Hershey Bears assistant coach Brent Thompson will miss the team’s next few games, and for very good reason.
The 55-year-old Thompson has been granted a temporary leave of absence to attend the Winter Olympics in Italy so that he can watch his superstar son, Tage, compete for gold with Team USA.
Brooks Orpik, a former Washington Capitals defenseman and a member of their player development staff, will replace Brent behind the bench and serve as an assistant coach for the first time in his professional career this weekend. The Bears play the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday and Saturday at Giant Center. Orpik previously served as an assistant coach for the Boston College Eagles from 2020-2023.
The rest of Tage’s family was already in Milan to root him on.
“I’m getting updates regularly, obviously,” Brent Thompson told FOX 43’s Todd Sadowski during the telecast of the Bears’ game against the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday. “I’d love to be there, but we have a commitment here to this team and family here. And I mean, we’re in this hockey world, we all understand our roles and our commitments.
“It’s pretty special that he’s over there, my wife gets to experience, my sister, my sister-in-law. So the family’s all over there, his family’s over there. So it’s really exciting, and I do get a lot of updates, the pictures. They look like they’re having a good time, and obviously, you want USA to do their best and hopefully get to bring home the gold.”
According to a Bears representative, Thompson left for Milan on Thursday night and was expected to be at Tage’s semifinal game against Slovakia, Friday. Thompson scored in the second period of the game to put the United States up 2-0.
Thompson recorded two points (1g, 1a) and put three shots on net in 10:05 ice time. He did not play in the third period for “precautionary reasons.” NBC aired a replay showing Thompson getting slashed and cross-checked in the back during a late second-period power play.
In five Olympic games thus far, Thompson has four points (3g, 1a). The United States will play Canada in the Gold Medal Game on Sunday after defeating Slovakia 6-2.
“If you give him a few chances to score, I think he’ll get one or two,” Brent said.
Before Tage became one of the best players in the NHL, his dad played parts of six seasons in the league as a defenseman with the Los Angeles Kings, Winnipeg Jets, and Phoenix Coyotes during the ’90s. His only NHL goal came with the Kings on November 6, 1993, against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hockey Hall of Fame forwards Luc Robitaille and Wayne Gretzky assisted on the goal.
Brent also spent parts of nine seasons in the AHL, playing three seasons with the Bears from 2000-03 and serving as the club’s captain during his final season with Hershey in 2002-03.
Thompson was hired as assistant coach of the Bears earlier this season after Patrick Wellar was promoted to Spencer Carbery’s staff in November. Wellar replaced Mitch Love, who was fired after an investigation into his personal conduct.
