Remember earlier in the week when we noted John Carlson's proclamation that his London Knights were "going to score as much as [they] want" and thought it might be a theme for many a Caps prospect and throughout the organization?Well, Opening Night for the Hershey Bears tonight saw them rough up Wilkes-Barre Scranton for eight goals (thanks to a 5-for-7 night on the power play), including three tallies and two assists from Graham Mink, a goal and two helpers each for Chris Bourque and Alexandre Giroux, and a goal and four from Keith Aucoin.
This season has all the makings of something very special on many levels.
Update: For more on the game, check in with Vogs, Peerless and John Walton (also note that official scoring changed a bit over night, so I edited a couple of the stats above).
19 comments:
I wonder... has an NHL team ever won the Stanley Cup the same year its AHL team has won the Calder?
I listened to the game online and they sounded like they played great, but Walton is always excited. 8 goals in the opening game is great.
Looks like Wilkes-Barre will be without former Caps and Jagr footnote Kris Beech
Just out of curosity...how does South Carolina look this year?
Hershey has a hell of a team but in Wilkes-Barre's defense their #1 goaltender just got back from Sweden (all teams took 3 goalies just in case).
Still probably wouldn't have mattered though, but just sayin'.
@murshawursha - I don't know, but that would RAWK!
I believe some research is in order.
Let's start with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Cup_Finals
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Calder_Cup_champions
We can start in 1936-37 with the Stanley Cup, because that's the first year the Calder Cup was awarded... I'll post results in a bit. :)
I may have missed something, but where is Bouchard. Is he injured?
That's exciting. I'll be following the Bears pretty closely this season, I think, regardless of how terrible they are in NHL '09 Be A Pro :-).
@ DP: Make sure you hook the Bears up with Varlamov (he's in the game on Yaroslavl, I think). He's pretty legit in the game.
@ EW: Not sure on SC, though the Bears sent some good players their way, including Morin and Dovgan.
@murshawursha:
My resources on this hunt are very limited, but... here's what I've found. I cannot guarantee that the affiliations now match the affiliations then. ;-)
In 1939-40, the Providence Reds won the Calder Cup. If we trace them to their present day team, which is the Hartford Wolf Pack, they are currently affiliated with the New York Rangers, who won the Stanley Cup in that season.
In 1994-95, the Albany River Rats won the Calder Cup. They are still the Albany River Rats, and they are currently affiliated with the New Jersey Devils, who won the Stanley Cup in that season.
And that is all. One "long-shot maybe" and one more recent that might just be true.
I'm for 2008-2009 being the Hershey Bears and the Washington Capitals! The Caps have never won the Stanley Cup since the Calder Cup's creation, but the Bears won in 1946-47, 1957-58, 1958-59, 1968-69, 1973-74, 1979-80, 1987-88, 1997-97 and 2005-06.
@ Shawn Luddington:
HERSHEY scratched Greg Amadio, Francois Bouchard, Sean Collins, Andrew Joudrey, Maxime Lacroix, Grant McNeill and Patrick McNeill.
He was a healthy scratch, looks like. The Bears have a pretty big team this year so far...
@JP - You can move Varlamov over to Hershey but I don't think he'll show up on the BAP roster.
1) It could be argued that this season's Hershey Bears would have given the Caps first post lock out team a run for their money!
Faux - I think it could be argued that this Hershey team could give the Toronto Maple Leafs a run for its money.
@i rock the red:
Thanks. I totally think we can do it.
for the person that asked, true, the last time the NHL and AHL champions were from 1 affiliation was in 1995: NJD and Albany
Before that, I believe there were a couple of times in the 70s when Montreal and its affiliate won in the same season.
The last time an org. had its NHL team and AHL team in the respective finals was last season when both Pens teams lost.
for the person that posted about Albany, Albany is no longer affiliated with the NJD; NJ's affiliate is Lowell; Albany is affiliatd with Carolina
oh, and Go Bears!
I work in Tysons corner, and I had the pleasure of seeing the entire Hershey Bears organization sitting in the food court of the mall. The team was on their way to Norfolk. I think I surprised Karl Alzner when I called to him. He looked around to see who was calling, and came right over to talk. We only talked for a few minutes, but I really hope he makes it up to DC soon. By far the nicest athlete I've ever talked to, and probably the most humble.
Also, some Swedish team has Osala.
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