The Washington Capitals announced Wednesday morning that the team has re-assigned goaltender Clay Stevenson from ECHL South Carolina to the AHL Hershey Bears.
MORE FROM THE BEARS
The Washington Capitals, the NHL affiliate of the Hershey Bears, announced today that goaltender Clay Stevenson has been re-assigned from the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) to the Bears.
Stevenson, 23, is 3-0-0 with Hershey this season. He made his AHL debut on Dec. 10 versus Cleveland, turning aside 25 shots. He earned starts on back-to-back nights the following weekend, defeating Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in a 23-save performance on Dec. 17, and turning aside 25 more shots in a win over Lehigh Valley on Dec. 18. He has a 1.96 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage with Hershey this season.
[Related: Clay Stevenson: 2022 Annual Review And Forecast]
Stevenson has posted a 10-3-3 record with the Stingrays this year over 17 games, owning a 2.21 goals-against average, .927 save percentage, and two shutouts. The rookie netminder earned his first professional shutout on Dec. 3 for the Stingrays, stopping 25 shots and earning first star honors in a 3-0 victory over Savannah. He was named the Warrior Hockey ECHL Goaltender of the Week for Nov. 28-Dec. 4.
As of now the Bears have three goaltenders on their active roster (Hunter Shepard and Zach Fucale), so it’s not clear if another announcement or roster move may be coming, or the team simply plans to continue with three goaltenders.
By Jon Sorensen
No known injuries in Hershey. Did Kuemper get hurt last night? Trade coming?
I’m also unaware of any injuries.
Clay started last Rays game, let in 2 out of first 3 shots, went down the tunnel with the equipment manager just over 6 minutes in and didn’t come back.
Maybe he is working with a goalie coach in Hershey? Maybe the Caps are looking towards the trade deadline for one of their goalies?
Somebody mentioned his injury on FB as well. Adds to the mystery here.
When the broadcast ended, the announcers still didn’t know why Clay left and I haven’t seen anything on their website about it. When he left, they said it was with the equipment manager and felt that it was an equipment issue, not injury. I rewatched his performance and he looked completely fine even if he did let in 2 of the 3 shots he faced. I couldn’t see anything, equipment or injury, that appeared to be bothering him.
Very odd. Someone on our FB page is telling the same, his take left him puzzled as well. Bears play tonight, pregame at 6:30, so hopefully we will learn more.
Rays have a very important (and tough) game tonight in Estero. “The teams have faced off twice this year with the Everblades winning each of the first two contests in close games. The Stingrays embark on their longest road trip of the season, spending the next seven games away from the North Charleston Coliseum. From now until January 17th, South Carolina will hit the road for 10 of 11 contests, taking on Florida and Worcester three times each, Savannah twice, and finishing the trip against Atlanta and Orlando. With six big points on the line, South Carolina needs to prepare for a playoff-type atmosphere this week at Hertz Arena.”
So this is not a good time for the Rays to lose a prime goaltender.
On a side note: has anyone noticed how well the goalies that Wash had last year are doing this year? VV: 31 28 20 5 0 2 776 65 2.30 711 .916 2: Copley: 18 18 14 3 0 0 455 47 2.80 .897 0 and Samsonov: 21 20 15 4 0 2 566 45 2.21 .920 2. With these stats one has to wonder what made the difference for thee players? Was it change os scenery, different goalie coach or different D in front of them or a combination of all 3. Somehow I think the biggest difference is the goalie coach and somehow the brain trust in Wash does not have anyone who can teach young players to play.
In an interview Sammy said that not only was he playing differently, he was practicing differently. He credited his new goalie coach.
But I think new environment helped and possibly just being sent away was a wake up call so he was more receptive to the new training.
True sometimes a player needs a change of scenery and sometimes what is needed is a coaching change. I fail to see where the current coaching staff has done anything to improve any of the players who have been on this team the past 3 years. Therefore I start by blaming the coaching staff and then the GM for not seeing that but instead being to afraid to change coaches.
Hunter Shepard out due to non-Covid illness (along with Hendrix Lapierre and Henrik Rybinski)
Ahhh.
They should have called up the mythical GARIN BJORKLUND..