RAHN’S INTERVIEW WITH BRYAN HELMER

June 14, 2009

Chris Rahn, BEARS Staff Writer Bryan Helmer signed with the HERSHEY BEARS on July 24, 2008. The 36-year old native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario enjoyed a whirlwind season. In addition to being named captain of the most historic franchise in the American Hockey League, Helmer also returned to the NHL for the first time in five years. Having won a Calder Cup with the Albany River Rats in 1995, Helmer was looking to do the same with the 2008-09 HERSHEY BEARS. In 63 regular season games with the BEARS in 2008-09, Helmer recorded two goals and 25 assists for 27 points with 59 penalty minutes. He also appeared in 12 games with the Washington Capitals, recording three assists and two penalty minutes. He’s a free-agent this summer and hopes to play a few more seasons before officially hanging up the skates. Chris Rahn: What was it like coming to HERSHEY for the first time and being named captain? Bryan Helmer: It was nice and a huge honor. You look at this franchise, it’s been around forever and to be named captain was a big honor and I’m pretty proud. Chris Rahn: You made your return to the NHL this season, how was it? Bryan Helmer: It was good, it was exciting. It was a heck of a dream come true again. It was almost five years since I last played in the NHL and I said this before, my son was there but he doesn’t remember it. So he kept like bugging me ‘dad when you going to get called up?’ It finally happened this year, so it was a proud moment for me to have my wife, my daughter, and my son in the stands to see it. It was a good deal. Chris Rahn: How much of a role do you play in the locker room during intermission? Bryan Helmer: I’m a pretty vocal guy, but we got a lot of good leaders in this room, so they make my job a little easier. When things have to said, I’m not afraid to say it. I’ve been around, so I think the guys respect me in that way and sometimes they listen and sometimes they don’t. It’s good, but I try not to talk a real lot because I know every guy in this locker room wants to win and they know what we have to do. We have a great dressing room here and a lot of great guys, so it makes my job a lot easier. Chris Rahn: After playing in several different AHL cities, where does HERSHEY rank among your favorites? Bryan Helmer: Oh its right up there. I always say when people ask me that question ‘where else in the AHL can you play in front of 9-10,000 people on a Wednesday night’ it’s not heard of. The city itself, Hershey itself, is a smaller town feeling; my wife and I are from small towns, so having a family with the parks. My family is really enjoying it and I’m really enjoying it. This is one of the best organizations to play for, so it’s nice. Chris Rahn: You’ll be 37 this summer; do you plan to play another season and would HERSHEY be considered? Bryan Helmer: Yeah I want to play for as long as I can. I’m hoping that maybe it will be back here, obviously I like it and my family likes it. But if it doesn’t happen maybe on another American League team or maybe go over to Europe. I want to play as long as I can. I love this game and I’m still having fun doing it. Chris Rahn: Being a veteran, is it easy or hard to relate to the young guys? Bryan Helmer: The way I approach things I try to be young like them. The younger guys from when I came up have changed a lot. The younger guys are more outspoken. It use to be a tradition where the rookies don’t say a word in the dressing room and they just go about their business, but now the way kids are brought up, they’re brought up to be outspoken and to say what they want. That’s the way life is now, so you have to adapt to it that way. We have a great bunch of rookies in this room, so it’s nice to be around those guys. Chris Rahn: Any fun or crazy stories from a previous road trip? Bryan Helmer: We just have fun, especially on the bus. The other night when Alex (Giroux) scored his 50th, we were all on the bus and cheered him with a beer. We only had one though, one each; we could only have one. There’s certain jokes and stuff that guys play on each other on the road; where you might get a guys key and go into his room and soak his bed, or flip his bed and turn his mattress over. Stuff like that, but it’s all in fun. Chris Rahn: How do you normally spend the offseason? Bryan Helmer: I spend it in my cottage in Ontario. Just spending it with my family and my wife’s family; they’re all in the same area. So we just go back there and just try and spend time with them. We love the water and we do a lot of fishing and skiing and boating, stuff like that. We just try to enjoy family.