Hershey Becoming Home For The Sgarbossas

HERSHEY, Pa. - Now one full decade into his professional career Mike Sgarbossa has called several cities home, but the past few years in Hershey have brought about significant changes off the ice that have further made Hershey feel like home including the birth of his son, Sonny, in 2020 and the impending birth of his second child with wife, Kylie.

The Canadian-born center began his professional career with the Lake Erie Monsters and Colorado Avalanche in 2012-2013. After stints in Anaheim and Florida in the NHL as well as Norfolk, San Diego, Springfield, and Manitoba, Sgarbossa finally arrived in Hershey during the 2018-2019 season. After a 65-point season his first year in Hershey, he has split time between Hershey and Washington each of the past three seasons with the organization.

Now back in Hershey for the start of the 2022-2023 season, Sgarbs, as he is known around the rink, has four points (2G, 2A) in just five games for the Bears after not making the trip to Charlotte in Week 2.

"I didn't have to deal with that (the travel headaches the team dealt with yet again on a Charlotte trip), which was, I mean, nice. It sucks to miss games, but my wife is obviously pregnant. And we were told that it could be coming at any point. So it's tough in Charlotte, because it's hard to get back, a little bit easier for Hartford because we can drive," Sgarbossa said, explaining his absence from Charlotte.

Still, Sonny Sgarbossa’s sibling did not make an appearance during Week 2, so Mike Sgarbossa headed to Hartford on Friday for the team’s first three-in-three of the season. By the end of the weekend, he had certainly made up for lost time, scoring a pair of goals in Hershey’s victory over Lehigh Valley.

"He was good, you know, last weekend, he didn't play, so anytime you don't play a game for a couple of weeks, you're a bit rusty," Todd Nelson said of Sgarbossa last weekend, adding, "I thought he got better as the weekend went on. You know, him and his wife are expecting another child, so I'm sure that's on his mind too, and she's due at any time now, so it was nice to see him get rewarded tonight."

Unfortunately, at the end of the three-in-three weekend, Kylie had still not gone into labor with the couple’s second child.

"Yeah, any day now, so I'm hoping that happens during this week and that we don't have to miss any games on the weekend. She's been looking on WebMD a million times and texting me what we can do, and so I think it's coming (at) some point here; it's going to come in the next couple of days," Sgarbossa predicted.

As for possible names, Sgarbossa said, "We're not sure; we're kind of going back and forth on a couple and I think we're gonna wait till we see. It's a boy, so we're gonna see him and maybe he looks like this one or the other. But yeah, I don't know. We've had a disagreement on this one. (The) first one was simple. The second one I'm finding a lot harder, because the second and third options we had for the first one that we don't want to use so I don't know. It's definitely different."

One name that is out of the mix for sure, though - Michael.

"Yeah, that's my name though. I don't know. I don't want to do that," Sgarbossa concluded.