Photo courtesy the Reading Royals
Last night, the Hershey Bears farm club, the Reading Royals, won the ECHL championship. The team included seven former Bears, T.J. Syner, Stanislav Galiev, Barry Almeida, Evan Barlow, Alex Berry, Patrick Wellar, and Brett Flemming who played in Hershey this season, and one former Bear, Nikita Kashirsky, who played in the Chocolate and White during the 2010-11 season. Reading beat the Stockton (Ca) Thunder in five games. The Royals had an Eastern Conference best 46-19-7 regular season record with 99 points.
Below the jump, check out some tweets from Reading players and a very familiar team after Reading won their first Kelly Cup.
HERSHEY, PA – Zach Hamill celebrates his game tying goal during Hershey’s win against the Whale Saturday night (Tim Stough – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
Saturday night the Hershey Bears returned home to face the Connecticut Whale at Giant Center. As if the Bears’ offensive hasn’t been challenged enough as of late, they would have to battle the Whale with no Jeff Taffe, Ryan Potulny and Evan Barlow in the lineup. Philipp Grubauer earned his second start of the season in Hershey and gained his first ever shootout win in a 4-3 victory over the Whale.
Stan Galiev on ESPN’s Top Ten Plays (Photo via @Strohmie13)
Recently the Hershey Bears received a minor glimpse of what it is like to play under a rather large spotlight. The AHL Showcase was televised on a large platform, including Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic. But being televised on local cable sports network may seem like baby steps compared to what Stanislav Galiev accomplished last Friday.
Reading, PA – Philipp Grubauer makes a save during Reading’s 11th straight win (Steve Rusyn – Inside Hockey)
While the Hershey Bears had a much needed night off on Black Friday, the Reading Royals looked to extend their franchise record in consecutive wins to eleven. They had no easy task, as they battled the Greenville Road Warriors. Entering Friday, the Warriors have earned 15 of their last 20 standings points. Many former Bears had some impact on the game, including Stanislav Galiev, who recorded his first point in the East Coast Hockey League during Reading’s 5-2 win over Greenville.
Photo courtesy: Liam Edson
Friday the Hershey Bears looked to leap over the Springfield Falcons on the road for their fourth win of the year. Entering against the 5-1-0-1 Falcons, Braden Holtby received the nod to start in goal. It was Holtby’s first start since his 35-save shutout over Albany, six days prior. In front of a Springfield crowd of 3,489 fans, Boyd Kane and Matt Pope found the score sheet and Stan Galiev had the game-winning goal in the shootout as the Bears topped the Falcons, 3-2 (SO).
HERSHEY, PA – (L to R) Cameron Schilling, Tomas Kundratek, Stanislav Galiev, and Dmitry Orlov pose for a photo after the hardest shot contest at Giant Center. (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
The start of the hockey season is almost here, which means it’s time for Season Ticket Holder pickup night for many teams around the country. Thursday night, the Hershey Bears held their event, which also included the annual hardest shot contest. This year, however, the combination of a malfunctioning radar gun and Stan Galiev‘s stick fracturing in half made for some pretty hilarious moments.
Chris Bourque photo by Andrew Harnik, The Washington Times
It may not be October yet, but hockey has started. The Caps opened their preseason last night with several Bears in the line up. Unfortunately, it was a 2-0 loss to the Preds which means there isn’t much in the way of highlights from Bears. Here is what I was able to dig up.
Head Coach Bruce Boudreau has some praise for Stanislav Galiev and Jay Beagle. [Caps video]
Beagle was a stand out. [Wash Times]
Sean Collins and others talk about the poor ice conditions. [Wash Times]
Former Bear and current Predator Tyler Sloan talks about the ice. [WaPo]
Collins talks about making the Caps roster. [Wash Examiner]
Patrick Wellar gets his first NHL game. [PennLive]
Hello everyone and welcome to another Chocolate Fix. I’m back from vacation and ready for some hockey to start. It seems so close now. This is the last day of August which means training camps are only a short time from now. I’m ready for some hockey! Until then, here’s the latest collection of links from the past week.
John Walton has hit the ground running with the Caps. Check out his new blog. [Capitals Voice]
Pre-season games with Binghamton cancelled and moved. [PressConnects]
Stanislav Galiev signs contract with Caps, but he won’t play for the Bears this year. [Times]
More outdoor game rumors/evidence [Puck Daddy]
Training camp starts September 25th! [PennLive]
We aren’t the only ones counting down the time before the season starts. [DFZ]