Washington CapitalsNo one does the Teddy Bear Toss like the Washington Capitals' AHL-affiliate Hershey Bears.
The Bears took to the ice for an afternoon match against the Rockford Ice Hogs on Sunday. Less than three minutes into the game, Hershey defenseman Louie Belpedio threw a seeing-eye puck past Rockford goalie Laurent Brossoit, giving the Bears an early lead and triggering a blizzard of stuffed animals to fall to the ice.
After the players were done enjoying the mayhem, diving into giant piles of stuffed toys, and taking pictures with some of the toys that fans threw to the ice, volunteers and staff cleaned up the 81,796 stuffed animals and carted them from the ice so that the game could resume.
While the nearly 82,000 toys does not match the record set at last year's toss (102,343), it adds to the monstrous 648,246 toys that the organization has collected since their first event back in 2001. All of the toys are donated to a variety of charities through the Hershey Bears Cares program.
As the game resumed, stuffed animals would not be the only thing to fly onto the ice, as Graeme Clarke notched a hat trick (plus an assist), and Spencer Smallman recorded three assists in a 5-2 Hershey victory. This win came less than 24 hours after Hershey defeated the Ice Hogs by a score of 5-4.
Starting the new year off on a winning note pushed Hershey to a 16-14-1 record with 33 points- good for 5th place in the Atlantic Division, and improved their record to 4-6-0 in their last 10 games.
Hershey is a team in a transition period after the departure and call-up of numerous key players from the past couple of seasons, as well as new arrivals (including Head Coach Derek King).
The Bears continue their 2025-26 season on January 10th, starting a weekend set with the Cleveland Monsters. 7mo Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Fresh off a dominant Friday night win against Minnesota, the Washington Capitals came out Sunday afternoon against the Vancouver Canucks looking for their fifth-straight win.
One can only surmise that they woke up late or something, because it did not appear they were ready for the 12:30 p.m. puck drop.
From the opening faceoff, the Capitals just seemed...off. They were slow to the puck, disorganized and didn't seem like the same team that dominated the Minnesota Wild less than 48 hours prior. It took Vancouver 59 seconds to open the scoring and Washington was never able to fully recover from there.
To their credit, they did dominate the second and third periods. But hockey games are 60 minutes, and a dominant second half alone won't usually cut it.
A tale of two teams
It was obvious things would be tough from the opening face-off.
Elias Pettersson scored for Vancouver just 59 seconds into the game on a defensive breakdown and turnover by Aliaksai Protas, giving Vancouver an early lead. This trend of breakdowns continued through the rest of the period, and Vancouver took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
One bit of controversy towards the end of the period came from Vancouver's second goal, which led to a failed challenge by the Capitals.
On the play, the puck gets repeatedly knocked free from Caps goalie Charlie Lindgren before it pops out to Tyler Myers, who puts it in for the 2-0 lead. Spencer Carbury mentioned in his post-game presser that the challenge came from the belief that Evander Kane's stick dislodged the puck from Lindgren's glove before it was knocked loose to Myers. Carbury also mentioned that they didn't get an explanation on why the goal was allowed after review.
After watching numerous replays, I'm torn. On one hand, you can see the puck get dislodged quickly from Lindgren and he never really seems to gain control of it. On the other hand, referees have blown plays like this dead many, many times before. To the referee's credit, he was on top of the play, and the game does move fast. In any case, the goal was allowed and Washington was given a penalty for a failed challenge (a rule I utterly despise), which led to Vancouver's third goal on the ensuing powerplay.
Even in spite of being down 3-0 to end the period, the Capitals still led in possession-related stats. And they dominated in this area throughout the remainder of the game.
The fact that Washington dominated both the second and third periods and still ended up losing is a testament to how important a good start is. As Carbury said after the game, "the first basically determines the game..." and he's spot on with that assessment.
Special teams continue to be an issue
We'll start with the power play unit, which ranks at 25th in the league currently at 15 percent.
Spencer Carbery knows that the power play unit is not where it needs to be. To the credit of him and the rest of the coaching staff, this is an issue that they've been working through for some time. But after watching the power play more closely during the last couple of games, the complete lack of organization became more apparent to me.
Sure, they managed to convert on one opportunity on Sunday (Ryan Leonard's tally in the second period), but it when they do convert, it feels more like luck. Even Leonard's goal came on his own rebound from Canucks' goalie Thatcher Demko making a great save on the cross-slot pass.
Look at the previous two games, both against teams that don't have the most effective PK units in the league (Vancouver sits near the middle at 18th while Minnesota is closer to the bottom at 26th).
Scoring on just one opportunity in each of these games after being gifted nine chances on the man-advantage between the two games isn't going to cut it as the season progresses. Especially for a team like Washington who was consistently at the top of the league in 5-on-5 scoring last season.
Another issue however that is an early-season question mark is the PK unit. Last season this wasn't the case as the Capitals were consistently near the top of the league in penalty killing. So far this season however, D.C. sits at a poultry 29th... killing 66.7 percent of penalties.
Again, Carbery in the staff know these are issues that need to be addressed sooner rather than later. Carbery himself is a stickler for the details and I can all-but guarantee the reigning Jack Adams Award-winning coach will figure this puzzle out at some point. But the Caps do need to get this act together fast if they hope to be taken seriously when the league's playoff picture begins to materialize.
Let's talk about THAT hit
If you watched the game, you already know what hit I'm referring to. For the rest of you, Tom Wilson delivered a brutal open-ice hit that caused
Vancouver forward Filip Chytil to leave the game. Wilson was initially given a major-penalty, but it was later deemed to be a "good hockey hit" by the officials after review. The hit was reviewed by NHL Department of Player Safety, and no supplemental discipline will be assessed.
Naturally, Capitals fans came to Wilson's defense while virtually everyone else wants his head. So I'd like to take an objectively unbiased look at that hit.
Chytil takes a pass and comes across the blue line, dishing it off before taking the hit from Wilson. A solid second or so goes by before Wilson levels him, his elbow tucked as to not make Chytil's head the point of contact. The whiplash from the blow is probably what did the damage as Chytil before Chytil hits the ice.
It’s no secrets that Wilson has a reputation, but as Wilson's playing career has progressed, he has done a lot to clean up his game and become the power forward that the Capitals needed.
After watching this over and over again, my only criticism is that it is another full-speed hit that came perhaps a bit late. The head is not the principal point of contact (Chytil's head isn't a point of contact at all, in fact), and it was not a hit from behind. The NHL DPS (for better or worse) has never really set a standard on what they determine to be a late hit, but this obviously didn't meet whatever that standard is.
Whether or not you want to argue that hitting a player at such high speeds who are perhaps admiring their pass a bit is another topic entirely. While Chytil is clearly in a vulnerable state when Wilson hits him, this is something the league seems to have enabled for years now.
The game has gotten much faster in the past 20 years, and it's led to hits like this: high-speed plays that risk a player's safety. It's not a practice I am a fan of...I love good hockey hits as much as anyone, but some of them cross the line.
Whether or not this particular hit crosses that line is a matter of opinion I suppose...an opinion that will likely depend on whether or not you're a Caps fan. As for me? I am not a fan of hits like this as a common practice. But by the standards the NHL DPS has set over the last roughly 10 years or so, this is a "good hockey hit."
Whether or not you feel the same way is a matter of personal opinion, I suppose.10mo Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Hockey is truly an awesome game. Watching players skate through the crowd, carrying the puck en route to a top-shelf snipe for a goal is a sight to behold. It’s exciting, dramatic, and poetry wrapped into one game.
Beer league hockey is sometimes less so. While most beer league players lack the speed, finesse, or skill of the pros, the excitement of the game is still there. But what players lack in overall skill, they make up for with a love of the game.
Beer league hockey is unpredictable. One season, your team could win the league championship, and the next, you’re struggling to break five wins in a 20-game season, and one of your top players decided it was time to relocate back home to Minnesota. One game goes well because your whole team shows up, but the next is a blowout loss because six people are on vacation and your goalie is sick.
It may be slower and rougher around the edges, and yes, game times tend to suck (who doesn’t love a good 11:30 pm game on a weekday night before we all have to go back to work the next day). The rink is rough around the edges, and we don't draw much of a crowd. But beer league hockey is beautiful, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I am fortunate enough to play for two different teams right now, one of which I will give Sammi the pleasure of writing about since she captains that particular squad.
My other team is a rebirth of an original group that was formed out of a cluster of people from where I work. At one point, a bunch of us came to the realization that we had nearly enough to start a hockey team, and we created the Moose at Fairfax Ice Arena’s C league. After the pandemic and several players left, our team was forced into a hiatus. After that team ended, we were able to find other places to play, met some great people to add to our core group, and eventually decided we wanted to make a return to Fairfax to reunite with some of our OG’s.
I suppose part of the beauty of beer league is that the turnover can lend itself to building and forging new friendships in the process. I met some great people over the years, people that I am fortunate enough to count as close friends, and have had the privilege of playing alongside them.
I met my good friend Kelly when she and I began working together, but a friendship formed over our shared obsession with hockey (along with stupid memes and random Billy Madison quotes). As we learned about more people from work who played (including a couple of old-timers who have played some fairly high-level hockey), we recruited and formed a team. Sure, our roster has changed over the years. Some have moved on. Some were only here temporarily and have since left the area. Even after our return to Fairfax, several members of the original group jumped back on the ice with us, and we’ve since added some good folks to our team.
When we were set to return to Fairfax, we found another Moose team in our league and decided it was the perfect opportunity to rebrand. Kelly came up with our current (insane) jersey idea and team name. She came up with this diabolical amalgamation of retro-inspired looks that appears as if the 80s/early-90s threw up all over a hockey sweater. In the end, the “Windbreakers” were born, and a jersey was created that would make Zach Morris and Kelly Kapowski proud.
Playing out of Fairfax Ice Arena’s D1 league, the Windbreakers just entered our third season of play. While we have not won any championship trophies (the Moose did come close a few years back), and have yet to even put together a winning season, we have managed to have a lot of fun (and some laughs, at our own expense). As of now, we sit at 0-2 in the recently-started summer season. We lost a couple of players from last season, but have added a few people for this season and hopefully we can put together some wins. Some turnover aside, many from our original core group keep returning, because we may just be gluttons for punishment.
Our team is a pretty healthy mix of skill. While some players are clearly more gifted skaters, others (like yours truly) are decidedly...less so. A couple of additions from recent seasons have gifted us some great players (and fun personalities, which is half the battle when trying to keep a team together that's fun to play with).
But wins and losses…mostly losses aside, showing up to skate with this group is a ton of fun. And in the end, that’s what hockey is all about. I imagine at the pro level, it becomes a job. But when you’re a bunch of scrappy beer leaguers, it’s all about playing for your team and for your love of the game.
Beer league hockey is the best form of hockey, even if the players aren’t all ringers. It allows a rural Pennsylvania kid who grew up too poor to play on ice, and devoid of any discernible athleticism or skill, the opportunity to learn how to play and join a group of people from different backgrounds and experience levels. People who share a common love of the game.
Stick together long enough and your team becomes more like a family.
A silly, dysfunctional family. That wears a jersey described by one of your players as a “pink monstrosity.” A jersey sure to make other teams have a good chuckle at, but you surely won’t color-clash with anyone.
It’s fun. And I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything. Even Juliana, who is very wrong about our jersey.
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