This preseason, the Caps are headed to Hershey to face the Flyers

Washington Post

4 days ago

John Carlson hasn't been back to Hershey since he won the Calder Cup with the Bears in 2010. Carlson was just 20 then, at the beginning of what turned into a long career with the Washington Capitals. But the defenseman, now 35 and more than 1,000 games into his NHL career, will be back in Pennsylvania this fall.
The Capitals are scheduled to face the Philadelphia Flyers in a preseason game at Hershey's Giant Center on Sept. 25. It will be the first time Washington has played in Hershey since 2006.
This year brings the 20th anniversary of Washington's affiliation with the Bears, a partnership that has produced five Calder Cup titles and 69 players who made stops in the American Hockey League with Hershey on their way to playing for Washington in the NHL. Both sides have long been pleased with the affiliation, which last year was extended through 2030.
The first phase of renovations at Capital One Arena, which is expected to be complete in time for the regular season in October, presented an opportunity for the Capitals to join forces with the Bears and celebrate the anniversary. Bryan Helmer, Hershey's vice president of hockey operations, said he has wanted to bring Washington to town for a preseason game since he got the job nine years ago. This year, the timing worked out.
'Every year, Bryan Helmer asks, like, 'Hey, just so you know, we'd love to have you guys up here if you want to do a game,'' Capitals General Manager Chris Patrick said. 'I know they're going to be really excited. The fans are going to be really excited. I think it'll be really cool for our guys, too.'
'We're so ecstatic and very excited about it, to have them come down,' Helmer said. 'It's a big year for the affiliation, being the 20th season anniversary, so that just puts the icing on the cake. … I know [Bears fans are] going to be very excited and this place is going to be rocking on the 25th of September.'
For Carlson, heading back to Hershey will be a welcome trip down memory lane.
'It's a great idea,' he said. 'Obviously it's meaningful for me to go back there, and I have many memories there and owe a lot of my success to my development through those times. I think it's just exciting to do something a little different. Innovation is crucial and also a lot of fun.'
Carlson has toyed with the idea of bringing his four children to Hershey for a playoff game in recent years, but the plan never fully materialized. Now, they'll get to see their dad play an NHL preseason game in the building where he made his debut as a professional in 2009.
'I think the fans will enjoy it. They're very, very passionate in their own way,' Carlson said. 'They're going to be just thrilled to have some ex-players, some Capitals. A lot of them, they might have never seen, you know, Rasmus Sandin play, but now they're fans of him and they get to see him, too. There's kind of all different angles of how cool it will be for the fans. I'm sure, knowing them, they're going to go above and beyond to make it an NHL big league atmosphere.'
Last season, Hershey had the third-highest attendance in the AHL, with 9,744 in the building on average. (Giant Center's capacity is 10,500.) The fans in Hershey are dedicated and passionate. When Todd Nelson, who coached the Bears the past three years before being hired as an assistant with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was moving into his new home in Hershey, a neighbor stopped by to introduce herself — and remind him that it had been 13 years since the Bears won the Calder Cup.
Under Nelson's watch, Hershey won the Calder Cup in 2023 and 2024. The Bears also went back-to-back in 2009 and 2010, when Carlson was on the team.
'When you're a champion in Hershey, our fans don't forget about it,' Helmer said. 'They'll be very excited to see a guy like John Carlson back in Hershey and skating on the Giant Center rink.'
In addition to Carlson, seven other players — Tom Wilson, Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, Martin Fehervary, Ethen Frank, Dylan McIlrath and Alex Alexeyev — on Washington's roster at the end of last season spent time in Hershey along their journey with the Capitals.
'The affiliation has been so successful, and the relationship that we have with Washington, for them to have a preseason game down here is very exciting,' Helmer said. 'It just shows you how strong the relationship is to have them come down and show [off] the Capitals players and what they bring every day up there. To bring [them] down here is pretty sweet.'
'It's just been such a good relationship,' Patrick added. 'It's nice that we can show that we're invested in their community and their fans as well, because their fans are so supportive of us all the time.'