![\"Spencer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/spencer-carbery-coach.jpg\")
\ud83d\udcf8: Hershey Bears\/JustSports Photography<\/p>\n
Serving as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Carbery reinvigorated the Leafs\u2019 power play during his two seasons north of the border, helping Toronto\u2019s man advantage to a 26.0 percent effectiveness during the 2022-23 season \u2014 good for second best in the league. The Capitals organization came calling again when it parted ways with Peter Laviolette in 2023<\/a>, this time hiring the then 41-year-old Carbery as the head coach of their NHL team.<\/p>\n Since then, Carbery has led the Capitals to two consecutive playoff appearances and a regular-season Eastern Conference crown, earning NHL Coach of the Year honors in 2025. Not only have the Capitals had team success, captain Alex Ovechkin continued scoring at a torrid pace during his age 38 and 39 seasons under Carbery, breaking the NHL goals record on April 6 against the New York Islanders.<\/p>\n Despite his vast success already in the NHL, Carbery never forgot his minor-league roots, where he rose from an ECHL enforcer to become the only head coach in hockey history to win coach of the year honors in the ECHL, AHL, and NHL<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was amazing to come back here, Giant Center, to walk out to a full building,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cEven driving in on the bus today, I had some goosebumps at various moments and pulling up and walking into this building. There\u2019s a lot of great memories here, and brought me back to a few. But being able to go out there and play the way that we did, I was really, really proud of our group. I know it\u2019s an exhibition game, but this game means a little bit more for a lot of guys in our locker room and on our team. And to play the way that we did, I thought we were excellent tonight. So I was glad, really happy we were able to put that on display for the Bears fans.\u201d<\/p>\n Washington never trailed in the matchup, playing in front of a sold-out crowd that was a mix of Capitals, Flyers, and Bears fans. All five goals the Capitals scored came from players who had previously suited up for the Bears in one way or another.<\/p>\n Sonny Milano, who had a brief five-game stint with Hershey in October 2022<\/a>, hit the back of the net twice while Andrew Cristall (two-time Bears\u2019 black ace), Ivan Miroshnichenko (2024 Calder Cup champion), and Connor McMichael (2023 Calder Cup champion) added goals themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, [tonight] was special,\u201d McMichael said. \u201cI mean, right when I found out that this game was happening, I wanted to play in it. It\u2019s something I had marked on the calendar all summer.\u201d<\/p>\n Hendrix Lapierre, a major part of the Bears\u2019 back-to-back championship teams and the AHL\u2019s Playoff MVP in 2024, had three assists in the game while Clay Stevenson, Hershey\u2019s expected starter this year, made 15 saves.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was fun,\u201d Lapierre said. \u201cAs soon as you come in the building, there\u2019s that smell that you just know you\u2019re in Hershey, you\u2019re at the Giant Center, so I felt it right away. Obviously, it brings back a lot of good memories. Before the game, I was on the bench just kind of looking at the empty stands and reminding myself of good memories here.\u201d<\/p>\n McMichael even showed homage to his old stomping grounds by doing the ROAR celebration after his goal<\/a> \u2014 a celly invented by former Bears\u2019 alternate captain, Mike Vecchione<\/a>, who scored the Game 7 Calder Cup-winning goal<\/a> in overtime of the 2023 finals.<\/p>\n \u201cToday on the plane, I told the guys, \u2018If I score, I\u2019m going to bring out the roar one more time for old time\u2019s sake,’\u201d McMichael said.<\/p>\n While McMike plotted his celly, Carbery wrenched with who would suit up and get the start for the opening faceoff.<\/p>\n Carbery put nine different players in the lineup who had lifted the Calder Cup at least once with the Bears, including former Bears captain Dylan McIlrath (two-time Calder Cup champion with Hershey) and the team\u2019s leading goal-scorer during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns, Ethen Frank (two-time champion).<\/p>\n Carbery also had the Strome and Protas brothers play together in the game \u2014 a rarity in hockey history to have two different sets of brothers suit up on the same team on the same night<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a sucker for those stories,\u201d Carbery said earlier in the week<\/a>.<\/p>\n Carbery\u2019s gesture to the Protases and Stromes had a deep meaning from an organizational perspective as well. Aliaksei Protas helped the Bears win the Calder Cup in 2023 before graduating to the Capitals and becoming a 30-goal scorer in the NHL this past season. His little brother, Ilya, who is the same size at six-foot-five<\/a>, is expected to join the Bears this season for his first professional season and wear Aliaksei\u2019s former number in Hershey, 40<\/a>. Both players have openly talked about how it would be a dream to play together on the Capitals someday<\/a>. The Pros\u2019 success could have a big impact on how much the Caps achieve as a team in the future.<\/p>\n Dylan Strome, the Capitals\u2019 first line center, and Matt Strome, the scorer of the Bears\u2019 Calder Cup-clinching goal in 2024<\/a>, had not suited up together on the same team since 2003<\/a>, when they were six and four, respectively. Matt is not in competition for an NHL roster spot and is signed to an AHL contract, so getting a jersey for the night was especially kind from Carbery.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s special,\u201d Matt said<\/a>. \u201cI know it\u2019s just preseason, but to be wearing the same jersey as my brother, it\u2019s something I\u2019ve wanted to do for a long time now. To get that chance in such a good organization that\u2019s been so huge for Dyl and I, it\u2019s just surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, the Stromes would get the start along with McIlrath and Vincent Iorio on defense.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hardest decision was who was going to go with them,\u201d Carbery revealed. \u201cWas it Lappy? Was it Frankie? Was it Big Pro? Yeah, I was glad we could do that. And Stromer\u2019s dad was able to make it. You never know if that moment will ever come for the rest of their lives. So they\u2019ll be, in 20 years, when they\u2019re both retired, talking about tonight and sharing that moment at Giant Center in a sold-out building, an NHL exhibition game. Like that\u2019s pretty cool for those guys to be able to share that. I was glad we could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Carbery decided to go with Frank, who made his Capitals and NHL debut earlier in the year<\/a> and scored his first NHL goal against the Nashville Predators on January 11<\/a>.<\/p>\n During Carbery\u2019s three seasons in Hershey from 2018 through 2021, the Bears posted a record of 104-50-9-8 (.658 point percentage), including a 24-7-2-0 record (.758 point percentage) in his final year. Several of the players he helped develop there, such as McMichael, Protas, and Martin Fehervary, now hold important roles on the Capitals, which could grow even larger in the future.<\/p>\n Hershey has fielded both good and deep teams over the years, creating a culture that encourages players to make the most of themselves to get noticed by the Capitals. The situation puts young players under pressure, while the team\u2019s success and Hershey\u2019s passionate community breed big moments in front of big crowds. The partnership has helped churn out players who will form the Capitals\u2019 core in the future and has helped avoid a major rebuild as Alex Ovechkin\u2019s career winds down<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the best affiliation in the NHL and the AHL,\u201d Carbery said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HERSHEY, PA \u2014 Walking into the media room after the Washington Capitals\u2019 dominant 5-1 preseason win over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-187285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Dylan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/dylan-strome-matt-start-hershey-preseason-game.jpg\")
\ud83d\udcf8: Ian Oland\/RMNB<\/p>\n