\u201cI think the organization did the right thing,\u201d King, the Bears\u2019 first-year head coach, said. \u201cHe could just pick up and go if he wanted to. We talked about it before he even brought it up. We were going to tell him that, \u2018You should get over there,\u2019 whether he wanted to or not; we were going to force him to go over because that\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. If it was my kid, I would have been on the flight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision to go with Orpik, a silver medalist on the United States\u2019 2010 Olympic team, was a natural fit for the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrps was going to be in town anyway with the development staff,\u201d King explained. \u201cSo why not put him on? I\u2019ve done it before. In Rockford, I would use development guys to come on the bench just to get a feel for the players. And it was perfect that he\u2019s a defenseman, obviously, a good defenseman at that. And, you know, it was good for our guys to have a voice like that back there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orpik\u2019s stature and long history in the game were felt by the team right away. Known as one of the toughest and physical rearguards of the 2000s, Orpik threw the ninth most hits in NHL history (2,946) and blocked the thirteenth most shots (1,792). The veteran of 1,035 NHL games won a championship with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 and the Washington Capitals in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying the Olympics, like Game 7, won the Stanley Cup,\u201d Henrik Rybinski said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much knowledge. It\u2019s just a calming presence on the bench.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orpik wasn\u2019t there ceremonially either. The former Capitals\u2019 alternate captain assumed Thompson\u2019s responsibilities and worked the bench throughout the game, moving up and down to communicate with players.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust roll the D, play who you felt was playing, and just talk to them,\u201d King said of what responsibilities he tasked Orpik with. \u201cMake sure, the mistakes \u2014 could tell them, \u2018Hey, you didn\u2019t get a puck out or look for this, look for that.\u2019 But an actual defenseman talking to our D like that, I mean, they\u2019re bound to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Brooks](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/brooks-orpik-assistant-coach-hershey.jpg\")
Brooks Orpik (standing far right) on the Hershey Bears bench (\ud83d\udcf8: Ian Oland\/RMNB)<\/p>\n
Orpik was previously scheduled to be in Hershey to work with the players on the ice and behind the scenes ahead of the games. His development staff role utilizes his vast experience in hockey, along with his intelligence and communication skills, to identify problems and offer solutions to players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, he\u2019s with these guys, talking to them all the time in the locker room, showing them clips, working with them on the ice at practice time,\u201d King explained. \u201cLike [Sunday], we\u2019ll have a day off. And then Monday, we\u2019ll probably do more of a skills practice day. So forwards will work with Booter (Nick Bootland) and myself. Or I\u2019ll help Orps with the D and, you know, just kind of go back and forth. But that\u2019s where his skill comes in, just working with these guys and talking to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mentorship and camaraderie he\u2019s built with the players weren\u2019t lost on one of the Bears\u2019 goal scorers on Saturday. Kaden Bohlsen, playing in his first season in the Bears\u2019 organization, scored his first American Hockey League goal, tying Hershey and Lehigh Valley temporarily 4-4.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper cool,\u201d Bohlsen said of Orpik behind the bench. \u201cI actually got to know him a little bit during Washington rookie camp. He\u2019s been great. He\u2019s been unbelievable to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously, while serving on the Caps development staff, Orpik also served as an assistant coach for his alma mater, Boston College, for three seasons from 2020 through 2023.<\/p>\n
While Orpik got rave reviews for his performance, a full-time life behind the bench seems unlikely for him, at least at this point.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I think he could coach, I don\u2019t know if he wants to after those two games,\u201d King joked, referencing the Bears\u2019 losing both games a combined 10-5. \u201cBut no, I mean, it\u2019s not for everybody. Sometimes guys get into development because it\u2019s a better schedule, family-wise, and stuff like that. But I wouldn\u2019t have any problem if I didn\u2019t have a D coach. He would be a perfect fit for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Brooks](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/brooks-orpik-hershey-bears-assistant-coach2.jpg\")
\ud83d\udcf8: Tori Hartman\/Hershey Bears<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HERSHEY, PA. \u2014 Brooks Orpik added another line to his incredible hockey resume. The longtime NHL defenseman served…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-488895","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\/488895","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=488895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}