The Washington Capitals and the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League have extended their affiliation agreement through 2009-2010, with an option for 2011.
The Bears, one of the AHL’s elite franchises, recently completed their third season as Washington’s AHL affiliate under the current agreement. Hershey has qualified for the playoffs each of the last three years and won the Calder Cup as the champions of the AHL in 2005-06 and advanced to the Calder Cup finals in 2006-07.
Thirteen former or current Bears – Chris Bourque, Frederic Cassivi, John Erskine, Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleischmann, Boyd Gordon, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Quintin Laing, Sami Lepisto, Joe Motzko, Jeff Schultz and David Steckel – skated for Washington this past season, as the Capitals won the Southeast Division and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Washington goaltender Brent Johnson also played one game for the Bears this past season on a conditioning stint.
The Capitals recent success with Hershey extends beyond the players and to the coaching staff as well. Washington, searching for a new head coach 21 games into last season, promoted then Hershey bench boss Bruce Boudreau to lead the NHL squad. Boudreau, who coached Hershey the previous two seasons, guided the Capitals to one of their most successful campaigns in team history. In his 61 games behind the bench, the Capitals posted a 37-17-7 record and ended the regular season on a seven-game winning streak. Boudreau is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, which is presented annually to the NHL coach who has contributed the most to his team’s success.
The Bears have been pretty good to the Caps, so I guess the Caps should return the favor. This will have no impact on Washington’s other minor league affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays.
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