The Hershey Bears have played six games this postseason and won all six, the most recent Sunday night’s 3-1 triumph over Wilkes-Barre in game 2 of the East division finals. In 2006, Hershey won 10 straight postseason games en route to its Calder Cup victory.
More kudos for Kid Carlson arrived in my inbox via the Hershey press box last night; the Dale Hunter protege scored the game-winner last night. Last autumn, near the end of Capitals’ training camp, there were some in the Caps’ organization who believed that Carlson had performed well enough to earn a season-opening roster spot with the big club. Instead, Caps’ management decided to go the patient route, and send him to Huntsy for a full season. It paid off; Carlson fnished 19th among all the league’s skaters in scoring during the regular season, tallying 16 goals and 60 assists, and it wasn’t uncommon for the head coach to skate him upwards of 30 minutes in games. His postseason with the Knights was white hot — 7 goals and 15 assists in 14 games. Wow.
And so it was most interesting to read my email this morning and peruse praise for the rearguard along the lines of “He’s ready for you guys in Washington right now, and he may well help us win the [Calder] Cup.”
If you haven’t made the trip up Rt. 15 or 83 to Hershey for a playoff game, you really should — it’s an atmosphere that gives Verizon Center a run for its party of pandemonium. And with John Carlson’s auspicious beginning in a Bears’ sweater, there’s even more reason for the roadtrip.
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