HERSHEY, Pa. — As the sun comes up the day after Game 6 of the Calder Cup, the Hershey Bears are once again champions.
"I'm still in shock we did it again," said Bears leftwinger Mike Vecchione with a smile. He was one of many players soaking in the scene at the Giant Center after the 5-4 overtime win against Coachella Valley.
Heading into Monday night's game, Hershey had only clinched a Calder Cup win once at home. That makes their 13th Calder Cup championship even sweeter for the players and fans after they won the 2023 Cup at Coachella Valley.
"It felt good over there shutting them up, but there's no better place to win a championship than at home," said Vecchione. "This place blew up and you're going to have that feeling where chills go down your spine every time you remember this."
"It's awesome winning at home," added Coach Todd Nelson. "And to give back to the people of Hershey who have supported us all year long. They came out and broke another attendance record tonight. It was an outstanding job by the people of Hershey."
The record Coach Nelson is referring to is the franchise record 11,013 fans that packed the Giant Center for the Game 6 overtime win.
Hershey fans settled in for another extra-period showdown, the Bears' fifth of the postseason, but they wouldn't be seated for long.
Riley Sutter forced a Coachella Valley turnover in their zone and Matt Strome fired it to the back of the net to light the lamp, breaking a 4-4 tie, and making it back-to-back Calder Cup wins for Chocolatetown.
"Sutter has been our best player all year. I'll be honest about that. He's bought in so much," said Strome. "A great forecheck, passed to me in the slot, just shot it and I blacked out after that but the rest is history."
"Strome has been battling all season long. He just kills penalties and plays the right way. He keeps it simple and got rewarded there to score that big one for us. He just does it all and is a great locker room presence," said Vecchione, the man who scored last year's Calder Cup-winning overtime goal. "I mean, it would have been nice to score that one, too, but I've had my time. I'm glad it was Strome because he deserved that."
"There's always somebody in that room," added Sutter. "We had so much belief in each other. We had a game plan from day one. We stuck to it and it feels great."
While the end result was the same, the last two seasons have felt different for Hershey.
"We had a target on our back all year and led the league wire-to-wire being the best team in the league," stated Coach Nelson. "We were expected to win this year and I think that's where the pressure came from. Last year we kind of came out of nowhere a little bit, but this year we had a target on our back and the guys got the job done."
"We were so confident," added Strome. "All year we worked so hard, all of us together. Before training camp started, Coach Nelson said we had a better team than last year. We almost set the record for the best in the league so we knew this was in reach."
Hershey will host a Calder Cup Celebration at the Giant Center on Wednesday night at 6 p.m.