Hockey Operations Staff

After spending two seasons working on Troy Mann’s staff as an assistant coach, Helmer was named the Vice President of Hockey Operations following the retirement of General Manager Doug Yingst. Helmer, a native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, oversees the day-to-day operations of the club’s hockey department. He works closely with team’s coaching staff, as well as the Washington Capitals, Hershey’s NHL affiliate, on all decisions involving players and personnel. Under his watch, the Bears claimed their 12th and 13th Calder Cup titles in franchise history in 2023 and 2024, joining Hockey Hall of Famer Frank Mathers as only the second former Bears player to lead the team to a championship as an executive. Upon the conclusion of both seasons, Helmer was also named the recipient of the James C. Hendy Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding executive of the year, becoming the first executive in league history to receive the Hendy Award in consecutive seasons.

Helmer was inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame in 2017 after an illustrious playing career. He is the AHL’s all-time leader in points by a defenseman. He recorded 564 points (129 goals, 435 assists) in a remarkable 20-year career that totaled 1,117 regular-season games. Helmer is also the AHL’s all-time leader in Calder Cup playoff appearances, having played in 159 postseason games. He won three Calder Cups in his career, including captaining the Bears to back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010. Helmer also played 146 games in the NHL with Phoenix, St. Louis, Vancouver, and Washington, totaling 26 points (eight goals, 18 assists). Prior to returning to Hershey, Helmer served as an assistant coach with the Peterborough Petes of the OHL in 2013-14.

Helmer resides in the Hershey area with his wife Pam, and has a son, Cade, and a daughter, Rylan.

King was an assistant coach for the Blackhawks from 2022-25, working with the team’s forwards. He previously served as the interim head coach of the Blackhawks in 2021-22. When he joined the Blackhawks on November 6, 2021, Chicago was just 1-9-2, and he guided the club to a four-game win streak to start his NHL head coaching tenure.

With the Blackhawks he coached the likes of Connor Bedard, Marc-André Fleury, Taylor Hall, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and current Washington Capitals forward Dylan Strome.

Prior to being elevated to the NHL, King spent parts of seven years with the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. He was an assistant coach from 2016-18, helping the team to a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2018. He was promoted to interim head coach on November 6, 2018, and took over as the club’s permanent head coach prior to the 2019-20 season.

King worked with the Toronto Marlies as an assistant coach from 2009-14, and as an associate coach in 2014-15. He helped the Marlies to a Calder Cup Finals appearance in 2012, and Toronto won 40 or more games in each of his final four seasons with the club.

The Hamilton, Ontario native got his coaching start as a player-coach with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins from 2002-04.

King also enjoyed an accomplished 18-year playing career from 1986-2004 that included 14 seasons in the NHL from 1986-00. Drafted 13th overall by the New York Islanders in 1985, King played 830 NHL games, scoring 612 points (261g, 351a). He was a three-time 30-goal scorer, including one 40-goal season. In addition to the Islanders, he also played for the Hartford Whalers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and St. Louis Blues. He was a teammate with Hershey vice president of hockey operations Bryan Helmer while with St. Louis during the 1999-00 season.

Prior to joining Anaheim, Thompson was the head coach of the Bridgeport Islanders/Sound Tigers franchise of the American Hockey League from 2014-23. He was also the head coach in Bridgeport in 2011-12 (10 total seasons). As the head coach of the New York Islanders' primary development affiliate, he led Bridgeport to a 328-286-73 record in 687 AHL games behind the bench; at the time of his hiring in Hershey, his 328 head coaching wins in the AHL were tied for 18th in league history. Thompson also served as the New York Islanders' assistant coach from 2012-14.

A native of Calgary, Alberta, Thompson spent two seasons as the head coach of the Alaska Aces (ECHL) from 2009-11, compiling an 83-50-6-5 record. He led the Aces to a Kelly Cup championship in 2011 and was named ECHL Coach of the Year (John Brophy Award) following a league-best 47-22-2-1 record in the regular season. Thompson began his coaching career as a player/assistant coach with the Central Hockey League's Colorado Eagles (2003-04) and served as an assistant coach with the AHL's Peoria Rivermen from 2005-09.

Selected by Los Angeles in the second round (39th overall) of the 1989 NHL Draft, Thompson had a 15-year playing career as a defenseman where he played in 919 professional games, including 121 NHL contests with Los Angeles (1991-94) and Winnipeg (1994-97). He served as a captain for three AHL clubs, including Providence, Louisville, and Hershey, serving in that role in his final season with the Bears in 2002-03, concluding a three-season tenure with Hershey from 2000-03 that saw him generate 45 points (10g, 35a) and 356 penalty minutes in 155 career games. As a player, Thompson earned the AHL’s Yanick Dupré Memorial Award in 1998-99 as a member of the Hartford Wolf Pack for his outstanding community involvement. His 2,084 penalty minutes in the AHL rank seventh in league history.

Brent Thompson's two sons, Tage Thompson and Tyce Thompson, have both played in the NHL, with Tage Thompson currently playing for the Buffalo Sabres.

Bootland became head coach of Kalamazoo in 2008-09 when the club was a member of the International Hockey League, and continued with the organization in its shift to the ECHL. He owned a coaching record of 481-366-82 (.562) in 929 career IHL and ECHL games with Kalamazoo, helping the club qualify for the playoffs nine times.

While at the helm of Kalamazoo, he guided the Wings to an appearance in the 2011 Kelly Cup Finals and in his tenure, the team won four division titles and one conference championship. His 853 games coached and 437 wins in the ECHL rank seventh and eighth respectively in league history.

In his 10-year playing career, the forward amassed over 300 games in the AHL, lacing up his skates with both Cleveland and Hershey, where he appeared in 208 career games with the Chocolate and White, posting 42 points (15g, 27a) and 350 penalty minutes. The Shelburne, Ontario native spent the final three seasons of his career in Kalamazoo, where he served as team captain. In 2006, he led the K-Wings to a UHL championship, capturing Colonial Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player honors with 16 points (10g, 6a) in 13 playoff games.

Lehtola joined the Bears from his native Finland where he worked with in the country's top league, Liiga, for HPK Hameenlinna as goaltending coach and video coach since 2016. He was part of HPK's 2018-19 club that won the league championship, and the former netminder was a product of HPK's junior program during his playing days.

The native of Hameenlinna, Finland was selected as the goaltending coach for Finland in the 2021 and 2022 World Junior Championships.

From 2011-13, Lehtola worked alongside Washington Capitals goalie coach Scott Murray with the Ontario Hockey League's Sudbury Wolves. He served as Murray's assistant goaltending coach and also held the video coach title during the 2011-13 campaign.

Downey served as Lehigh Valley's director of hockey operations and video coach from 2016-25; the title of assistant coach was added to his role in 2021. During his time in Lehigh Valley, the Phantoms appeared in five of the possible seven AHL playoffs, including the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals and the longest game in AHL history.

The native of Pittsburgh served as the director of hockey operations and video coach at his alma mater, Penn State University, from 2011-2016, helping oversee the club’s transition to the NCAA Division-I ranks. He was also an assistant coach at Penn State from 2008-10, and he spent one year as the director of hockey operations at Harvard University in 2010-11 before returning to Penn State.

Downey was an assistant coach for the ECHL’s Reading Royals in 2007-08, and he also worked as a scout for the United States Hockey League’s Chicago Steel in 2007.

As a professional player, Downey played parts of five seasons, including skating in the ECHL with Reading, the Johnstown Chiefs, and the Wheeling Nailers. As a Penn State Icer from 2000-04, the forward earned American College Hockey Association (ACHA) All-American honors, was named captain, and helped the club to three consecutive ACHA national championships. Additionally, he represented Team USA at the 2003 World University Games in Tarvisio, Italy. Downey is a member of Penn State Hockey’s Hall of Fame.

Fliszar joined the Bears from the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators, where he worked as the club’s head athletic trainer during the 2019-20 season. Before moving to Georgia, Fliszar gained experience with the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals, first serving as an athletic training intern, then joining the club's staff as the head athletic trainer for the 2018-19 campaign.

In the 2020-21 season, Fliszar was part of the group of AHL athletic trainers awarded the Yanick Dupré Memorial Award for their efforts during the pandemic. A native of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Fliszar holds a bachelor’s degree from DeSales University and a master’s degree from Moravian College. He also has past experience as an athletic training intern at Old Dominion University, Lehigh University, and Palisades High School.

A native of Peoria, Illinois, Finley spent the 2019-20 season in his hometown as the athletic trainer for the SPHL's Peoria Rivermen. At the conclusion of the campaign, he was named the league’s Athletic Trainer of the Year by his fellow SPHL equipment managers and athletic trainers.

A graduate of Northern Illinois University, Finley played hockey at the ACHA level as a student and also played junior hockey for the Peoria Mustangs in the NA3HL.

Finley has participated in the Deaflympics, representing Team USA in ice hockey, earning a gold medal in 2019 and a bronze medal in 2015.

The graduate of the University of Saskatchewan and Camosun College also has experience with Crash Conditioning where he worked as the director of sports performance and integration. He joined the organization in 2017 as an intern, and took over as the lead sport performance coach in 2021, where he worked with over 150 athletes each year, including numerous NHL players and prospects.

Freter, a native of Lloydminster, Alberta, has also worked the IIHF World Junior Championships in team services and previously served as a training camp volunteer for the NHL's Vancouver Canucks.

Carter has been around the Bears his whole life, and worked as a stick boy and locker room attendant for the Bears from the time he was 12 to his graduation from Elizabethtown High School in 2010. Carter is a 2013 graduate of California University of Pennsylvania, where he played hockey for the Vulcans and served as their equipment manager.

He spent the 2013-14 season as an assistant equipment manager for the Anaheim Ducks before returning to Hershey to take the position of head equipment manager. His uncle, Doug “Sluggo” Shearer, was the equipment manager for the Anaheim Ducks until 2018, and was a former equipment manager for the Washington Capitals (1983-2007) and Bears (1981-83).

The Elizabethtown native and is no stranger to the Hershey organization. He returned to Central Pennsylvania with the Bears after serving as the head equipment manager for the 2017 Clark Cup Champion Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League. With the Steel, Filepas was responsible for all team equipment needs including skate sharpening, jersey embroidery, equipment repair, and overseeing the team’s ordering and inventory.

From 2008-12, Filepas worked with the Bears as a stick boy and locker room attendant, assisting during Hershey’s Calder Cup championship seasons in 2009 and 2010. Additionally, he worked at ProSkate, a hockey pro shop at Klick Lewis Arena in Palmyra.

A native of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Harris began his association with Hershey Entertainment & Resorts in 2015 as a lifeguard and rides operator at Hersheypark.

Harris graduated in May of 2022 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he received his Bachelor's degree in Sports Administration, and played four seasons for their Men's ACHA program. Upon graduation, Harris was hired by Hershey Entertainment & Resorts as a Senior Aquatics & Attractions Supervisor for Hersheypark.