Washington Capitals prospect and Hershey Bears rookie forward Ethen Frank said he was honored to get selected to the 2023 AHL All-Star Game, which is taking place on Sunday and Monday in Laval, Quebec.
“It means a lot. I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work, so it’s nice to get a little recognition,” Frank told Bears Radio last week.
As part of the All-Star Game festivities, Frank participated in the fastest skater competition on Sunday night. He not only won with a time of 12.915 seconds, he set a new All-Star Game record.
Rookie Ethen Frank leads the Bears in goals (21) and is second in points (37)… AND HE CAN FLY! #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/ctdeTcynvF
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) February 5, 2023
Frank was the only skater who recorded a time under 13 seconds out of the six skaters that competed:
1. Skater 1: 13.282
2. Ethen Frank: 12.915
3. Skater 3: fell
4. Skater 4: 13.904
5. Skater 5: 13.779
6. Skater 6: 13.322
Frank was interviewed after winning Sunday night’s competition. He was asked what’s the secret to winning the event.
”Skate fast. Really, I don’t know. It’s something we do everyday, all day, after practice and it’s just kind of a normal habit at this point. Gettin’ faster is still one of my goals. Still working on things trying to get things exactly right, and make it as efficient as possible.”
Frank credited his dad, who he said was in attendance tonight, for teaching him how to skate.
🚨 NEW LEAGUE RECORD 🚨
Ethen Frank has a need for speed coming in at 12.915 seconds, becoming the winner of the @ccmhockey fastest skater at the 2023 #AHLAllStar. pic.twitter.com/n3upsDMKCw
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) February 5, 2023
Frank was another high-quality college free agent signing by Capitals’ Director of Player Recruitment, Danny Brooks, who has also successfully recruited and signed undrafted college free-agents Joe Snively, Bobby Nardella and Clay Stevenson, just to name a few.
“After the first turn, I didn’t fall. I was pretty confident and got some good speed going down the straight-away, and then on the last turn I rode my edges around the net.”
— @efrank_98 recounts his record-setting #AHLAllStar lap pic.twitter.com/pERzrBfbdG
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) February 6, 2023
Frank, a college free-agent, signed with the Bears in April of 2022, and has been by far the most impressive young forward so far this season in Hershey. Frank is tied for first among all AHL rookies in goals (21) and is second among all AHL rookies in points (37). He leads all Bears in goals and is second on the team in points.
[Related:Rookie Ethen Frank Leading The Way In Hershey]
Frank was the NCAA’s top goal scorer last season, totaling 26 goals in 38 games for Western Michigan University. He finished last season with a career-best 39 points in his fifth year with the Broncos and was named to the AHCA/CCM Hockey West All-American Second Team. He also earned Second Team All-NCHC honors and helped the Broncos to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The native of Papillon, Nebraska finished the season with 10 power play goals, tied for fourth in the NCAA, and six game-winning markers, tied for second in the NCAA. He scored four goals versus St. Cloud State on Nov. 19, 2021. In his NCAA career, Frank posted 118 points (70 goals, 48 assists) in 158 games over five seasons at Western Michigan.
Frank continues to work on his game, in hopes of taking the next step. “Like my coach at Western (Michigan) used to say, ‘happy but never content.’ I’m happy with where I’m at but not content with it,” said Frank. “I’m definetly focusing on a lot of stuff without the puck, a lot of stuff in the d zone.”
By Jon Sorensen
Where is he in the depth charts?
Nowhere, on an AHL deal and unable to play in the NHL this season
Really hoping the caps sign him to an NHL deal at the conclusion of this year.
Same! Hopefully before, like this week 😁
They do have a couple of contract slots available, per CapFriendly… what are they waiting for?
I wonder if it could be Frank’s side, wanting to test free agency waters?
He just turned 25, so I believe he can now sign a regular contract instead of an entry-level one… That does open up his possibilities for a significant payday immediately, vs. being limited to $925K or whatever next-year’s ELC limit would be. But how much are NHL teams willing to bet on him? Given the dearth of high-end talent in the Caps’ system, and the large number of openings in next year’s roster, one would hope they’d offer him a pretty good deal, but then again they have been known to undervalue prospects… just a bit… (extreme sarcasm, in case no one notices)
Danny Brooks is a genius. Caps need to make him GM.
Oh yeah! That list is just overflowing with NHL legends. I wonder if all NHL fans are so desperately optimistic about their draft picks. Just saying….it’s nice that the kid is fast and is having a promising first pro season, but let’s just give it some time.
As I posted elsewhere, not only did he smoke his AHL rivals but the best the NHLers could do Friday was 13.69.
Glad they got his name right this time.
Maybe they space the cones at ends a little wider in NHL?
I must admit I botched his first name for most of October. 🙄
Don’t have ESPN plus so can’t rewatch the NHL competition. Let’s just give him credit — one more reason to sign him now!
Did you check AHL TV? It was a free view tonight. I know they have replays of all games on line for those that subscribe. I can check.
I watched the ahl all stars on ahltv. They had free streaming but I was talking about rewatching the NHL race. That is on ESPN plus only for replays.
Last time ahltv had a free day it was live only. I tried watching the bears after the caps game and couldn’t. Could only watch games still in process.
BTW, the ahltv broadcast of the skills competition was poor. Home audio used the arena announcer (as heard from a seat mic) and away audio had no sound at all. No streaming announcers.
https://www.watchtheahl.com/#/play/game/1023811
How much is FloHockey a season?
Clay is second in the league for GAA and Save%. Both Rays goalies are in the top 20, only ECHL team to have both that high. Bears’ cold spell has dropped him down the leader board to 31st in goals and 35 in assists.
I have the complete FloSports package which not only gives me the Stingrays and Solar Bears but every sport that FloSports covers for an entire year. It costs $150.
Which site is best for ECHL stats?
When you find a good one, let me know. I just use Stingrays and ECHL, both of which are sparse.
Yeh, the further down you go in the development food chain, the less publicly available the data gets. I guess they purposely try to protect players a bit. There was a decent data site that included ECHL but he was recently hired by a team and had to shut his site down. Quant hockey has the basics: https://www.quanthockey.com/echl/en/seasons/echl-players-stats.html
Thanks, bookmarked it.
“Jaromír Jágr celebrated his 51st birthday about a week early by scoring his 1,099th aggregate goal to overtake Wayne Gretzky at the top of the chart.”
Still waiting for GMBM to make the announcement that Jagr’s back as a Cap.