In about a month’s time, Vincent Iorio and the Hershey Bears will be back in action. The 115 days between lifting the Calder Cup and the banner-raising ceremony have passed in a flash, and a new season is quickly approaching. The defending Calder Cup Champions know their schedule, and even with so much time ahead of puck drop on October 14, the break is already over for several players who have filed in for informal skates with the Washington Capitals.
A Short Summer For Vincent Iorio
One of those players is defenseman Vincent Iorio, Washington’s representative at the NHLPA Rookie Showcase. This season will be Iorio’s second professional campaign as he looks to work his way from Hershey to a regular spot in the National Hockey League. Iorio met with the media to talk about the short summer as well as answer some questions about Hershey’s dramatic Calder Cup win just under two months prior.
“I honestly think that seeing some of the older guys with (the Calder Cup),” Vincent Iorio said. “To see some of the guys in their 30s, seeing the joy in their faces after all the hard work we’ve put in the whole year, it’s something really special and it’s kind of ingrained in my head now. I don’t think I’ll ever lose those pictures.”
Iorio was a crucial part of the Bears’ win in Game 7, taking the shot that fellow rookie Hendrix Lapierre deflected into the net that was responsible for sending the game to overtime. The defenseman wore his trademark smile when describing the win, but shared a funny story about the summer: he never got his day with the Calder Cup.
“I actually never had (a day with the Calder Cup),” Iorio said with a laugh. “Apparently there was a form we were supposed to fill out. I didn’t know, I never had a chance to have it for the day.”
Back to School Day
The defenseman reported for duty early, even amongst his peers participating in the first official part of Washington’s road to the regular season: a rookie camp preceding the main event. On September 16, the youngest players including Iorio and Lapierre will hit the ice representing the present alongside the future of the organization. A full roster has not been revealed, but other confirmed attendees include Ivan Miroshnichenko, Alexander Suzdalev, and Andrew Cristall. Those three players will don the Chocolate and White colors at some point in the not-so-distant future.
Rookies aren’t the only ones in town. Earlier in the day, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin led a host of the team’s regulars in an informal scrimmage over two weeks ahead of the main camp. Preseason action won’t get underway until September 24 when the Caps play host to the Buffalo Sabres in an afternoon tilt. It’ll be even longer until the ice is back at Giant Center when the Hershey Bears will get their training camp started, with their lone home preseason tilt on October 6 inside of a month away.
Opportunity to Win
Vincent Iorio is one of several players looking to earn time with the big club in 2023-24. The defenseman figures to make the leap to the NHL full time in the near future, joining teammates like Beck Malenstyn, Connor McMichael, and Aliaksei Protas. The trio of forwards are “penciled in” to be Capitals regulars to start the season according to general manager Brian MacLellan. One will likely return to Hershey when offseason acquisition Max Pacioretty returns to health, but with former Bears bench boss Spencer Carbery in D.C., a youth movement is imminent.
Carbery coached many of the players who lifted the Calder Cup during his tenure from 2018-2021. The youth will help balance a Capitals lineup that boasts superstars like Ovechkin trying to win one more Stanley Cup. Players like Iorio are part of the next generation to take the reins and add to the incredible legacy of the Capitals in addition to being forever linked to the Bears.
The Camping Episode
Washington will whittle a full roster of camp attendees to just 20 men and two or three extras ahead of opening night. There will be some tense days for Bears fans, particularly for players who require clearing waivers as part of the preseason process. Hershey fans saw two players claimed on waivers a year ago who never returned, a sobering reminder of what can happen even before the puck drops in the first game.
The good news is that the Bears figure to be a strong team with a lot of talent up and down their lineup. New additions like Alex Limoges, Pierrick Dube, and Matthew Phillips will be difference-makers alongside a bevy of returning talent that lifted the Calder Cup. It’s a group that will not only live up to the high standard Hershey has but should be able to take a run at the Bears’ third set of back-to-back championships in their illustrious history.
