Sept. 25 vs. Philadelphia Flyers at Giant Center
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (1-0-0)
Philadelphia Flyers (1-1-0)
For the first time in 19 years, the Caps head north to Hershey, Pa. – home of their AHL affiliate Hershey Bears – for a Thursday night preseason contest at Giant Center. The last time the Caps played an exhibition game in Hershey was on Sept. 24, 2006, when they absorbed a 3-1 preseason setback at the hands of the New Jersey Devils at Giant Center.
During that 2006-07 training camp – which was mostly conducted in Ashburn, Va. while the team awaited the completion of its current MedStar Capitals Iceplex facility – the Caps briefly shifted their base of operations up to Hershey for a couple of days, beginning with a Sunday afternoon game against the Devils and concluding with a Monday morning practice at the facility.
Thursday night’s game is a nice touch as the Caps and Bears mark the 20th anniversary of one of the most successful affiliations in pro sports. Since the Caps and Bears announced their affiliation in April of 2005, Hershey has piled up five Calder Cup championships, winning back-to-back titles on two occasions. The Bears have advanced to the Calder Cup Final seven times in two decades.
Caps coach Spencer Carbery and assistant coach Scott Allen both did stints as Hershey head coaches before ascending to their current posts in DC. Goaltending coach Scott Murray and video coach Emily Engel-Natzke also served apprenticeships in Hershey before ascending to the NHL, as did assistant athletic trainer Murphy Luatua and assistant strength and conditioning coach Mike Wagner, a native of Hershey.
“I’m really looking forward to it, to be honest with you,” says Carbery of Thursday’s game. “I’ve thought about it a little bit. I’m excited to see the new locker room; I haven’t been back since they redid the locker room down there.
“Hershey, for my family and I and the time that we spent there, and getting to know a lot of people there and our kids going to school there, it’s a special place and we had a lot of good memories there. So being back in that building and being able to stand on the bench as the coach of the Washington Capitals there will be a great moment.”
Carbery coached the Bears from 2018-19 through 2020-21, posting a 104-50-17 record in 171 regular season games. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were now playoffs conducted after each of Carbery’s last two seasons with the Bears, who were eliminated in the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs in Carbery’s first season behind the bench in Chocolatetown.
Anyone who has spent any amount of time with either team in any capacity can recognize the special and unique bonds the Washington and Hershey franchises have forged together over the past two decades.
“It’s just another great example – and I love that we get to do this – of just what this is as an affiliation and as an organization,” says Carbery, “The Washington-Hershey connection is – in my opinion, and maybe some people disagree – the strongest NHL/AHL relationship in the National Hockey League and the AHL.
“And so you’re proud of that, and you’re proud that a ton of players have come through Hershey that have been arguably Hall of Fame players in the NHL. There is a genuine connection between pulling for each other, and the proximity, and to be able to go back and play there, and then play with a lot of guys that started their careers there, I think it’s a special thing to be able to do that and I’m glad we get to do that, and see the Giant Center faithful.”
A glance at the likely Washington roster – which hasn’t been cast in stone and is still subject to some tweaks – for Thursday’s game shows more than half of the 20 likely players have pulled on the Hershey sweater at some point in their career, and nine of those players played for one or both of the Bears’ 2022-23 or 2023-24 Calder Cup championship teams.
Last autumn in Boston, the Protas brothers – Aliaksei and Ilya – suited up for the same preseason game against the Bruins. The Protas brothers are likely to be on the ice together again in Hershey on Thursday, where Ilya might begin his pro career as early as this season. And they could be joined by two of the three hockey playing Strome brothers, Dylan and Matt. Matt Strome’s overtime goal in Game 6 of the Calder Cup Final in 2024 delivered Hershey’s second consecutive championship some 15 months ago.
“You know me by know,” smiles Carbery. “There is a strong possibility that that happens.
“I’m a sucker for those stories. I love it. It’s good, because now I look at it from the parents’ perspective of how they must just sit back and go, ‘Two of our offspring are about to play an NHL preseason game together. Wow!
“And it probably takes them back to when they were probably having the most fun skating on the rink together, and all of the morning practices and tournaments. To be able to do that is so special, so I will always do my best to – whenever those opportunities present themselves – to play those [brothers].
“And I know it means a lot to them. The parents for sure, but also those two individuals, to share that bond as siblings and to be able to share the ice and play in any NHL [game], whether it’s an exhibition or a regular season game.”
Riding a four-goal outburst in the first period, the Caps won their exhibition opener 5-2 over the Bruins in Boston on Sunday. Sonny Milano piled up four points (two goals, two assists) and Hendrix Lapierre had three points (one goal, two assists) to pace the Washington attack. Milano, Lapierre and linemate Ethen Frank are likely to be in the lineup again for the Caps on Thursday in Hershey.
Philadelphia opened its preseason slate on Sunday with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Islanders in New York. Matvei Michkov’s goal in the penultimate minute of regulation forced overtime, enabling the Flyers to eventually prevail in the shootout, an 11-round affair in which Michkov scored the first of four Philly goals.
Two nights later, the Flyers dropped a 4-2 decision on the road in Montreal. Longtime Flyers winger Rick Tocchet takes over behind the Philadelphia bench this season; Tocchet was briefly a Capital as well after being acquired in a blockbuster six-player swap with Boston on March 1, 1997.
Hershey also served as the AHL affiliate of the Flyers for a dozen seasons from 1984-85 through 1995-96, when the Flyers established the Philadelphia Phantoms AHL franchise, which initially played its games at the fabled Spectrum, where the Flyers played from 1967-96. The Bears won one Calder Cup – in 1987-88 – during those seasons as a Philly affiliate.
The Phantoms called the Spectrum home until its demolition after the 2008-09 season. They then moved to upstate New York (Glens Falls) before returning to the Keystone State as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in 2014-15, based in the Allentown area.
