AHL Hershey Bears

Sealed with a kiss-Capitals excited to be in Chocolatetown

April 29, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


To most hockey fans the ongoing NHL lockout is a scourge that is interfering with their ability to watch the game they love at its highest level. And although most Caps fans undoubtedly feel the same, they can at least take some small solace in the fact that the lockout has indirectly brought Washington's top farm club much closer to home, less than 140 miles from the MCI Center, in fact.

The Capitals announced Tuesday that they had reached a multi-year affiliation agreement with the AHL's Hershey Bears, arguably the league's most storied franchise. The deal ends Washington's 12-year partnership with the AHL's Portland Pirates. The Pirates moved to Portland from Baltimore after the 1992-93 season. Washington had its top farm team in Baltimore, just 40 miles to the north of Washington, from 1988-89 through 1992-93.

"This whole venture started because we are in a lockout situation and I could get out [on the road] and see games," notes Capitals general manager George McPhee. "I was [in Hershey] a few times early in the year and was surprised by how easy it was to get here and how close Hershey really was to Washington.

"When I was watching those games I was hearing rumors that there might be a change taking place [in the affiliation agreement between Colorado and Hershey], so I made some calls to Colorado and Portland and then to Hershey, just to make sure we were doing things properly. It was clear there was an opportunity here, and we really wanted to be here. And Hershey seemed to really want us. So we've completed that now, and we couldn't be happier because it's a perfect fit in terms of proximity to send players back and forth."

Players shuttling to and from Washington and its AHL affiliate will no longer have to hop a plane to reach their destination. The change in affiliates also gives Capitals fans a greater opportunity to see the team's young prospects before they get to Washington. Additionally, the fans in the Hershey area will be able to follow their favorites at MCI Center after they've graduated from the Bears to the Capitals.

The Bears have been in the AHL since 1938-39 and have won eight Calder Cup championships over the years. One of those titles came in 1979-80, during the Bears' previous affiliation with Washington. The Caps and Bears had an affiliation agreement from 1977-84. Hershey's most recent Calder Cup championship came in 1996-97 with coach Bob Hartley at the helm. Hartley later went on to win a Stanley Cup as the coach of the then parent Colorado Avalanche. Hartley is now the coach of the Atlanta Thrashers.

Having their top farm club so close also offers Washington the opportunity to conduct all or part of its training camp in Hershey. During the late 1970s, Washington teams trained in Hershey in preparation for the season

"We've discussed that with [Bears president/general manager] Doug Yingst, and we would like to have a portion of each training camp here in the future," says McPhee, when queried about the possibility. He adds that he and Yingst have not discussed the possibility of Washington holding its annual rookie camp in Hershey, but did not rule it out.

The partnership between Hershey and Washington calls for personnel decisions to be made with input from both teams. A decision is forthcoming on who will guide the Bears from the bench in 2005-06.

"What we'd like to do is allow the Bears and Portland to decompress after the season," says McPhee. "We're going to meet with our pro scouts and have a comprehensive meeting to determine what we have to do, and then we will make decisions in another couple of weeks."

Tim Army just completed his third season behind the Pirates' bench. He has guided the team to a 99-89-32-20 record with two playoff appearances. Army is certainly a candidate for the post in Hershey, but Yingst told the Harrisburg Patriot-News that he expects that he and McPhee will interview the "candidates" together and come to a mutual agreement.

Yingst and the Bears will also have some input as to the players on the ice in Hershey next season.

"We'd like to meet with our pro scouting staff and talk about our players first, and then all the available players that are out there," says McPhee. "Then we will meet with Doug, and we'll talk about how we will put a good team together here."

The Pirates missed the playoffs and finished .500 in a season that opened with high expectations.

"I was disappointed," says McPhee of the 2004-05 Pirates, "but it was a real young team, and it was a difficult year to have a real young team. If it had been any other year it probably would have been a playoff team.

"What we didn't do was have good enough veterans in there this year. The problem was we couldn't have enough of them because we had so many young players. It was a nice problem to have, but you want all your young players playing. So we didn't have room for the veterans we should have had. That will get better in the future because a few of those players will be in Washington, and that will create more room for good veteran players here [in Hershey]."

In spite of the team's disappointing finish, McPhee believes the individual Pirates developed well in 2004-05, and he continues to see good things in their individual futures.

"I had a good conversation with [Portland general manager] Brian MacLellan last week," McPhee relates. "His opinion was that it was a very good year for our players to develop because they played 80 games and they played a lot. We saw early in January how many of them had turned the corner and really stepped up their level of play, which is what you want from your young players. From that standpoint, it was successful. There is a big difference between year one and year two for a lot of these players at the pro level, and I think it will make a big difference next year.

"They were a .500 team this year. We would expect them to be a lot better next year even if we didn't make any changes. You would expect just through proper development that they would be a lot better. But what we'd like to do is add some top-notch veterans and that kind of leadership that young players need."

Notes – Capitals assistant coach Jay Leach, who served as Army's assistant in Portland last season, spent two-plus seasons as the Bears' head coach. Leach piloted the Bears from 1993-95, before yielding to Bill Barber in the middle of the 1995-96 season. Former Caps coaches Gary Green (1979-80) and Bryan Murray (1980-81) also served as Bears head coaches. Former Washington players Doug Gibson (1979-80), Gary Inness (1981-85) and John Paddock (1985-89) have also coached the Bears.

Green and Gibson led the Bears to a Calder Cup in 1979-80. Green started the season behind the Bears' bench, but was promoted to Washington in November to replace Danny Belisle as the Caps' head coach. Gibson served as player/coach for the Bears after Green's departure.

Paddock led the Bears to a Calder Cup title and the best season in team history in 1987-88. Hershey won a franchise record 50 games (50-25-3-2) that season and then steamrolled its way through the playoffs with a perfect 12-0 record.

The Bears were known as the "B'ars" when they began competing in the Tri-State Hockey League in 1932-33. Hockey scribes upset at the free advertising the local chocolate magnate was receiving each time the team was mentioned in print urged a name change. The team was officially renamed "Bears" at the outset of the 1936-37 season when it was a member of the Eastern Hockey League.

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