This article originally appeared in The Hockey News Jul 4, 2006/vol. 59, issue 37
BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
The street lights are shaped like chocolate kisses in downtown Hershey, Pa., but Calder Cups would be more appropriate.
Chocolatetown, U.S.A., has again been overwhelmed by the sweet sensation of championship hockey.
Ousting the Milwaukee Admirals in six games, the Bears tied an American League record set by the old Cleveland Barons by winning the ninth Calder Cup in franchise history and their first since 1996-97.
“Our players were hungry,” said coach Bruce Boudreau. “There was just so much pride and character on this team.”
And talent. From Tomas Fleischmann’s 11 goals and 32 points, Kris Beech’s 14 goals and 28 points, to rookie defenseman Mike Green’s three goals and 18 points, to the suffocating check of Dave Steckel, Boyd Kane and Boyd Gordon, the Bears dominated the spring.
After steamrolling Norfolk and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 4-0 series sweeps, the Bears were taken to seven games by Portland and then rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 series deficits against Milwaukee.
“All season we were so consistent, so disciplined,” said goalie Frederic Cassivi. “We always bounced back after a rough performance.”
Like in the final, when a 2-0 loss on home ice put Hershey down 2-1 in the series.
“Guys were so mad at themselves,” Boudreau said. “They knew we stunk the place out.”
They took out their anger on the Admirals, posting 7-2, 6-4 and 5-1 victories to win the Cup. They beat the Admirals the same way they bounced Norfolk, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Portland: by taking advantage of the bulk up front provided by forwards Steckel (6-foot-5, 220 pounds), Kris Beech (6-foot-2, 220), Graham Mink (6-foot-3, 225), Eric Fehr (6-foot-3, 210) and others.
“We got the puck deep and big, strong forwards controlled the boards,” Boudreau said. “Fleischmann and Beech stickhandle as well as anyone in the AHL, but we won because we punished the defensemen on the other team and wore them down. Every series, we wore the other team’s ‘D’ down. We weren’t trying to win Game 1 10-0 and hope it would carry us.”
We always bounced back after a rough performance. -Frederic Cassivi
Cassivi went 16-5 in the playoffs with a 2.10 goals-against average and .931 save percentage, good enough to be named MVP.
“Our forwards were the strength of our team and I almost wish one of them would have won it,” said Cassivi, who met his wife in Hershey in 1999 and has made his off-season home there ever since.
Cassivi’s name was etched on a Calder Cup plaque in 2002 with the Chicago Wolves, but he was the backup to Pasi Nurminen for nearly all of that title run.
“It’s a lot more special this time around,” Cassivi said.
It was a championship planned since the previous summer when management of the Bears and Capitals put together the roster. This was the first season of their affiliation partnership.
“You have to give Hershey and Washington credit,” said defenseman Mark Wotton, who played in Russia last season. “They wanted to put a championship team together and they didn’t just talk about it. They did it.”
The Bears went 44-21-5-10 in the regular season, but as the schedule wound down, the team believed it could be even better.
They wanted a strong, smart, versatile winger, so they obtained Colin Forbes – a 10-year veteran with more than 300 games of NHL experience – from the Lowell Lock Monsters. They wanted another scoring threat at center, so Beech came back to the Capitals organization in a deadline-day deal that sent Washington defenseman Brendan Witt to Nashville.
Beech was playing in Milwaukee when he learned five minutes before the 3 p.m. trade deadline that he was heading to the Capitals, who drafted him seventh overall in 1999.
“I was going back to where I belonged,” Beech said. “What impressed me was they had a group of guys who would pay the price.”
And before he knew it, the Bears were dancing with the Cup with country superstar Tim McGraw. Near the end of his concert at the Giant Center in Hershey, McGraw called the Bears up on stage.
“He was singing, ‘I like it, I love it’ and he grabbed the Cup and held it over his head,” Boudreau said. “I ran into a lady who said, ‘I paid $300 for my tickets, but I’m more excited I saw the Bears.’ ”
CHOCOLATE CHAMPS
Hershey has a Calder Cup title in every decade since the AHL formed.