The Hershey Bears and Washington Capitals announced on Wednesday they have extended their affiliation for two more years with an option for a third year. The Bears also extended head coach Bob Woods’ contract, but the length of his extension was not released.

"The relationship between Hershey and Washington is nothing short of outstanding. George McPhee has been an unbelievable partner,” Bears president and general manager Doug Yingst said. “He's one of the NHL GMs that cares about his AHL affiliate and not only wants to develop players but win. It just becomes a natural thing for us to stay with Washington."

The Bears and Capitals first became affiliated for the 2005-06 season and what happened after that was magic. The 2005-06 Bears finished the season with a 44-21-5-10 record and a second place finish in the East Division. Hershey rolled through the playoffs en route to the franchise’s ninth Calder Cup championship.

The Bears returned the following season with most of Washington’s prospects and performed even better then the season before. The 2006-07 Bears finished the season with a franchise record 51 wins and 114 points and won the East Division for the first time since 1993-94. Although they set records and returned to the Calder Cup finals, the Bears were unable to get past the Hamilton Bulldogs.

The 2007-08 Hershey Bears were a much different team than from the two previous seasons. Several key players such as Dave Steckel, Mike Green, and Tomas Fleischmann were with the Capitals full-time and others moved on to different teams. Hershey managed to make the playoffs with a fourth place finish in the East Division, but fell in the first round to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in five games.

Bob Woods had served as Hershey’s assistant since the 2005-06 season before being promoted to head coach when Bruce Boudreau was promoted to Washington on Thanksgiving. Woods led a team that struggled through injuries and call-ups to a 42-30-2-6 mark; the team was 35-23-1-6 under Woods.

"I'm excited about the opportunity. I think we've got a nice crop of young players coming back, plus some young ones coming from juniors. It's a positive,” Woods said. “If we can just fill the holes with some veteran guys and some free agents, I think we'll have a good chance to do some damage again next year."

Even though the season was a rough one and fans began to call for Woods to be fired, general manager Doug Yingst always stood by his coach and is happy to have him back.

"I think he came through and stepped up to the plate with very big shoes to fill,” Yingst said. “I think it's the right thing to do and the fair thing to do to give him an ideal opportunity with this franchise."

The Bears also announced Thursday that assistant coach Mark French will be returning for his first full season as a member of the chocolate and white. French was hired on January 2 to serve as Woods’ assistant. Before coming to Hershey, French was head coach and director of hockey operations for the Wichita Thunder (CHL) before being fired on December 9 after a 4-13-0 start to the season.

The Capitals have supplied the Bears with great talent the past three years that produced Hershey with two finals appearances and three playoff berths. In the ever changing AHL, teams can’t always be the same as they were a few years ago, but Washington will do everything they can to help make Hershey a winning team.