The Hershey Mentality
By mosborn. Filed in the News |
[Ed. Note: This guest post is courtesy of uber hockey fan and Hershey season ticket holder Katie, who deserves a nickname, but none of the ones I've come up with. Which all start with Chocolate.]
This past summer, new Capitals Assistant Coach Bob Woods alluded to the Hershey Mentality. He mentioned that in Hershey, they don’t hang Conference or Division Banners, only Calder Cup Championship Banners. If you’ve not been to Giant Center yet in this young season, I recommend making the trip, if for nothing other than to see the unmatched 10 Calder Cup Banners swaying from the rafters.
The Bears’ success offers hope for the Washington faithful. Prospects are not only developing skills down on the farm, but more importantly they’re learning to win.
Wednesday night, at the end of the 1st in New Jersey, Tyler Sloan took a beautiful feed from Mathieu Perreault for Sloan’s first goal of the season, and Perreault’s first NHL point – EVER.
I started trolling message boards to see what Caps Nation had to say about Perreault. After all, he’s a favorite of mine in Hershey, and I wanted to see if in that one period-long-glimpse, people could see in him what we in Hershey have been dazzled with for almost 2 years now.
Instead, I found something else. I found Sloan being criticized for not celebrating his goal right away, for not realizing that it was, in fact, a goal. Ever-thankful for my DVR, I hit rewind and went back to Sloan’s goal and watched it again. Sure enough, he didn’t put his hands up. His eyes were on the net, his stick down. Message-board-land and blog-comment-world blew up. Sloan continued to be the joke, and I didn’t understand it. The ironic part is this; how many times have we laughed at full-fledged seasoned professionals for putting their hands up to celebrate, when there was no goal?
I thought Sloan made a phenomenal play, and since he didn’t see it go in the net, he kept his stick down waiting for the rebound. If the puck had not already been in that net, Sloan would have done everything in his power to try and get it there. All too often, I criticize the bigger names for not following their shots, not staying in the crease, not trying for “garbage goals.” Here, on a night without the most prolific scorer on the ice, we had a defenseman-experimenting-at-left-wing doing what he could to get the Caps on the board.
That, my friends, is the Hershey Mentality. That “Never Give Up” attitude is what Caps’ prospects are learning. That’s why Tyler Sloan had a goal Wednesday night. That’s why Mathieu Perreault had two assists in his NHL debut. That’s why Fleishmann has 4 points in 4 games. That’s why Quintin Laing has no sense of self-preservation. That’s why Keith Aucoin forgets the pain in his neck from looking up at everyone else and instead puts his head down and skates hard. That’s why Giroux ignores being called every degrading name thrown at him and goes back to Hershey after each call-up with more fire and scores even more goals.
So, in a time when the Capitals need nothing more than to dig down deep and find that extra effort, extra push, extra anything – why ostracize the one who did?
Tags: Aucoin, Fleis, Fleischmann, Giroux, Laing, Perreault, Sloan
Friday, November 6th 2009 at 10:46 am
Well said Katie, I think we could have a new segment on RTR: hows “Katie’s Kisses from Hersey”?
On to the arty – Again I vote to send some of the Caps softies down to Hesery (well North technically) for a month or more. I can think of a few who could benifit not only from the “gut check” but for some extra conditioning and teamwork lessons too.
Leave Giroux, Flash, Perreault up. It works in HS when a JV or a younger play forces a senoir to be benched. give it your all or get off the ice. One Team One Goal!
Friday, November 6th 2009 at 11:54 am
I too agree, with one caveat. You think our pk and sig are bad now? Wait until some of the baby caps try to stop Koptar on a break away.
Friday, November 6th 2009 at 12:08 pm
Sog, typo.
Friday, November 6th 2009 at 12:19 pm
FANTASTIC post! You certainly knocked it out of the park with this one, Katie. It’s about time Tyler Sloan, and the rest of the other Hershey guys were given the proper respect they’ve earned.
Friday, November 6th 2009 at 12:19 pm
Great stuff! I totally agree. It’s the attitude they take in Detroit and other championship locales. And it’s one more of the Caps need to embody. This is one of the reasons Boudreau has been giving the Hershey guys a chance — and why Woods is a great addition to the staff. Don’t let the vets get too spoiled — and make them keep working for everything.
Friday, November 6th 2009 at 11:04 pm
Maybe the Caps should let some of the vets walk at the end of the season (or trade them for picks/prospects) and give some of the Hershey guys a chance next year.
Saturday, November 7th 2009 at 8:23 am
@ Wes, Laura, & Rob – Thanks for the Kudos!
@ Caps91 – I’m not going to argue with you, but I’m pretty sure you’d be surprised at how well some of the “baby caps” would fare against him.
@CapsFan1975 – I don’t know if that’s the route to take or not, I do know there are quality guys down here that will get NHL chances – whether it be with Washington or not.
Saturday, November 7th 2009 at 1:58 pm
I hope Katie (or Chocolate, or Kiss, or whatever her nom-de-plume becomes) writes some more articles. Outstanding piece that is very well written. Keep sending us more reports about Hershey.
Saturday, November 7th 2009 at 5:19 pm
You present excellent points and I agree with you. You make, however, the mistake Uncle Ted makes all the time: he thinks the idiots who message him and blather moronic things are a fair cross-section of Caps’ fans. You appear to do the same, “trolling message boards” to get a feel for what we think. Please don’t assume that the Weenies you see and hear on the “message boards” represent anyone other than their small-minded, short-sighted, 12-year-old selves.
Monday, November 9th 2009 at 11:54 pm
@ Johan: Its not that I feel that all Caps fans were that small minded – its more that I was given the opportunity to speak my mind with no limits or boundaries… so that was what I went for.