Gerisch, Malenstyn The Latest Hershey Bears To Reach 100 Games

HERSHEY, Pa. - When they were first drafted by the Washington Capitals, Beck Malenstyn and Shane Gersich had no idea just how eerily similar their hockey careers would be much less that they would be playing in their 100th professional hockey games on back-to-back nights earlier this month. To make things even more strangely ironic, each would go on to record the game-winning goal on the night of the other’s 100th professional game.

Malenstyn, a fifth round pick by the Capitals in the 2016 draft after playing five seasons in the WHL, was the first to 100 on Friday night in Wilkes-Barre, a game that saw Gersich finally put the game to bed with a goal in the sixth round of the shootout.

“I had no idea until I came in today,” Malenstyn, said the day after when asked if he was aware of the milestone going into Friday’s game. “Actually I saw it on the sheet that I had played it last night, so I think being out for so long I was just so excited to get back in the games I had no idea when it was, but pretty cool milestone to be a part of hopefully that just keeps going.”

Gersich, a 5th round pick in the 2014 draft who played three years for the University of North Dakota before making the big jump to the NHL at the end of the 2017-2018 season, on the other hand, played his 100th game Saturday, where Malenstyn, who has six goals and four assists in 28 games this season, was able to corral a bouncing puck and put it into the back of the net late in the final period for the game-winner. In 35 games this season, Gersich has recorded five goals and five assists, but it is his speed and willingness to chase the puck into the boards that is noticeable on a nightly basis.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know until some of the guys told me tonight,” Gersich admitted. “It’s gone by pretty fast, but at the same time it’s been awesome. (I am) pretty fortunate to play for a pretty great organization with Washington and Hershey. Like I said it’s gone by pretty quick, and it’s been fun.”

For both, their time in Hershey so far has been shaped in large part by guys like Mike Sgarbossa, Travis Boyd, Nathan Walker, Riley Barber, and Jayson Megna to name a few.

“I can’t say enough about every guy that you mentioned, Malenstyn said. “From top to bottom, they really took our young guys in last year, I want to say we had almost 11 rookies, 9 to 11 rookies, and their leadership for us was huge. The one guy you touched on was Walker. I spent a lot of time with him, Garrett (Pilon) and I did. I actually ended up living with him at the end of the year, and he’s someone I’m still in touch with quite a bit and I am pretty close with. He’s a guy who plays a game pretty similar to mine. He might be a little bit smaller than me, but you could argue that he’s more tenacious - you can’t take that away from him. He was awesome, took me under his wing, like I said, I can’t say thank-you to those guys enough. From all the little details of just how to be a pro and just being welcoming you know you come in as a young guy, you have guys who are 29 years old and you’re 21, they were awesome.”

Gersich agreed, “For sure, I think it’s awesome. That’s just part of the culture here in Hershey. We’re pretty fortunate to get some older guys or veteran guys whatever you want to call them that are really good to the younger guys they do take you under their wing and show you what it’s like to be a pro and how hard you have to work and they treat you great, so I think we’re pretty lucky to be here in Hershey and they do a great job of having some older guys who are good to us.”

But those feelings of good fortune were put to the test recently as both missed multiple games due to injury. Gersich missed five games from December 14th through the 27th. Malenstyn was an injury scratch from December 8 through January 5, 11 games in addition to the four he missed at the end of November during his recall.

“I think the hardest part is just staying in it mentally,” Gersich said. “You really want to be out there with the guys, and you’re kind of away from them at the rink and practice and stuff. That’s probably the hardest part, you just want to be out there with the guys competing with them and playing with them. In terms of the physical stuff you kind of have a timeline of maybe when you’re going to come back, so that’s probably the easier part; I think staying in it mentally is the hardest part.”

For Malenstyn, his injury came just after his first recall to Washington where he appeared in three games for the Capitals before being sent “back down” to Hershey.

“Phenomenal, it was a dream come true for me,” Malenstyn said of his experience in Washington. “Coming back, unfortunately I was only able to get into three games before getting hurt. It’s definitely a bitter taste in my mouth that I want to just keep working, keep improving and so I can get back up there. It was definitely an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything and it just made it really, really exciting to get keep working to get back.”

Unlike Malenstyn, Gersich appeared in three regular season games and two playoff games during Washington’s Stanley Cup Championship season at the very beginning of his professional career, after finishing his junior season at the University of North Dakota.

“It was a dream come true,” Gersich agreed. “Obviously you dream about that your whole life and you work for that your whole life and then to see it come true, it’s amazing. Obviously being down here, you’re working as hard as you can to get back up there.”

For both though, learning from their experiences in Washington has really helped them.

“There are some superstars up there and they are a pro every day at the rink and what they bring to the rink everyday is so consistent,” Gersich said. “At the same time they have fun. Hockey’s a fun game and they bring a great attitude to the rink everyday.”

Malenstyn added, “From the coaching staff to the players, it’s really just the little plays. They’re not any faster, some guys might be stronger, but it’s not crazy, they’re just smarter. Every single player knows exactly where to be at every moment on the ice, so to be able to make quick plays and know where people are is huge and that’s something we spent a lot of time on in practice, so to continue to polish those little skills, they’re expected up there, so you have to be polished up and steady.”

Oh, and that no-longer-a-secret rookie skate on the first game? Well, that’s a little scary, but exciting at the same time.

“I did have to do that,” Malenstyn admitted. (Mine was) “at Madison Square Garden, that was a pretty special moment for me.”

“Yeah, you’re thinking don’t slip on a puck or don’t fall or anything because you’re the only one out there, but everyone knows that’s coming and that was pretty special,” said Gersich of his own rookie skate-alone.

As the third and fourth prospects to skate in their 100th professional game this year, the future certainly looks bright for this crop of forwards --and they will certainly be ready when that opportunity arises.