The Hershey Bears today announced the return of a key cog from a glorious past: Graham Mink will be back in a Bears’ sweater for the 2009-09 season. Mink played a huge role in the Bears’ 2006 Calder Cup championship. From the Bears’ press release:
“Mink, 29, returns to HERSHEY after two seasons with the Worcester Sharks (AHL). In his two years in Massachusetts, he scored 55 goals and 118 points in 132 games played. Despite the laudable personal statistics, the Sharks only played in six postseason games in that span.
“It feels like I’m coming home” Mink said. ”We had so much success the year I was there, (in Hershey) and when you leave and don’t have that success, it makes you want it all the more. Being a part of a championship team is an honor, and it’s something that meant so much to me. It’s something you strive for and something you want.”
“Mink’s season in Hershey was one of the best statistical seasons of his career, as he compiled 21 goals and 40 points in just 43 regular season games. He shone brightest in the 2006 Calder Cup Playoffs however, scoring eight goals and assisting on 13 others for 21 points in 21 games played. Perhaps the biggest goal of his professional life came in Game 7 of the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals against the Portland Pirates when he scored in the closing moments to tie the game and force sudden death overtime. With Eric Fehr’s eventual OT winner, the game put the Bears back in the Calder Cup Finals for the first time in nine seasons.
“Any given year, there are four or five teams that can win it all, and I want Hershey to be one of those teams this year” Mink said. “It’s an honor to play for the HERSHEY BEARS, and I can’t wait for the season to start.”
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.
First came the news that Olaf Kolzig will not be a Washington Capital next year. Now, up in Hershey, it appears that Frederic Cassivi’s career with the Bears has come to an end.
The Washington Capitals and the Hershey Bears have jointly announced that the affiliation agreement between the two clubs have been extended through the 2009-10 season with an option for the 2010-11 season.
A number of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux’ top players made a pact after the 2006-07 season to remain on campus and pursue a national title in 2007-08. They did, and the Sioux advanced to this April’s Frozen Four in Denver, where eventual national champion Boston College smashed them in the semis.
Earlier this week the Telegraph-Journal of Saint John, New Brunswick, chronicled the completed Q-League playoff series between the Sea Dogs and the Acadie Bathurst Titan, which eliminted the Titan and sent Mathieu Perreault packing for Hershey. Take a look at Marty Klinkenberg’s 
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.
