TORONTO, ON — The Hershey Bears are making an impact in the hockey capital of Canada!
Current Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach Spencer Carbery and goaltender Ilya Samsonov are both former Bears who've helped the Leafs reach the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Samsonov spent parts of two seasons in Hershey from 2018-2021. He's been reunited in Toronto with Carbery, a coach he says has helped him immensely.
"I was with him one year in Hershey and it was a good year for me. There was a lot of new things and change for me. I changed countries for the first time in my life. It's a new life for me and he helped me all the time in Hershey. Here, I've been talking with him a lot and I just want to say thank you to him," Samsonov said.
Samsonov is in his first season with the Maple Leafs, after spending the previous three seasons in the Washington Capitals organization.
Carbery is in his second season as an assistant coach with Toronto. His boss, Maple Leafs Head Coach Sheldon Keefe, believes Carbery has a future as a head coach in the NHL.
"Carbs has been terrific. He's extremely detailed, very hardworking, takes initiative on projects to see what's happening with our group. Obviously, the power play is his main responsibility. He's connected with our best players there and helped put together a scheme, challenge those guys and give them the information that they need. Spencer's a tremendous coach that works very hard and it won't be long before he's answering these questions," Keefe said.
Both men are another example of how the Hershey Bears prepare players and staff members for the NHL.
Samsonov, Carbery, and the Maple Leafs begin their quest for the Stanley Cup Tuesday, April 18 vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning.