Welcome to the hockey blogosphere, Graham Mink, 2006 Calder Cup hero. Mink, signed just a couple of weeks ago by the Caps and Hershey Bears, made his blog debut just this past weekend. If his opening efforts are any indication, this is a site you’ll want to follow regularly:
“One of the major reasons why I started this blog was to give myself an outlet for all the excited energy I have in anticipation of this season. Anyone that has been following the Washington organization the past year knows that they are one of the up and coming teams in the league with a lot of positive energy surrounding them. Their rebuilding efforts over the last couple of years are finally paying off now that they have the right pieces in place. Having played for Coach Boudreau for the 05/06 season I know that this years Caps will be a very competitive team that will love to play every night and that will be fun to watch. I am also looking forward to seeing several old friends and teammates who are still with the organization. Seeing all of the great players that have signed on with Wash/Hershey for next season I know that regardless of which team I play for they will be a contender for a Championship.”
Below you will find the order of selection for next weekend’s first four rounds of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, held in Ottawa. You will note from our highlighting in bold the wealth of selections the Capitals enjoy — six picks among the first 93 of the draft. This draft is universally regarded as distinctive for the quality of its depth; there will be solid NHL contributors selected liberally throughout rounds one, two, and three.
Last night at Giant Center the Hershey Bears fell behind 2-0 to the Philadelphia Phantoms. The game’s next 5 goals were all Hershey’s — two from the stick of rookie Andrew Gordon — as the Bears beat Philly for the second night in a row. In so doing, the Bears earned the East division’s fourth and final playoff spot.
I know it’s been a trying few weeks watching your team slide in the standings, and I know a lot of you have been frustrated with what you’ve seen. I also know that some of you in discussion boards have wondered what Bruce Boudreau will do for your team, with some of you thinking “here we go again” with another AHL coach being called up instead of some “name” coach for big bucks. I just wanted to let you know, as a humble servant of your minor league affiliate, I believe Bruce is the guy you need. Bruce Boudreau is one of the greatest people I’ve ever been around, a great leader of men with just enough grit to go with his compassion for his players to get the job done for you. I’ve ridden the buses with him, I’ve seen him one-on-one with players, I’ve seen him when times are good, and I’ve seen him when times are bad. Know this first and foremost: He’s a winner. He’s won more games than anyone in the last ten years in the AHL, and twice with two different teams has won at least 50 games in a season. In 2005-06, he took a group of Washington farmhands that missed the playoffs the year before in Portland, shaped them along with some Hershey guys that also missed the playoffs the season before and made them into Calder Cup Champions. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, the BEARS the next season won a franchise record 51 games (and we’ve been around for 70 years now, not a shabby record to have) and went all the way back to the Finals again. We’d have gone back-to-back except we ran into goaltender Carey Price, who now tends goal for the Montreal Canadiens. That’s 29 wins in the playoffs the last two years. When Hershey won the Cup in 2006, they had to beat the Portland Pirates, who featured NHLers Dustin Penner, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. Yes, that would be the Penner that signed for big bucks in Edmonton this past summer, and yes, that would be the same Getzlaf who just this week signed a five-year deal with Anaheim. Suffice it to say that Bruce has a pretty good handle on guys who play at the National Hockey League level. All big name coaches in the NHL had to come from somewhere and get their chance before they became “name” coaches. I refer you to none other than your own Bryan Murray from back in the day. He was Hershey’s coach too before he came to D.C., and I’d say as the franchise leader in wins down there, that worked out pretty well.
A week to the day after the Kettler Capitals Complex afforded me empirical evidence of hockey’s return, I headed up Rt. 83 North to take in Media Day and the opening of training camp for the Hershey Bears this morning. I noticed that the Maryland and Pennsylvania trees bore the earliest tinges of autumn’s colors, and so the confirmation of hockey season’s arrival indoors last week was matched by one outdoors this. I rarely pass up a chance to visit our affiliate, the best in all of hockey, and today delivered me my first immersion in the formal start of a Bears’ season.
Another thing Vogel may have had in mind Wednesday afternoon was Steckel’s being Boyd Gordon’s linemate during the Bears’ postseason march to the Calder Cup in 2006. They were two of Hershey’s best players then, utilized liberally by Bruce Boudreau in all game situations.
Immediately after Hershey’s 4-2 win over Hamilton Saturday night, evening the Calder finals at a game apiece, Bears’ coach Bruce Boudreau was asked if he was going to pursue a union membership card, as he’d worked so hard to overhaul his team in short order.
Hershey center Joey Tenute returns to the Bears line-up tonight after missing 8 games with a punctured lung.
How ironic it is to suggest that the 2007 Calder Cup Finals pit the farm clubs for the Caps and Canadiens with history being represented by Washington. Tonight at Giant Center the Hershey Bears, AHL members since 1938, will make their 20th appearance in the Calder Cup Finals, an American Hockey League Record, and face the Habs’-affiliated Hamilton Bulldogs, competing in just their 11th season in the ‘A.’ The Bears, the reigning Calder Cup champions, will try to become the first team to repeat since the 1991 Springfield Indians. 
