Bears begin 2009 as Calder Cup favorites

HERSHEY, Pa – Very few teams have been as consistent since the start of the 2008-09 hockey season, but the Hershey Bears have been the AHL’s best team ever since the start of the season. Heading into this weekends games, the Bears have the AHL’s best record at 27-9-0-1 after 37 games and are 5 points ahead of the second place Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Hershey is 7-3 in their last 10 games, and have the leagues best offense with 148 goals scored, and the leagues seventh best defense with 99 goals allowed. If the Bears have an Achilles Heal it’s on special teams. Currently the Bears are ranked 17^th on the penalty kill and 13^th on the power play. Alexandre Giroux is second in the AHL in goals scored with 24, and has a goal in 8 straight games scoring 12 goals and 6 assists, and has at least one point in 12 straight games scoring 15 goals and 12 assists in that span. Keith Aucoin currently leads the league in scoring with 14 goals and 35 assists. You would think that the Bears would have more scorers in the top 20, but Giroux and Aucoin are the only ones on the team who can say they are. Still, the Bears have a balanced offensive attack. Like the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, the Bears have more players with 10 or more goals on the team than any in the AHL with seven. With two more goals, Chris Bourque will become number right on the list.

On defense Bryan Helmer has no goals but has 17 assists. Sami Lepisto leads all defensemen on the team with 3 goals. Patrick McNeill leads all Bears defensemen in the plus/minus category with at plus 18, good for second on the team behind forwards Aucoin and Oskar Osala’s plus 19. Rookie goaltender Simeon Varlamov is having a great season so far. After 18 games, Varlamov has a 2.12 goals against average, good for fourth in the league. He also has a save percentage of .923, good for sixth in the league, third among rookies. His 15 wins is fourth in the league. Teammate Daren Machesney is tied for third in the league with 3 shutouts. Despite having the leagues best record, the Bears will most certainly face a tough challenge getting out of the conference come playoff time. Bridgeport appears to be the Bears toughest competitor, but the East Division has always been a tough division to get out of, especially with team like the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, Philadelphia Phantoms, and Binghamton Senators All of those teams can score and play solid defense, so you can bet that whoever comes out of the East will be a tough out for the rest of the league. In the Atlantic Division, the Providence Bruins and Portland Pirates look to be the teams with the best shot at getting out of the Division playoffs. In the Western Conference, Grand Rapids Griffins are on top of the North Division, but like the East the division of a tough on. Three other teams are within eight points out of first place and play a similar type of game as the Griffins. The Toronto Marlies look like the weaker of the three, but the Manitoba Moose and Hamilton Bulldogs could not only win the division, but come out of the conference.   In the West Division, the Milwaukee Admirals are tied with Grand Rapids with the second best records in the league with 51 points. The division is not as strong as the North, but they can all score with the Admirals. Defense is the Admirals best asset having only allowed 93 goals so far this season, good for second best in the AHL behind Manitoba’s 91. While it is too early for making bold predictions, Hershey appears to be the favorite to come out of the East, while Milwaukee and Grand Rapids look like the teams with the best shot of coming out of the West. April is only three months away, but it is never too early to get excited about the Calder Cup playoffs. Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com