Jim Montgomery

College hockey star Jim Montgomery was never drafted by an NHL team. Born in Montreal, Montgomery chose the college route to get to the NHL. The high scoring forward spent four seasons with the University of Maine Black Bears. He led the Black Bears to a 1993 National Championship as he racked up 95 points in only45 games. The only teammate to outscore him was freshman Paul Kariya.

Montgomery got his chance at the NHL the following season with the St. Louis Blues. It marked the first stop of many in his NHL career. Montgomery also spent time with the hometown Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars. In total, Montgomery picked up 34 points in 122 NHL games.

Montgomery spent parts of two seasons with the Hershey Bears. It was in Chocolateton that Montgomery established a career high of 105 points in the 1995-96 season.

Before it was over, the talented centerman also played in Germany and Russia.

Today, Montgomery serves as an Assistant Coach for the RPI Engineers of the ECAC.

Jared Aulin

Usually it works the other way, an aspiring college hockey star signs with a professional team with the dreams of playing in the NHL. Former former Hershey Bears forward Jared Aulin career has been just the opposite. Aulin was a star player for the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League before being drafted by the Colorado Avalanche. During the 2002-2003 season Aulin made it to the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings. Aulin played in 17 games an recorded a couple goals. From there it was stops in AHL cities like Manchester, Hershey, Springfield and Portland - never to return to the NHL.

While with the Hershey Bears, Aulin played 61 games and registered 39 points. The Calgary native was a member of the Calder Cup Championship team.

After a dissapointing 2006-2007 season with the Springfield Falcons, Aulin decided to walk away from professional hockey. Aulin headed to The University of Calgary and enrolled in Open Studies and instantly became a star for the Dinos of the Canada West college hockey league.

Aulin scored 34 points in just 16 games with the Dinos.

Mike Haworth (1955-2008)

Mike Haworth spent three season with the Hershey Bears between 1979 and 1982. He averaged over 250 minutes in penalties a season and was a key member of the 1980 Calder Cup Championship team. Following is a local report on the helicopter crash that claimed his life in mid-August.

"A local helicopter pilot has died as a result of injuries he sustained in a crash at the headwaters of Legate Creek northeast of the city on Aug. 13.
Mike Haworth, 53, was the only person on board the helicopter, owned by Quantum Helicopters of Terrace, when it crashed around 11:00 am.
He was evacuated from the crash site and airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on Aug. 14.
The helicopter had been chartered by a mining company, and at the time of the accident was moving a 1,500-lb. drill part on a sling from one site to another."

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Dave MacIsaac

Dave MacIsaac played a mere 32 games with the Hershey Bears in 2001-2002. That is four games less than he played the following season in Russia. The American-born defenseman spent most of his American Hockey League patrolling the blueline for the Philadelphia Phantoms.

After his AHL days were done, macIsaac spent time in Italy, the ECHL and then the UHL with the Danbury Trashers. The Trashers never really caught on and MacIsaac was on his way back to Italy before finally calling it a career.

The Trashers failed to lure enough fans to the rink but MacIsaac believes the new Danbury Madhatters of the new EPHL will make a go at it. MacIsaac becomes the first Head Coach of the Madhatters as the 2008-2009 season sets to begin.

Denis Herron

In 1979-1980 Denis Herron posted an impressive 25 wins while only picking up 3 losses. The next season he would win the Vezina Trophy. Both accomplishments came while playing goalie for the Montreal Canadiens.

There were some other memorable seasons. How about the 11-39-11 record while defending the goal for the Kansas City Scouts? That was a long season. There were many other long ones for the Quebec native. But in the end, Herron was good enough to stick around for 14 seasons - mostly with the Pittsburgh Penguins. So what is Herron best known for? He was in goal for Guy Lafleur's 50th goal on three occasions. The trend came to an end when Herron was traded to Montreal from Pittsburgh.

The Penguins third round pick in 1972 spent parts of three seasons with the Hershey Bears. He played 50 games with the Bears between 1972 and 1975. Herron didn't return to the AHL until the mid 1980s when he played a season for the Baltimore Skipjacks.

After retiring from hockey, Herron tried his hand as a car salesman in his native Quebec. That last about 8 months before he headed to work in the hotel industry in West Palm Beach, Florida. Now, he remains in the hotel industry working for Radisson in Aruba and St. Martin.

Jeff Buchanan

Defenseman Jeff Buchanan was never drafted by an NHL team but still had a long professional career. He spent a lot of time on the ice as a rookie with Gretzky. His 282 penalty minutes indicate he was there to protect Gretzky. That's Brent Gretzky of the Atlanta Knights. In 1992, he came out of the Western Hockey League and signed on with the Atlanta Knights of the International Hockey League. For the next seven season the Swift Current native toiled in the "I" never getting the shot at the NHL.
In 1998, Buchanan made the switch to the American Hockey League and the Hershey Bears. Buchanan played in only 38 games for the Bears, but something very important happened in his final professional season. The Colorado Avalanche summoned Buchanan from Hershey and he played in six NHL games. He didn't score any points and only managed to pick up 3 minor penalties. However, he made it.
Today, Buchanan remains in Central Pennsylvania. He , like former Bear Mark Freer, works as an Account Manager for Wealth Management of Hershey.

Len Barrie

What former Hershey Bear player from the early 1990's hit it the biggest? Tim Tookey? Dominic Roussel ? Tommy Soderstrom? No, none of them made it nearly as big as Len Barrie.

The British Columbia native spent three seasons with the Bears and managed to play in 184 games in the National Hockey League.

Barrie's best season in Hershey was a 42 goal season in 1991-92. However, the 76 point season a year later was also impressive considering he only played 61 games.

Today, Barrie is a real estate developer in Vernon, British Columbia. He is a partner in the Bear Mountain Resort and has successfully invested for numerous former teammates and players. The Bear Mountain Resort has become Western Canada's largest resort devolopment.

In June of 2008, Barrie became part owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning Club.

The former Bear star is married with two children. His son, Tyson, plays in the Western Hockey League with the Kelowna Rockets.

Barrie spends his free time on the golf course and boasts a six handicap.