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Shane Gersich, a black ace from the Capitals 2018 championship team, sends Hershey to Calder Cup Finals

By Chris Cerullo

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June 2, 2023 10:29 pm

The Hershey Bears are going to the Calder Cup Finals after 26-year-old veteran, Shane Gersich, scored the series-winning goal — his first of the 2023 playoffs — to eliminate the Rochester Americans in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Gersich, a black ace from the Washington Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup championship run, is no stranger to big moments. As a member of the University of North Dakota’s hockey team, Gersich scored in the National Championship game against Quinnipiac, helping the Fighting Hawks capture the 2016 NCAA Division 1 National Championship.

Gersich’s decisive goal came with just 7:20 left in the second period. After Beck Malenstyn sent a hard wrister off the pads of Amerks’ goaltender Malcolm Subban, Gersich scored easily on a rebound.

The Bears held on for the rest of regulation, including a clutch kill of a long Rochester five-on-three power play in the second period. The Amerks pushed hard in the final two minutes of the game with their netminder pulled but could not tie.

Gersich’s big night comes after scoring nine goals in 53 games during the regular season. The Chaska, MN native began the 2023 playoffs as a healthy scratch due to Hershey’s deep roster. Gersich has sat in the press box in eight of Hershey’s 13 playoff games.

Gersich got his opportunity in the Eastern Conference Finals after head coach Todd Nelson played a hunch. The Bears’ bench boss aggressively promoted fourth-liner Mason Morelli to the first line and scratched Ethen Frank, the Bears’ leading goal scorer in the regular season. Frank has struggled in the playoffs, going goalless in all 10 games he’s appeared in. Gersich was plugged into the fourth line, skating with Beck Malenstyn and Riley Sutter. Gersich has fired 10 shots in his last four appearances.

“We have so many capable guys on this team that deserve to be in the lineup every night,” Malenstyn said postgame. “Gersch is a perfect example of that. He steps right in and makes an impact. There’s no one I’m happier to see score that goal.”

This is not the first time Gersich has had to step up in a huge situation after not playing for an extended stretch of time. In 2018 with the Caps, Gersich was inserted into the NHL lineup during the team’s second-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Gersich got the surprise opportunity after Tom Wilson was suspended three games for a hit on Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese.

Gersich would play two games in that series, which saw the Caps down the Pens in six games and go on to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.

Gersich will now try to help bring the Bears their record 12th Calder Cup in what could be his final season in the Capitals organization. The Caps declined to sign Gersich to an NHL contract last offseason but Gersich struck a one-year AHL deal with the Bears.

Gersich has played parts of five seasons with the Bears.

Headline photo: Micheline Veluvolu/Rochester Americans

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