Hershey Bears sign Sam Anas, native of Potomac, Md. originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Hershey Bears announced Monday that they’d signed forward Sam Anas, a native of Potomac, Maryland, to a contract for the 2022-23 regular season.
Anas played for the Springfield Thunderbirds last season and put up 20 goals and 44 assists in 75 games played. In the 2019-20 season, he won the league’s John B. Sollenberger Trophy for having the most points in the league.
He also won the Fred T. Hunt Award last season as the AHL player who “best exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey.”
Anas, 29, played for the Washington Little Caps organization beginning in the 2005-2006 season — Alex Ovechkin’s rookie season in the NHL — and continued his career with Team Maryland programs, the USHL and into NCAA hockey, where he played at Quinnipiac for three seasons. In his final season, where he was an assistant captain, he scored 50 points in 43 games.
Anas was also teammates with current Capitals forward Joe Snively, another local product, at Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland. Those two helped lead the Landon Bears to a 25-0-1 season in 2011.
He then signed a professional contract with the Minnesota Wild in 2016 and played for the Iowa Wild for four seasons. Hershey will be Anas’ third team in three seasons.
In his AHL career, Anas has amassed 357 games and has tallied 284 points. He’s yet to play in the NHL.
If and when he does get the call-up, he’d become the fifth player from Maryland to play an NHL game and join a list that includes Jeremy Duchesne (one game), Jamie Fritsch (one game), Jeff Brubaker (178 games) and Jeff Halpern (976 games).
