Carbery Honored to be 'Entrusted to Lead New Chapter in Bears Hockey'

HERSHEY - It was, for Hershey Bears fans, a long wait since an announcement in late April that Troy Mann would not be returning as Hershey’s head coach, but at noon on Wednesday, the Hershey Bears held a press conference to introduce their 26th coach in franchise history.

Enter Spencer Carbery.

The 36-year-old is currently the second youngest coach in the AHL and brings playing and coaching experience to the job along with quite a bit of patience as he not only had to wait out the selection process since Washington made their run to their first Stanley Cup, but also had to patiently answer interview questions as the local media outlets showed up in droves to welcome the newcomer.

According to Hershey’s press release, the Victoria, British Columbia native played collegiate hockey for St. Norbert College before beginning his professional career with the Tulsa Oilers of the CHL. His ECHL playing resume includes stints in Bakersfield, Stockton, Fresno, and South Carolina where he helped the Stingrays win the Kelly Cup in 2009.

The following year, Carbery returned to the bench, but not as a player. He served one season as an assistant to Cail MacLean before being named South Carolina’s head coach in 2011. In his five-year stint as head coach of the Stingrays, Carbery’s teams qualified for the Kelly Cup Playoffs each season. He was named the ECHL’s Coach of the Year in 2014. To date, he is the winningest coach in South Carolina history.

In 2016, Carbery was named the head coach of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit and coached Team Canada Black alongside Louis Robitaille in the 2017 U-17 World Hockey Challenge, where he gained valuable experience working with younger players which will help with coaching the talented prospects that end up in Hershey this season. Last season, he was an assistant for Jay Leach in Providence, which further allowed Carbery to gain valuable insight into building and cultivating a cohesive lockerroom.

With several former Stingrays potentially on the roster for opening night, Carbery will certainly have some help as guys assimilate to his coaching style. If they are in Hershey, Vitek Vanecek, Tyler Lewington, and Nathan Walker, among others, will be reunited with their former coach. This would be a huge help to Carbery who admittedly has much to do before camp opens.

In addition to those friendly faces in the lockerroom, Carbery has reunited with Zack Fisch and Graham Jenkins, both of whom have relocated to Hershey from South Carolina in the past two seasons respectively. Hershey has certainly had success with recalls on and off the ice, and the charismatic new bench boss with the strong competitive streak, is poised to continue that tradition and fully understands just how important it is for this franchise to return to AHL prominence.

Q and A with Spencer Carbery

What are your emotions right now?

I’d say number 1 excited. Excited about the opportunity, getting to meet a lot of people, getting to meet the community, and then getting into the city. You can just feel it, how neat of a town this is and how much hockey community it is.

What are your thoughts on the traditions of this franchise?

I think it’s something that our players can embrace. I think the expectation of us wanting to win while developing is an important piece, but I don’t care what organization it is, when the puck drops we want to win hockey games, and we’re going to develop along with that, but we’re going to create that mindset with fans that this organization has that expectation and it won’t be anything different this year.

What might this team look like this coming season?

I think there will be a large amount of turnover, so there’s a lot of new Washington prospects coming in and then potentially some new veteran guys. So I think there will be quite a bit of turnover, and with the way we play and that, we’re going to stay in line with the way Washington plays and that, but I’ll try to put my stamp on this team and how we’re going to be an exciting team to watch and a hard team to play against.

**How would you describe your coaching style?

I think the biggest thing for me is our puck pursuit. We’re a team that’s going to work, away from the puck, when we have it - we’re going to work. So I think when you encompass that in a full game it makes us a really hard team to play against when you have 20 guys that are really all over the puck

What was your reaction when you got the call?

I was thrilled. After the initial reaction, it was what do I need to do. Initially when they called me and said that I was the guy for this position, I was just ecstatic.

What was the interview process like?

It was an extended process because of Washington and their playoff run, so it wasn’t a quick sort of we’ll talk to you in a couple of days, it was over a couple of weeks. But I felt good. What I felt good about was that they knew me as a coach and they knew me as a person and a lot of people have seen me, not just knowing and having a personal relationship, they saw me coach, they saw me run a bench. They saw me run practices, they saw me in meetings with players, so I felt good about that. ANd then ultimately just tried to convey what I felt like I could do for this organization and the prospects and the winning element and then you just kind of hope that call comes.

What is that process like when you interview with people that you know and are familiar with?

It’s interesting that you say that because a lot of their questions were less about getting to know me - they knew me and my character. It was more about how would you handle this - a lot of interesting scenarios to try to pick at me as a coach to see how am I going to handle these development issues or development situations and how am I going to handle winning and making sure that we have a standard in Hershey of producing.

You’ve been able to interview three times in the last three years, so I guess you’ve gotten some experience. Does that help going into it?

Yeah, I think so. I think the more comfortable that you’re feeling - having going to Saginaw in the OHL and then going through the process in Boston last year, I definitely felt more comfortable.

You’ve had different rolls, assistant coach, head coach - ECHL, OHL, Providence, what have you taken from those different roles and different leagues?

A lot. And I think that’s what may give me a bit of an advantage as a coach because I have so recently seen the OHL, the American Hockey League, the ECHL, been a head coach, in both leagues, I’ve seen the young 15, 16, 17-year-old player. I’ve seen the European 17-year-old player, 18-year-old player. There’s a lot of different elements to that, that now I’ve okay, wow, that’s something different, now I’m going to have to talk to this player this way. That year in the OHL really helped me and then last year in the American League and now seeing some of these first round picks and second round picks and European players and that, it’s helped me a lot.

In some ways the AHL is a bit of a combination where you get the 1st round guys, guys that are on the fast track and you get the ECHL guys, guys that are just trying to scrap to stay - can that help you in terms of those personalities?

I think so, and the development component, for me and getting the most out of these young guys is now knowing where they come from. Drafting a kid at 15-year-old and meeting his family, I was a part of that. And it’s a different generation, there’s a different way to coach, there’s a different way to communicate. That’s what I learned a lot about being in that league, and then also now you know my experience from coaching pros and being the head guy and being demanding but also being able to understand that these guys are pros and they have to be treated a certain way.

Are you excited to get down to development camp?

Yes, I am. I’m leaving right from here to drive there. I’m not going to go on the ice or anything, I just want to watch and get a feel for some guys that we may see next year.

Some of those guys obviously are familiar to you from your time in SC - how does that help in the locker room setting with having guys in there who will know you and know your system?

I think it will help with having coached Vitek, if he’s here, Tyler Lewington even Nathan Walker, I just think it helps them have a comfortable relationship. They know what I expect, they know how I communicate and then they can help the other guys I haven’t coached before - I think it helps a lot.

In the ECHL and the OHL you have a lot more autonomy, you run the show. Up here,  you’re closer to the Caps. How do you navigate that?

I look at it sort of in a different way - it’s less responsibility. Now I can kind of focus my time. In the ECHL it’s a lot more scouting, on the phone, to where now I can use that time focusing on preparing our team to play, working with individuals, practicing, doing all that type of stuff to where I can be a bit more efficient and focused. And a staff, so I will have two very, very capable coaches who take take a lot of that load so that’s going to be a huge help.

You mentioned younger players today are different - you’re kind of in that in-between generation... how do you walk that line?

So, I try to relate to the guys. I’m fairly young, I have a lot of energy. I prepare well, but I try to relate to them and get to know them, and I feel like it’s just when you connect with a young player, it’s not always the same with each one, you have to take the time to do that. You have to take the time to care about them and you want to see them succeed. And that’s what I try to do with all of our guys, whether he’s from the Czech Republic, whether he’s from Canada, it doesn’t matter. They’re going to know that I care about them and that I want to see them succeed, so I’m going to take the time to do everything that I can. That doesn’t mean that it’s going to be all roses and butterflies, it’s sometimes there’s tough love and instances of that, but at the end of the day, they will know that I care about them.

Jay Leach - 1st year guy in Providence himself last season - what was that experience like?

Jay, because he didn’t have that experience, a lot of my responsibility was bouncing ideas off of him. Having had that head coach experience, I had a great experience there coaching with him and Chad Whitfield, it was a great year.

Providence long been known for having tight rooms, is that something you want to have with your team here?

I would love that. I completely agree with you. That was one of the things I noticed in Providence last year. Coming in as an outsider and seeing how that group operates (Tommy Cross, Chris Brean, Jordan Szwarz), those type of players and the impact that they have on a young team, it was pretty impressive to watch.

Hershey’s not your typical AHL hockey club - there’s real pressure here to win. How do you balance that with the development of guys?

It’s going to be focused on, and I think that the big thing that I’m going to touch on, is to embrace it. Don’t be afraid of it. Anywhere you go, whether the organization says that they only care about development not really winning games, ok, when the puck drops at the NHL level, you want to win. And you want to win that puck battle, and you want to get that puck out, and you want to score a goal. It’s a mind-set for me. It’s not to say that you panic or if you fail you get down on yourself, we expect to win. You’re going to make mistakes, you’re a young hockey player, and that’s okay, but if you come in with a mindset that I’m going to find a way to win this hockey game, and I expect to win this puck battle and I expect to win all these situations, well now that stuff will take care of itself and now we’re going to win some hockey games.

There’s more tradition here than in lots of NHL teams. What is it like coming into that?

It’s big. You can tell from the phone calls and the texts. There’s a lot of eyes on this market and this organization, and on the one hand it’s great, and on the other hand, it’s, okay this is a big, big deal. I love that. I love challenges. I love that these guys get to come to the rink everyday, and they’re a big deal. This is a spot where players want to play and players want to be. If I’m playing in that environment, I love that. We’ll try to say, ‘Let’s embrace it. That’s awesome. It’s great.’

Three days away from free agency and not a lot of guys coming back. What’s on your To Do List from now until Bears Camp opens?

First and foremost is get there. And then start the process of what do we have and have the conversations of what do we need. They’re doing a great job - Chris Patrick and Jason Fitzsimmons are working their tails off in this period of time. I have full confidence in them and the players that we sign and the players that will be here, but there will be a lot of communication with us talking and a lot of work to be done over the coming months.