HERSHEY, PA — The Hershey Bears have won 8 of their first 9 games in the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs. After getting contributions throughout their lineup during the championship run last year, the Bears have been led night in and night out by their reformed first line of Joe Snively, Hendrix Lapierre, and Ethen Frank.
First put together in Game 2 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals by Bears head coach Todd Nelson, the three forwards have combined to score 11 goals and post 27 points in the playoffs. Eight of the goals and 16 of the points have come at even strength.
Frank has been the Bears’ most consistent goal-scorer, exploding for 7 goals in the 8 postseason games he’s played. On Saturday, in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Monsters, the 26-year-old right wing scored in his fifth-consecutive game, tying his career-best streak in the AHL.
The beneficiary of a great cross-ice pass from Hendrix Lapierre, Frank redirected the puck from just outside the crease past Cleveland Monsters goaltender Jet Greaves, giving the Bears a 2-1 lead with 8:39 remaining in the third period. Frank snuck down the right wing wide open as Lapierre was double-teamed by two Monsters defenders.
The five-game goal streak is Frank’s second since his rookie 2022-23 AHL season. His previous tear began two weeks into his American League career from October 22, 2022, through November 7, 2022.
Ethen Frank’s longest consecutive goal streaks (career)
* 5-game goal streak: May 11 through June 1, 2024 (5 goals in 5 games)
5-game goal streak: October 22 through November 7, 2022 (5 goals in 5 games)
4-game goal streak: January 19 through January 27, 2024 (5 goals in 4 games)
3-game goal streak: March 17 through March 23, 2024 (3 goals in 3 games)
* Active streak
“Just trying to be my best self as I can be for the team,” Frank said of his hot run after Hershey’s 3-2 overtime win in Game 2. “Everybody else seems to be doing that and it’s pretty easy to jump on board on that train when everybody is doing it. Just keeping an even head and not worrying about getting goals right away. It’s a long game, there’s going to be stuff that happens, ups and downs. So just keeping an even head and staying at work is big.”
The line’s consistent success might seem surprising considering how each forward has a similar frame (between 176-185 pounds) and an overlapping skillset. Opposing coaches are game-planning for the skill and speed the trio possesses. Yet, like Alex Ovechkin scoring from his office on the power play, no one has managed to contain it.
Frank, hockey’s fastest skater, is second in the AHL in playoff goals (7) while Lapierre is second overall in playoff points (11). Snively and Lapierre are also tied with three others for third in postseason assists (7).
“They’re quick, but I think they complement each other,” Nelson said. “Franky’s a shooter. He can skate real well. Lappy’s a playmaker and also can score. Joe Snively can make plays. They have a real good skillset in each one of them. That’s probably one of the fastest lines in the league right now.”
Each forward also has differing individual motivations to prove themselves as top players in the 2024 playoffs, too.
Lapierre helped the Bears win a championship in 2023, but he did so in a smaller role as the team’s third-line center. This season, the 22-year-old Gatineau, Quebec native is the star the team relies on to create offense and high-level plays both at five-on-five and on the power play.
“He’s producing for us right now,” Nelson said of Lapierre, a first-round pick of the Capitals in 2020. “That was an expectation. We expected that. The organization expected that. So he understands. He’s still a young guy, but he’s one of our leaders. He has to relish the fact he’s going to be the go-to guy.”
After some struggles midway through his rookie AHL season, Lapierre found more consistency and ended up scoring the game-tying goal in Game 7 of the 2023 Calder Cup Finals. During the 2023-24 campaign, he came into his own, playing 51 games in Washington (8g, 14a) and centering Alex Ovechkin on the Capitals’ first line for spells.
“He’s special, just wheels the puck and skates by guys,” Bears’ alternate captain Mike Vecchione said of Lapierre. “You can just see the way he skates with the puck. He’s cutting and making guys move one way or the other and he’s just buzzing by them… [That] is going to obviously put a lot of eyes on him and then you can dish it off to Snives and Franky, who both have crazy speed too and high skills. So that line’s really dangerous once they get going on a great play.”
The young pivot is not only trying to prove the moment is not too big for him, but he’s also auditioning for a full-time roster spot and big minutes in Washington next season.
“Obviously I feel like a different player than last year on the ice in terms of confidence,” Lapierre said. “I think it’s normal, right? You compare when you’re 21 to 22 years old, that’s a lot of hockey (since then). When you try to learn new stuff every day, eventually good things happen.
“I want to obviously show that I can be an impactful player — that I can be relied on whether it’s an offensive or defensive situation, I can play on PK or power play whatever it might be,” he added. “I want to make an impact but at the same time we’re trying to win and everything. It’s all about winning and at the end of the day if I play well and all the guys do play well too, then we’ll be able to have success.”
Snively led the Bears in playoff points in 2023 with 15 (2g, 13a) in 20 games, but did so while skating on the second line with Connor McMichael and Garrett Pilon. This year, he’s getting top-line duty and quarterbacking the first-unit power play, a job McMichael previously had. So far the trio has combined for 3 goals and 11 points while skating on the PP.
The 28-year-old, Herndon, Virginia native is in the final season of a two-year contract extension he signed with the Capitals. Snively, who played only three games with the Capitals in 2023-24, will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and rumors are swirling that he could move on to the KHL next season. Success now will lead to better opportunities and offers later.
Frank’s story is even more compelling. After leading Hershey with 30 goals in the regular season as a rookie, he went the first 11 playoff games in 2023 goalless before being healthy-scratched by Nelson in the Eastern Conference Finals. Frank sat out four games stretching into the Calder Cup Finals against the Coachella Valley Firebirds — a low point of his first year pro.
Frank would rebound by scoring two goals and collecting four points in Games 2 through 7 of the championship series as the Bears went on to win the franchise’s 12th Calder Cup.
Frank led the Bears again in goals (29) during his second AHL season and has kept producing in the playoffs. He’s already tied the Bears’ franchise record for game-winning goals in a playoff year (4) and became the first Hershey player in 50 years to score GWGs in three consecutive postseason games.
“I’ve been trying to work on some things mentally through the playoffs,” Frank said in early May. “I know it’s a different animal and being in my second year, I feel like I need to step up my game.
“I’m just trying not to have a repeat of last year and my inconsistent play. I’m just trying to go out there with a different mentality, just working hard, winning battles, and being a little pest with my speed. The good things will come with hard work and I know the two linemates I’ve been playing with are very skilled and very smart players so they make it pretty easy for me.”
Now, during one of the greatest stretches of his career, Frank is still not satisfied. He’s hungry for more.
“[My stretch of good play] doesn’t mean anything if you stop now,” Frank said. “You gotta keep going. It doesn’t mean anything if we lose the next four games. It’s never going to stop until the last game of the season is here and I don’t plan on stopping or giving up until that comes.”
Frank is an arbitration-eligible, restricted free agent this summer and dreams of earning an NHL opportunity with the Capitals.
