Hershey Making All The Right 'Choices'

HERSHEY, PA. - The Hershey Bears are trending upwards at the right time thanks in large part to having incredible depth, especially at the forward position. Many times, head coaches can find it difficult to manage playing time with such talent, but Todd Nelson has found a way to make his team buy in and it all starts with a single word - 'Choices'.

Following Saturday night's victory in Game 2 of the Atlantic Division Finals, Nelson explained they didn't have a playoff slogan until he was thinking about it one day with about a month left in the season, "We weren't paying the price at a certain time, and so I had a meeting with the guys and I said... Everything is a choice. It's a choice for you to block the shot. It's a choice for you to get pucks in deep. To play the right way, really, you have to make the right choice. And so that's just kind of stuck and that's our motto."

That conversation resonated with the team and they now have t-shirts with the word Choices printed on them. The shirts serve as a reminder that they have those choices to make every time they put a skate on the ice.

"You know, there's so many choices throughout the game, you're not gonna always make the right ones. You have a choice to be a complete player out there, and now it's just -- we went through a whole regular season but you know, the postseason is a different animal. And [Nelson] says you've got to make that choice to make that step and be an impact player. I think everyone's kind of embraced that," forward Mike Vecchione said. "You see out there the past few games, they're making the right choices, whether it's on and off the ice, and we're doing everything we can to keep going here and win the series, but when I look ahead, we're looking at Wednesday. We're gonna get their best and go from there."

That's not to say that Nelson doesn't have choices of his own to make before his team hits the ice. Those choices leave some very talented players sitting on the 5th floor of Giant Center watching instead of playing.

But that “Next Man Up” mentality has been present all season in Hershey, and with such depth, Nelson is able to rest players who are not 100% and still get production. Case in point - Wednesday night, Henrik Borgstrom slotted into the top line in place of an injured Mike Sgarbossa. It was Borgstrom’s first game since April 14 in Bridgeport and scored the game winner in overtime.

Nelson said, "I didn't want to touch the other three lines. The other three lines are playing really well. There's good chemistry, and so [Borgstrom] fits that bill, and I thought that line was better tonight. Obviously we've already got the winner but hopefully that gives him some confidence moving forward and like I said, you only dress 20 players and we have many good hockey players who are not playing."

That depth has been noticeable.

Guys who wouldn't be bottom-six forwards on other AHL teams, namely Alaiksei Protas, Sam Anas, Mason Morelli, Beck Malenstyn, Riley Sutter and Hendrix Lapierre or healthy scratches such as Shane Gersich, Julian Napravnik, Henrik Rybinski, and Matt Strome among others. Protas and Anas are leading the team in postseason points while Protas, Morelli, and Connor McMichael are leading the team in goals with three apiece through six games.

"[If] you look at any championship team, you have depth, and you know, everyone's producing. And you're seeing that from this team. Everyone's just going out there playing for each other, and everyone's getting rewarded, and it's kind of been like that throughout the season too," Vecchione said. "Everyone just sticks together in the locker room, and it's been just such a great brotherhood in there. And that's why we're having so much fun. And yeah, I think, you know, the depth of this team is something that we've been stressing the entirety of the year, and we have guys in the stands who can come in and produce as well."

That brotherhood has been having an incredible amount of fun this season, and it's been evolving the deeper Hershey goes into the year.

"We're talking about a good group to begin with, but the guys have a lot of fun. Anytime you win, it's fun, right? So the guys work hard and they sacrifice their bodies and so for them to enjoy a win, I think it's special because winning is special," Nelson said. "And you know, it's kind of evolved with the bear head and now that sound from the speaker that we press, it's evolved over the course of the year and the guys have fun with it and it's good to see."

That locker room fun has become contagious this season as Nelson has made the choice to participate on a number of occasions, donning the Bear head, roaring, and most recently, in a Hershey Bears released social media post, asking for the speaker noise following Hershey’s overtime victory over Hartford, a game where they came back from a 2-0 deficit for what some would consider an improbable victory.

But those who think that, probably haven't been paying attention. After all, this team is thriving, and it all circles back to choices that are made.

As the series shifts to Hartford, Vecchione and Nelson both acknowledge that the team needs to continue to make the choice to play their style of game and prevent Hartford from getting any life in this series, after all this is the first time Hartford has fallen behind in a series this postseason.

"I think we just got to continue what we're doing. We're playing simple hockey or getting pucks in deep, and we're creating a lot of offense from that," Vecchione said "We know the environment (in Hartford), it's gonna be tough, they're gonna be fighting for their lives, just like Charlotte did. So you gotta expect a really good push from them. But no, it's just all about us and what we're doing in our systems, and it's been working, so we'll continue to do that."

For Nelson, success will come from making the right choices early in Game 3 in Hartford.

"The first five minutes -  that's when we have to be ready. They'll be hungry and their fans will be behind them. It'll be, you know, judging from the games [in the postseason] their fans are coming out in the playoff time so they'll be excited to play at home. You know, in these situations, going down to Charlotte was no picnic," Nelson said despite Hershey’s pair of victories over the Checkers. "You know, the first five minutes are the key, I really think so. You know we got to think of our game plan and get pucks in deep and go to work."

And as for that "fourth" line, well, suffice it to say that Nelson does not choose to shorten his bench like other coaches do.

Nelson said "Well, they like playing together because you know, they have an identity. You know, we started them tonight; I just wanted to establish a forecheck and be physical, and that's a line to throw out there. And, you know, they provided offense for us tonight, as well. They're always gonna be out there in the last minute of the game, to preserve the win. They're dependable hockey players; they work extremely hard to play physical."

Because, after all, that is their choice.