The road to the Calder Cup: recapping the Hershey Bears’ path to their 13th championship
HERSHEY, Pa. (WHTM) – The Hershey Bears were crowned back-to-back Calder Cup Champions on Monday night for the first time since the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
The Bears have been on a quest to “Repeat the Roar” since training camp began. Hershey defenseman Aaron Ness shared on Oct. 3, 2023, how he felt before the start of this season.
“I’m hungrier now than I was last year,” Ness said after the first day of training camp. “I want to win again. Once you get a taste of it, it’s nothing like it. I want it more this year than I wanted it last year.”
Ness and the rest of the Hershey Bears have completed their mission and brought home another Cup to Chocolatetown.
But it’s never an easy road to victory.
Hershey Bears crowned back-to-back Calder Cup Champions after overtime thriller >
The regular season
The Bears punched their ticket to their 71st postseason berth on March 10, becoming the first in the AHL this season to secure a playoff appearance.
Hershey clinched the 2023-24 Atlantic Division title and claimed the Eastern Conference Championship when they topped the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 1-0 on April 2.
The Bears then clinched first place in the AHL, sealing the Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL Regular-Season Champions, on April 13. The last time the Bears completed that feat was in the shortened 2020-21 season. The Bears have now won a Calder Cup championship five of the nine times they finished as the regular season champs (1946-47, 1957-58, 1987-88, 2009-10, 2023-24).
Hershey had a 53-14 regular season record with a 0.771%.
Historic Teddy Bear Toss
The Hershey Bears set a new world record with their iconic Teddy Bear Toss this season in January. A total of 74,599 stuffed animals rained down on the ice when Bears’ Bogdan Trineyev scored against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
The stuffed animals were donated to students at Milton Hershey School and Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning.
Over 70k stuffed animals thrown onto ice during Hershey Bears Teddy Bear Toss >
The Bears already owned the world record for collecting over 67,000 stuffed animals the year before. Hershey has collected about 389,508 stuffed animals to donate to charity since 2001.
The Awards
In April Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson was awarded the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award for AHL outstanding coach of the 2023-24 season. The second-year Bears coach is the sixth coach in the franchise to earn the award.
“Apparently people say that I have a gift, (but) I’m just being who I am,” said Nelson in an interview with abc27 in April. “I’ve been very blessed with good players over the years to have success.”
That same month Hershey Bears goaltender Hunter Shepard was given the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award for the AHL outstanding goaltender for the 2023-24 season, becoming the fourth goalie in Bears history to earn the award.
Shepard led the league in the regular season with a 1.76 goals-against average, which is the lowest in Hershey’s history and fifth-lowest ever in the AHL. Shepard’s .838 win percentage set a new single-season record in Hershey’s history, a number that was also the second-highest in AHL history.
Hershey Bears head coach reflects on career ahead of Calder Cup Playoff run >
The Calder Cup Playoffs
The Bears had a bye for the first round of the playoffs and began their Calder Cup hunt by topping the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 3-1 in the Atlantic Division Semifinals (2-1 Hershey, 5-1 Hershey, 2-0 Lehigh Valley, 5-3 Hershey).
They then swept the Hartford Wolf Pack 3-0 in the Atlantic Division Finals (6-1, 4-2, 4-1).
Hershey faced the Cleveland Monsters in the Eastern Conference Finals and battled to make it out alive. The first two games of the series required overtime with Hershey winning both games (5-4, 3-2). The Bears took game three 6-2 and it looked like the Bears might be able to complete another sweep.
The Monsters however weren’t going down without a fight. Cleveland went on to win the next three games (3-2, 5-1, 3-2 OT) to force a Game 7. Hershey advanced to the Calder Cup Finals with a nail-biting 3-2 overtime Game 7 victory, taking the series over Cleveland 4-3.
Coachella Valley and Hershey met again in the Finals for the second consecutive season. The Firebirds took the first game 4-3 and the Bears evened the series in Game 2 with a commanding 5-2 victory. Coachella Valley took back the series lead with a 6-2 Game 3 victory and Hershey tied the series again in Game 4 with a 3-2 final.
The Bears took the series edge for the first time with another 3-2 win on Saturday, June 22 in Game 5.
Hershey earned back-to-back Calder Cup championships by taking the 2023-24 crown on Monday, June 24 with a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory. The Bears Pierrick Dube had a hat trick in the victory and Matt Strome scored the game-winner.
Hendrix Lapierre was named the Calder Cup Playoff MVP. Lapierre led the postseason with 22 points (7 goals, 15 assists).
Bears’ goalie Hunter Shepard played in every playoff game, putting up a 2.49 GAA with a .910 SV% and a 14-6 postseason record.
The Bears have now hoisted a league-leading 13 Calder Cups.
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