by Jesse Liebman | AHL On The Beat
Hershey Bears forward Ethen Frank was already off to a respectable start in his first professional season when he was selected to represent his team at the American Hockey League’s All-Star Classic in February of 2023.
The day Frank celebrated his 25th birthday, he electrified the Place Bell crowd – and thousands more across North America on television and social media – in the CCM Fastest Skater event with a blistering lap of 12.915 seconds, becoming the first player to ever break the 13-second threshold in the fastest skater competition in either the AHL or NHL, and earning the moniker of the “Fastest Man in Hockey.”
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The accolades soon followed. Frank finished the year with 30 goals (good for a tie for seventh among all skaters, and tops among rookies), signed an NHL contract with the Washington Capitals, earned a spot on the AHL’s All-Rookie Team, and helped the Bears capture the Calder Cup, assisting on Mike Vecchione’s Game 7 overtime clincher over the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
The following year, Frank went on to defend his fastest skater title – he led the field at the 2024 event in San Jose with a lap clocked at 13.032 – and played a major role as Hershey repeated as champions over Coachella Valley.
As Frank told Drew Remenda in an on-ice interview after his victory in the 2024 fastest skater competition, “speed kills.”
While it’s evident Frank clearly possesses NHL-caliber speed, he has also consistently demonstrated he possesses a goal scorer’s touch over the past two and a half seasons in the AHL.
To wit: he recorded his first career goal – a power-play one-timer from the left circle with the man advantage – on April 15, 2022 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton; since that date, Bear Nation and the rest of the AHL has witnessed Frank fill the net a total of 79 times in the regular season, a mark that is exceeded in that span only by the 81 goals scored by Ontario’s Samuel Fagemo. Frank tied for fourth in the league in 2023-24 with 13 power-play goals, and as the Bears hit the holiday break this past weekend, Frank is tied with Calgary’s Rory Kerins for first in the AHL with 19 tallies. He appears almost a sure bet to be selected to once again represent the Bears for a third straight season at the AHL All-Star Classic, which will be hosted in February at Acrisure Arena.
“There’s no question [his 2023 performance] definitely put him on the map, just talking with the league officials and management with the league. They want to see players excel like that in the skills competition,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said. “He’s definitely in the conversation to get to go for the third year in a row; he’s leading the league in goals and I’m sure that he’s going to merit some consideration for that.”
“It would be very special to be able to represent Hershey and participate in something like that again with some teammates, coaches and staff again.” Frank said. “I know that it’s in [Coachella Valley], so I might hear a few boos here and there, but it’s all in good fun.”
But Frank has his sights set on using his speed and goal-scoring ability – as well as a commitment to elevating his 200-foot game – to bring him closer to something that has eluded him so far: receiving that first NHL call-up. For as much as he has already accomplished, there have also been growing pains along the way.
Frank notably stumbled near the end of his rookie season and struggled to find the net as the team went through the Calder Cup Playoffs, even getting scratched for portions of the Eastern Conference Finals and championship round against the Firebirds. After lifting the Calder Cup in 2023, Frank spent the entirety of the 2023-24 season with Hershey, and critically missed eight games for the Bears with a lower-body injury from mid-February to early March, at a time when he would have been a likely recall option for the Capitals as they made a late-season push to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But Frank also exorcised his playoff demons later that spring, tying for the league playoff lead with 10 goals – at one point notably putting together a six-game goal streak – and notching four game-winners for Hershey as the team once again defeated Coachella Valley to repeat as Calder Cup champions.
The expectations were perhaps as high as they’ve ever been this fall, but Frank was not able to make enough of an impact in three preseason contests with Washington to crack the Capitals’ lineup.
The motivation to finally break through is perhaps what has sparked Frank’s play to start this season. Among his 19 goals, he notched a hat trick on opening night against Cleveland, put together a five-game goal streak in late November, and has collected four game-winners. But he is quick to acknowledge those who have helped get him to this point.
“I’ve got to give credit to the other people on the ice, even as far as the coaching and support staff, showing video and bringing up ideas on the bench on how to beat teams,” Frank said. “Whether it’s power play or 5-on-5, there’s a lot of people that support us as players and what we do and try to make our jobs as easy as possible, and it seems to be working out pretty well for everyone.”
Bears assistant coach Nick Bootland oversees the team’s power play unit – a group on which Frank has paced Hershey in each of the last two campaigns and currently sits first among its forwards this season with four. He’s liked what he’s seen as Frank has continued on his upward trajectory.
“If you look back at the progression and you look at year one in the playoffs, we actually sat him out of games because the compete wasn’t there. And he wasn’t willing to pay the price quite as much as we wanted him to. Once we did that, it sparked him. And he’s never forgotten that moment,” Bootland said.
“He went back to that moment at the start of last year in the playoffs where he was like, ‘I’m not going to let that happen again.’ He was outstanding during that run, and has just carried over right into this season. At some point you might see an opportunity for him to be in the National Hockey League. I think there’ll be a chance at some point. He’s one of those guys that has the ability to make things happen. And I think wherever he goes, he’s going to score.”
Nelson has seen Frank’s effort, and knows the challenges he faces as a player opposing teams regularly game-plan for.
“I think his confidence is at an all-time high right now. We all know he can skate well and he has a great shot, but right now he’s hitting his mark, his shot’s gotten more accurate. He plays on the power play and teams are starting to sit on him and attempt to take away his chances. But he still finds a way to get free and he gets the puck on net.
“I think he has the thirst to be in the conversation, to get called up. I think when you look at his training camp with Washington, it probably didn’t go as well as he wanted it to. I think that he’s on a bit of a redemption tour down here, to have Washington keep him in the conversation if there has to be a call-up.”
Vecchione, who was with Frank that night in Laval at the All-Star Classic nearly two years ago, has been witness to much of Frank’s success as a regular linemate, often playing the left wing to Frank’s right, and the duo consider each other close friends on and off the ice. Vecchione continues to marvel at his linemate’s goal-scoring prowess and preparation.
“Even after two years of being a dominant goal scorer, he is still finding different ways to score and not letting other teams get in his way,” Vecchione said. “It’s a credit to him and the pre-scouting he does, and all the little things he does to put himself in the best positions to be a good teammate and an amazing goal scorer.”
Can Frank finally earn an NHL call-up? Will Frank get a chance to defend his Fastest Skater crown for a third straight year? Can the Bears capture the rare Calder Cup three-peat (a feat accomplished only once before in the early 1960s by the Springfield Indians)? The answers to all of these questions remain to be seen, but with regard to the former, Frank remains level-headed.
“I would hope that I’m close,” he said. “I like to have confidence in myself, but of course I don’t know what [Washington’s] list looks like for call-ups, so I just try to do what I can to give myself the best opportunity. You can’t think about that too much or you won’t perform very well, so I’m just trying to stay in the moment and control what I can control now. I think probably to help get a call-up would be playing better defensively and without the puck, and having more urgency a little more all over the ice and not just any specific area, but obviously the NHL is fast and it’s full of good players and so it’s hard to crack it; there’s a reason that it’s hard to stay in it too.”
