Todd Nelson with Hershey Bears

Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson doesn’t need to yell.

One, this is not his style. Second, he knows the real pressure point of the players. He can and will publicly sue his top players for any lack of effort or concentration. No one would cheat on him for more than thirty years as a player and coach at the professional level.

If someone does decide to question Nelson’s assessment, he is the guy with five names in the Calder Cup, including two with the Bears. Hershey has had a long top coach in the 20 years since the team was affiliated with the Washington Capitals. There are also many coaching personalities, and there is also a lot of evidence that there are many ways to attract players. Since 2005, several others have brought the Bears to five Calder Cup titles, from Bruce Boudreau to Spencer Carbery to Nelson.

Having had the opportunity to be the first team to win three consecutive Calder Cups since 1962, Nelson worked hard to avoid the opportunity being abandoned.

But the bear is in trouble now, big trouble, Nelson pointed out without hesitation. Lehigh Valley Phantoms has controlled the best five of the five games in the Atlantic Division semifinals in the last two games, back-to-back defending champion champion champion Bears in the semifinals of the Atlantic Division.

Hershey will try to avoid eliminations on Friday when playing in the Lehigh Valley. Decided that Game 5 will be on Hershey Ice next Sunday.

But if the Bears are going to extend their season on Friday’s game, let alone the round, another divisional match, the Eastern Conference Finals and the Calder Cup final, they will need more performance than they did in the past two games. In the second game last Friday night, Phantom handled it 3-1. By then, Nelson had sent an alarm that he needed to see more efforts from his team. A 4-2 loss in the Lehigh Valley on Sunday led to Nelson knocking down the criticism.

If you don’t play a strong role in offensiveness, that’s one thing. But it’s best not to crash and allow for short-term goals. Hershey did both again in the first 11 minutes of Game 3 in the third phase of Game 2. Four Hershey forwards found themselves on the ice on all three Lehigh Valley goals. Phantoms’ forward Zayde Wisdom achieved both goals in Game 2, one in a bad good time pinch and the other in a lost hockey battle. Sunday’s goal is a Hershey Hockey error game on the distant blue line.

Hopefully, Friday’s power match will be different.

“Our power will be shaken a little.” Nelson tells Hershey Media after Game 3. “The appearance will definitely be different on Friday.”

The most annoying thing about Nelson is that Phantom has been focusing on trading, hard work and work ethics, which brings his team to these two Calder Cup titles. The Bears used to put Nelson, coaching staff and their fans under playoff pressure. Last June, they almost led 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals against Cleveland before eventually ousting the monsters in Game 7. In the 2023 Calder Cup final, Coachella Valley Firebirds stood out in the first two games, running around in the series with Hershey running through seven games.

Even this year, in November, November started with a 6-1 family defeat, there were some really bad nights on the rink. Nelson was critical of his team after his poor performance. In addition to Bridgeport’s losses, Toronto (7-3, December 21), Syracuse (5-0, February 8) and Utica (7-4, March 30) all beat the Bears at the Giants Center this season. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton blows them off the road on January 9-0. The Bears spent a late game to raise their home record to No. 12 in the AHL. In the past two springs, maybe a pair of Calder Cup playoff fatigue, physical and mental playoffs. Of course, a worker-like Phantom team didn’t help Hershey’s career. Hershey’s two championships mean the opponent brings the best efforts regularly.

If Hershey has one comfort, it is that there is a long breakthrough between games. This means time to rest. It also means repositioning yourself, and Nelson makes the adjustments he sees as appropriate.

“I won’t panic about any means,” Nelson stressed. “I have to give Lehigh the credibility. They’re smart. They’re strong. You know, their top guys are finishing. Our guys aren’t, so for us, we have to dig deeper.

“I don’t think everyone in the locker room gave us 110% and we’re going to fix that. The next game will be changed.”

D’ASTOUS in Tampa Bay

A top SHL defenseman is heading to the Tampa Bay Lightning Group.

Tampa Bay signed Charle-Edouard D’D’Astous, 27, on Monday to sign a one-year two-way contract. In 49 games against Brynäs, D’Astous led him 12-27-39, ranking him in the SHL as a defender in scoring and goals. He then played 17 playoff games and ended Brynäs to the SHL finals 4-4-8.

D’Astous has spent Europe in the last three seasons, playing with Liiga Club Kookoo Kouvola for two seasons before moving to Brynäs. He also has three seasons with North American pros, including 23 AHL games with Grand Rapids and Colorado Hawks. In 2021-22 with the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL, he was named Defender of the Year 26-31-57 in 52 regular season games. He also was the QMJHL defender of the year and won the honor at Rimouski Oceanic with Rimouski Oceanic.

If D’Astous doesn’t stick with Tampa Bay, he could be useful for Syracuse’s crunch last week, swept by Rochester Americans. Syracuse’s blue line will need to be rebuilt next season, while veterans Tobie Bisson, Derrick Pouliot and Steven Santini are all unsigned next season.

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