Any time the Hershey Bears break a team record, it’s easy to forget how hard that is. The American Hockey League’s most tenured franchise is in its 86th season, with only the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League operating with a longer streak. Hershey’s win on Wednesday lifted the team to its best ever start through 20 games with a mark of 16-4-0-0, lifting this team to an unique place in team history. Only the 1946-47 team (15-4-1) and the 1957-58 group (15-3-2) had such stellar starts, with both seasons ending with a Calder Cup title.
Nothing Stronger Than Family
The Bears captured their 16th win in atypical fashion, claiming a 7-5 win in a barn burner against Wilkes-Barre. Down 3-1 after the first period, it was a game where the team could have let off the gas pedal and reveled in what has been a great start overall. Instead, Hershey got back to work and filled the net, scoring six of the next eight goals to turn the game around. The Bears are known for their defensive prowess, having won their last three games by a 2-1 count, but this time their offense carried them to the win. The team’s secret? It’s straight out of Vin Diesel’s ‘Fast and the Furious’ movies.
“Our motto is family,” Bears defenseman Vincent Iorio said after Wednesday’s game. “We definitely have that as our group this year. Last year went really well for us, but we’re hungrier than ever and we’re here to get things done. We’re going to continue with that family motto of building day-by-day and getting even closer as a group.”
That mindset has served the team well to get to this point. Bears head coach Todd Nelson talked about going through adversity after Hershey defeated the Iowa Wild on Sunday. Although Wednesday’s game is likely far from how Hershey’s bench boss would want to win games, the team faced serious adversity but showed great resilience to earn the win. All four lines scored goals in the win as a great reflection of the total commitment of the group.
The Standard
“We’ve got some firepower this year,” Bears forward Joe Snively told broadcast partner FOX43 on Wednesday. “We won the championship last year and that’s our standard now again. The culture here is to win hockey games. We’ve had a really good start to the year, and we’re not taking that for granted.”
It all adds up to a remarkable start to Hershey’s title defense. The Bears wrap up the month of November with a record of 10-2-0-0 and a seven game winning streak. Their record looks even better factoring out one of their losses on Opening Night. Another loss occurred with a fraction of a second left earlier this month. It’s a scary prospect for the rest of the league to consider the Bears haven’t had many ideal wins at their full power yet.
The start has already put the Bears in some elite company. Both teams from over half a century ago whose records this year’s team eclipsed on Wednesday share the most important prize: a Calder Cup title. At the end of the day, there are 52 games left to be played and only championships earn banners at Giant Center. It’s important to remember how hard it is to make history in this storied organization, but the ultimate goal remains the same: bring home the Calder Cup.
