. The dynamics of our roster certainly changed this season. We have seven rookies on it, and three of them are D. We had a plan for Tyler Lewington to start in South Carolina and start this season with seven D. The plan was to bring him up on the first of December because of the number of games we have in December, and to get him acclimated to the team and the league. In terms of the lineup, we’ve been running 11-7 at times to get all three of them in the lineup at the same time. If we’re going with a six-man rotation, you can kind of hold it at two rookies, but it’s tough to go with three rookie defensemen in your lineup if you’re only going with six defensemen, and that’s where the goaltending comes in.”

During Mann’s time serving as a Bears’ assistant coach when Mark French was the bench boss, he witnessed Peters’ on-ice performances as the opposition against his club from afar on nine occasions over the years. But with this season quickly nearing the halfway point, he has now had a chance to frequently get an up close and personal look at Peters in Chocolatetown both on and off the ice, and recently he commented on what he has discovered about his netminder that he didn’t know before he became an ally.

“We had some great battles against him when he was with Albany. He was an AHL All-Star for a reason. He seemed to always give them a chance to win by making some key saves. One thing I’ve noticed now that I’ve seen him firsthand on a day- to-day basis is his work ethic. It is tremendous. He’s a very motivated player who actually still believes he can be an NHL goalie. He’s worked very closely with Scott Murray (Hershey’s goaltending coach) to refine his game, to hopefully prove to some people that he can get back to the NHL for next season, if not sooner.”