Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Spring weather, a team golf outing, and extra time to prepare for the Calder Cup Playoffs sounds like a good deal for a hockey player.
The Hershey Bears call it “Hell Week,” however.
That’s because head coach Todd Nelson uses the time between the end of the regular season and the start of the Calder Cup Playoffs as a mini-training camp of sorts for his players.
Think skating. Lots and lots of skating.
The regular-season schedule does not always allow for extensive conditioning work, at least not to the standard that Nelson wants. Conditioning is a point that Nelson returned to multiple times during the regular season. By finishing first in the Atlantic Division and earning a first-round bye, the Bears earned themselves a week of hard, demanding practices.
Nelson’s methods have worked twice already for the Bears, who are trying to become the first team since 1962 to win three consecutive Calder Cup championships. In 2023, Hershey had 12 full days off before opening the playoffs. Last year and again this year, a 10-day break. The Bears host Lehigh Valley tonight in Game 1 of an Atlantic Division semifinal series at Giant Center.
Many of this year’s Bears went through both championship runs. Mike Vecchione and Matt Strome were Cup-clinching overtime heroes. Hunter Shepard and Hendrix Lapierre won playoff MVP awards.
It all makes for an amply experienced roster. But it’s also a group that has been through a lot of wear-and-tear, including a franchise-record 10-game road trip this past March. Keeping conditioning at an elite level is a key component of Nelson’s plan, and who could argue with someone who has five Calder Cup championships to his name, including three as a head coach?
Talk of a three-peat arose quickly last summer among the Hershey fan base. It is not something that Nelson and his players have avoided, nor have they made it a focal point. They are well aware of the opportunity to do something that no team has done in 63 years. They also know that even getting out of the Atlantic Division will be a demanding task. Winning that third Calder Cup will require them to chip away each night through the postseason just like they did the past two years.
Defenseman Brad Hunt joined the Bears last summer as a free agent and made it clear that he came to Hershey to win a championship in his 13th full pro season. Hunt has reached a Stanley Cup Final with the Vegas Golden Knights – although he did not play any games that postseason – and he won a World Championship gold medal with Canada. A Calder Cup title certainly would be a nice addition for the veteran, who played for Nelson with the Oklahoma City Barons a decade ago.
“This is honestly why we play,” Hunt said. “You dream lifting the Cup… For a lot of us, this is the Stanley Cup now. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Hunt has played a lot of hockey in his career, including 288 games in the NHL. So what feels different when the postseason arrives?
“I think everything’s just ramped up,” he said. “Every mistake is bigger, every goal is bigger, every hit is bigger, every fight is bigger. Everything means that much more, and everyone wants the same thing.
“The history of Hershey makes this Cup that much bigger, and we’ve got a target on our backs. Everyone knows that. Everyone wants to win just as much as we do.
There is hunger among the returnees as well. Garrett Roe has announced that he will be retiring after this season. The Virginia native returned to play close to home last year after 10 seasons in Europe. He got a Calder Cup ring last year, and another one to close out a 14-year pro career would be even better.
Last spring, Roe found himself in and out of Nelson’s lineup. But when he was most needed, he delivered, scoring the Game 7 overtime goal against Cleveland to send the Bears to the Calder Cup Finals.
“Playoffs are a different animal,” Roe said. “Things can switch in a single moment. You never know when guys might get banged up, the lineup changes. Do what you’re asked to do, and do it with your chin held high.”
Nelson had a succinct goal in mind for the days leading up to tonight.
“Get the guys together so they’re in the right frame of mind moving forward,” Nelson outlined. “As a group they don’t want to go home early. They want to play with this group as long as they can. This is where a lot of guys shine, and this is where players are defined.”
“It’s a special group, man,” Hunt said. “To win two Cups in a row and have a chance to win a third… We’re all there for each other. It’s a big family.”
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
