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Hershey Bears season preview
Written by: Courtney Wagner on 10/07/2005 
A fixture in the American Hockey League for 61 seasons, the Hershey Bears are entering a new affiliation with the Washington Capitals -- they were previously affiliated with the Colorado Avalanche. After finishing a disappointing fifth in the East Division in 2004-05, the Bears will be looking to improve on that and make an appearance in the postseason.
Offense
Although the team will be without their top two scorers from last season in Colin Forbes and Jason Ulmer, they will have some added talent that could produce even bigger numbers. Eric Fehr joins Hershey this year, coming from the WHL where he was the leading scorer with 111 points and his 59 goals also led the league. For his efforts he was named to the East first all-star team and was the recipient of the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy for WHL MVP. Fehr brings tremendous offensive upside, combined with toughness, to the Bears.
Another addition that could give an offensive boost to the team is Chris Bourque, son of NHL Hall of Famer Ray Bourque. The younger Bourque had an impressive freshman season with the Boston University Terriers, but will don a Bears jersey this season.
Miroslav Zalesak joins the team this season after playing in Europe during the lockout. This former AHL all-star had 17 goals and 37 points while playing for Litvinov in the Czech league and Skalica in the Slovak league last season. Returning to the fold will be Graham Mink and Brooks Laich, who were tied for third in scoring with the Pirates last season.
Defense
On defense the Bears have skill and experience. Lawrence Nycholat, a 2005 all-star with the Hartford Wolf Pack, had 43 points in 79 games last season. Mike Green, a first round pick in 2004, joins the team after scoring 14 goals and assisting on 52 while with the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL in 2004-05. Those numbers were best of any defenseman in the league and 19th best for any player and his +36 rating was fourth best in the WHL.
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The Bears will also have Jakub Cutta, Mark Wotton and Dwayne Zinger in the mix, all of whom bring AHL experience.
Goaltending
Frederic Cassivi joins the Bears, coming off the best season of his career with Cincinnati where he had a league leading 10 shutouts, a 2.07 goals against average, a .924 save percentage, and 25 wins. The Bears will also have Kirk Daubenspeck, who split time between South Carolina and Portland last year, between the pipes. He had six shutouts and 26 wins in 2004-05.
Maxime Daigneault will begin the season with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL, where he spent most of last season, recording 21 wins and one shutout.
Outlook
After a disappointing season last year with no playoff appearance, the Hershey Bears have a good mix of youthful talent and seasoned veterans. The have some new players that have the ability to put the puck in the net on a regular basis and have experienced and skilled defenseman that can chip in when needed. With a solid tender in net, coming off a strong season, they have all of the pieces to make a run at the playoffs.
Coming off a perfect preseason with three wins in three tries, the Bears open the 2005-06 regular season on the road this Saturday at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Their home opener is on Saturday against the Penguins.
Copyright
2005 Hockey's Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without
permission of the editorial staff.
Copyright 2005 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
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