I live close to Hershey and used to be a season ticket holder, so I can give a little insight about the 09-10 team. Set a league record with 60 wins and won something like 34 out of 40 home games that year.
Team was a mix of vets and prospects (not many high-profile prospects, but prospects nonetheless). Alex Giroux-Keith Aucoin-Andrew Gordon was the top line; Giroux and Aucoin were dynamic together and both put up over 100 points, while Gordon put up over 70. Chris Bourque had 70 points in 48 games (he was claimed by PIT in the preseason and reclaimed and reassigned by WSH in December). Kyle Wilson, Mathieu Perreault, and Francois Bouchard provided a lot of the secondary scoring, but even our grinders (Boyd Kane, Steve Pinizzotto, Jay Beagle) put up over .5 points per game.
On defense, Bryan Helmer was the captain and put up good numbers. Rookie John Carlson and sophomore Karl Alzner were solid defenders as well and, of course, have been mainstays in Washington for several years now.
Holtby and Neuvirth were the key goaltenders, and Neuvy was the starter the entire playoffs. Of course, they've been established NHL netminders for a while now too. Jason Bacashihua was also on the team throughout the regular season. (Varlamov only played a couple of games)
Hershey beat Bridgeport in 5, swept Albany, then beat Manchester in 6 to make it to the Final. They lost the first two games at home to Texas and I remember thinking it was over. The Bears went on to win all three games down in Texas to take the series lead (the AHL playoff set up is 2-3-2), then came home and beat the Stars 4-0 in game 6 to win the Cup.
Probably not the absolute best AHL team ever, but they sure were fun to watch, though.
Enjoying this thread- nice to see the AHL get some love, too!