Thus far, the Hershey Bears’ 2017-18 season has been odd. A poor start put the Bears in an early hole, but they’ve rebounded nicely in the past few weeks. Let’s take a look at the great, the good, and the bad from the Bears through the first quarter of the AHL season.
The great
Chris Bourque’s AHL-leading play
It’s not like no one expected the Bears’ premier player to fail to lead the team in points or goals, but the fact that Chris Bourque is among the point leaders in the AHL a quarter into the season while operating at over a point-per-game pace is a surprise. Through 20 games, he has scored seven goals and recorded 18 assists for 25 points. Although his recent stretch of games hasn’t been the most successful, It’s safe to say that Bourque has been the brightest part of the Bears’ season so far.
The return of Pheonix Copley
When the season started, the Bears’ number one netminder was injured. Not only was he injured, but backup goalie Vitek Vanecek was forced out of action, as well. These injuries forced Hershey to start the season with Adam Carlson and Parker Milner, both of who usually play in South Carolina with the Stingrays in the ECHL, in net. While the Bears were doing alright without their top-two goalies to start the season, getting Pheonix Copley back has been one of the biggest reason the Bears have begun to turn around their season. Since returning, Copley has gone 5-2-1 with a 2.34 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. In games without Copley, the Bears have gone 4-7-1 with a combined .881 save percentage. It’s safe to say Copley is one of the main reasons behind the Bears’ success.
The good
The team’s handling of injuries and call-ups
As previously mentioned, the Bears had to deal with both of their goaltenders being injured to start the season. In addition, the team looks much different than last year. With Christian Djoos, Aaron Ness, Madison Bowey, Chandler Stephenson, and Jakub Vrana becoming mainstays with the Capitals, the Bears have relied on new players to help lead the team. Players like Lucas Johansen, Wayne Simpson, and Mathias Bau have helped tremendously, and increasing roles for Travis Boyd and Colby Williams have been appreciated. With all of the change and adversity, the Bears could have easily started out the season in an Arizona Coyotes-like way, but they managed to start decently.
Adam Carlson stepping up for the Bears
Adam Carlson, the sixth-ranked goaltender on the Capitals’ depth chart, found himself relied upon by the Bears due to injuries to Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek. Without any AHL games under his name before this season, he managed to squeeze out a 2-2 record with a .903 save percentage in four games. Carlson only had 24 games of professional experience prior to the start of this season, and he managed to outplay Parker Milner, who has had previous AHL experience.
Travis Boyd finding a new level
Travis Boyd has always been, in many ways, one of the most under-looked prospects in the AHL. After playing all four years at the University of Minnesota, Boyd reported to the Bears in 2015. Ever since then, Boyd has played 174 regular season games, recording 136 points. Last season, Boyd recorded 63 points in 76 games. Through 20 games this season, Boyd has 18 points. Only 24, the 2011 sixth-round pick deserves a call-up by the Capitals.
The bad
The start
While the Bears have played much better in the last month or so, their start cannot be ignored. After playing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on October 27, the Bears sported a record of 1-5-1. Since then, they’ve gone 8-4-1, for reasons such as Travis Boyd’s success, Pheonix Copley’s return, and Chris Bourque’s play. What was the cause of their poor start? Well, having two injured goalies didn’t help, but Parker Milner’s 1-4-1 record with a 3.81 goals against average and an .865 save percentage was rough, scoring 14 goals in seven games made the goalies’ margin of error quite small, and giving up over four goals per game was just disastrous.
Too many penalties
The Bears are taking a lot of penalties – they are eighth-worst in the league with 302 penalty minutes, but they also are seventh in the league with a penalty kill percentage of 85.3. It’s nice to be good at killing penalties, but the Bears can’t rely on their special teams play to come up big all the time. Not only do the penalty minutes force the Bears to play more minutes shorthanded, but it restricts their even strength time.
Originally published on GNGHockey.com