The Manchester Monarchs proved to be a royal pain for the Hershey Bears on Saturday night at Giant Center before a sellout crowd of better than 10,000 patrons and twice overcame one-goal deficits to escape with a narrow 5-4 victory.
Keith Aucoin, the AHL’s leading point producer gave the Bears their first lead of the night at 3:26 of the opening period, but that early bulge lasted a mere ten seconds before Justin Azevedo slid a backhander under Hershey netminder Dany Sabourin at 3:36.
The Monarchs took their first lead of the game 1:05 into the middle frame when Linden Vey’s goal off of a faceoff win against Aucoin ricocheted off Bears’ defenseman Dany Richmond and beyond Sabourin.
The Bears tied the game and quickly took the lead later in the stanza when Jacob Micflikier and then captain Boyd Kane converted for goals with a span of twenty-four seconds, but again the Monarchs responded quickly and tied the game when Jordan Nolan, son of former NHL coach Ted Nolan, tied the game at 9:13 just forty-six seconds after Kane’s caper.
With the teams entering the final frame of regulation time knotted at three, the Monarchs quickly took a 4-3 lead when Cam Paddock, with an assist from Nolan, padded his goal-scoring stats by netting his second goal of the season. However, the battling Bears once again tied the game at four when Micflikier struck on the power play at 14:23. Micflikier’s goal, his 18th of the season, marked the first time that he had scored more than a single goal in any game.
Just over a minute after Micflikier’s marker, the Bears had a chance to possibly put the game away when they were presented with another power play opportunity, but the Monarchs managed to survive that scenario and clinched the victory on a goal by Marc-Andre Cliche at 17:56.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Bears Shoot Down Phantoms 1.7.12
Who knows what the cause was of the Chocolate and White sharpshooters firing wide of the target with great regularity early in the Hershey Bears’ rematch with the Adirondack Phantoms on Saturday night at Giant Center.
Perhaps it was a case of “Outdoor Classic hangover” from the previous night. Maybe it was simply a case of bad marksmanship, but whatever the reason, they eventually started hitting the bull’s-eye and attained a 5-2 win in a game that turned ugly late in the contest.
In an eerie twist, the Phantoms’ first goal of the game found the inside of the Bears’ net in the same manner as their opening strike in Fridays’ game- off a Hershey defenseman. But unlike Friday’s goal that went in off of Zach Miskovic, tonight’s tally bounced off of Miskovic’s partner Danny Richmond at 8:13.
Late in the first frame, with the Bears still scoreless on the evening, it looked like the visitors would enter the first intermission with no less than a one-goal lead when Ryan Potulny was sent to the penalty box for slashing at 18:49 by referee Ryan Hersey. However, Hershey’s terrific New England native twosome of Keith Aucoin and Chris Bourque combined for a shorthanded goal at 19:27.
The sequence started innocently enough with the Phantoms controlling the puck in the neutral zone, but then Aucoin separated a Phantom from the puck right in front of the official scorers’ table and then dished off a short pass to Bourque who took flight into their defensive zone. Bourque then proceeded to the inside of the left wing faceoff circle before buzzing a shot between the wickets of netminder Michael Leighton.
Early in the second period, the Bears took a 2-1 lead when Boyd Kane craftily deflected a Patrick McNeill point shot by Leighton at 2:29, but their lead lasted less than two minutes thanks to some brilliant work from Tyler Brown and Jason Akeson.
Brown and Akeson, after gaining entry into the Hershey zone, combined to execute a football-like crisscross pass maneuver that seemed to temporarily paralyze the home club, resulting in Brown receiving a pretty no-look pass from Akeson which he promptly put into the Hershey net at 3:57.
Seventy-two ticks of the scoreboard clock into the third period, Cullen Eddy tripped up Jacob Micflikier just inside the Phantoms’ blueline, which put the Bears’ league-leading power play unit into action, and fittingly it was Micflikier who found the back of net only six seconds into the manpower advantage to give the Bears a lead that they would not relinquish. Micflikier’s marker, his 13th of the season, broke a three-game goalless drought for the 5’8” native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who earlier in the game confronted 6’5” Phantoms’ forward Tom Sestito after he took a run at one of his Hershey teammates.
After the Micflikier goal, defensemen Julien Brouillette and Patrick McNeill dented the armor of Leighton within a two minute span to give the Bears their eventual 5-2 margin of victory.
However, like many of the 172 previous meetings between the clubs, this one was not going to end quietly. With 3:30 left in the game a bevy of bouts broke out on the ice, with some even on the bench. Featured among the mayhem was an encounter between Hershey enforcer Joel Rechlicz and Sestito, who was on the Adirondack bench at the time of the altercation. Sestito, who minutes earlier had turned down a chance to dance with Rechlicz after being slammed into the boards by the bruising winger, was willing to engage him on this occasion from the sanctuary of the bench.
When all the dust had settled from the fracas, referee Hersey had handed out 108 penalty minutes and game misconducts to Rechlicz and Sestito, as well as Richmond and Eddy.
Notes- Bourque’s goal was his 20th of the season and marked the fifth time in his career he has reached the 20-goal plateau.
Perhaps it was a case of “Outdoor Classic hangover” from the previous night. Maybe it was simply a case of bad marksmanship, but whatever the reason, they eventually started hitting the bull’s-eye and attained a 5-2 win in a game that turned ugly late in the contest.
In an eerie twist, the Phantoms’ first goal of the game found the inside of the Bears’ net in the same manner as their opening strike in Fridays’ game- off a Hershey defenseman. But unlike Friday’s goal that went in off of Zach Miskovic, tonight’s tally bounced off of Miskovic’s partner Danny Richmond at 8:13.
Late in the first frame, with the Bears still scoreless on the evening, it looked like the visitors would enter the first intermission with no less than a one-goal lead when Ryan Potulny was sent to the penalty box for slashing at 18:49 by referee Ryan Hersey. However, Hershey’s terrific New England native twosome of Keith Aucoin and Chris Bourque combined for a shorthanded goal at 19:27.
The sequence started innocently enough with the Phantoms controlling the puck in the neutral zone, but then Aucoin separated a Phantom from the puck right in front of the official scorers’ table and then dished off a short pass to Bourque who took flight into their defensive zone. Bourque then proceeded to the inside of the left wing faceoff circle before buzzing a shot between the wickets of netminder Michael Leighton.
Early in the second period, the Bears took a 2-1 lead when Boyd Kane craftily deflected a Patrick McNeill point shot by Leighton at 2:29, but their lead lasted less than two minutes thanks to some brilliant work from Tyler Brown and Jason Akeson.
Brown and Akeson, after gaining entry into the Hershey zone, combined to execute a football-like crisscross pass maneuver that seemed to temporarily paralyze the home club, resulting in Brown receiving a pretty no-look pass from Akeson which he promptly put into the Hershey net at 3:57.
Seventy-two ticks of the scoreboard clock into the third period, Cullen Eddy tripped up Jacob Micflikier just inside the Phantoms’ blueline, which put the Bears’ league-leading power play unit into action, and fittingly it was Micflikier who found the back of net only six seconds into the manpower advantage to give the Bears a lead that they would not relinquish. Micflikier’s marker, his 13th of the season, broke a three-game goalless drought for the 5’8” native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who earlier in the game confronted 6’5” Phantoms’ forward Tom Sestito after he took a run at one of his Hershey teammates.
After the Micflikier goal, defensemen Julien Brouillette and Patrick McNeill dented the armor of Leighton within a two minute span to give the Bears their eventual 5-2 margin of victory.
However, like many of the 172 previous meetings between the clubs, this one was not going to end quietly. With 3:30 left in the game a bevy of bouts broke out on the ice, with some even on the bench. Featured among the mayhem was an encounter between Hershey enforcer Joel Rechlicz and Sestito, who was on the Adirondack bench at the time of the altercation. Sestito, who minutes earlier had turned down a chance to dance with Rechlicz after being slammed into the boards by the bruising winger, was willing to engage him on this occasion from the sanctuary of the bench.
When all the dust had settled from the fracas, referee Hersey had handed out 108 penalty minutes and game misconducts to Rechlicz and Sestito, as well as Richmond and Eddy.
Notes- Bourque’s goal was his 20th of the season and marked the fifth time in his career he has reached the 20-goal plateau.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Outdoor Classic: Bears vs. Phantoms 1.6.12
Friday night’s game between the Adirondack Phantoms and Hershey Bears at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia was billed as an “Outdoor Classic”. While it may not have had the artistic beauty of a classic contest, it certainly was full of drama as the Phantoms fought back from a late third period deficit to steal a 4-3 overtime win over the Bears before an announced crowd of 45,653.
In falling to their former bitter rivals, the Bears wasted a fine outing from Braden Holtby who entered the game on a four-game winning streak. Holtby, who finished with 40 saves, was stellar throughout the contest, particularly in the second period when he stopped all 17 shots he faced.
The Bears wasted little time in jumping out to an early lead 1-0 lead when Chris Bourque converted the rebound of Keith Aucoin’s shot into his 19th goal of the season only 28 seconds into the contest. Bourque’s goal was his 125th as a Bear.
Mike Testwuide tied the game up at 12:03 by banking a shot off of the body of Zach Miskovic which gave Holtby no chance of stopping the redirection. Miskovic, who was a healthy scratch in the previous seven games, was appearing in his 13th game of the season.
The second period was scoreless until the final two minutes when Kyle Greentree, a former Phantom who scored 26 goals in his two seasons with the club, gave the Bears a 2-1 lead at 18:37. Greentree gathered in the rebound of a Cody Eakin shot and slithered a rebound shot past prone Phantoms’ netminder Michael Leighton to pick up his third goal of the season.
The Bears carried their one-goal cushion into the third period, and it held up until the 7:03 mark when Luke Pither potted his second goal of the season. Pither, after an icing call to the Bears, outdueled Bears centerman Christian Hanson on the ensuing faceoff. After the faceoff win, the Phantoms, persistent in their pursuit to tie the game, kept the puck in the Bears’ zone with Pither finishing off the sequence himself.
With the game on the line in the third period, Hershey’s usually lethal power play which is ranked first in the league entering the contest, had a chance to shine and did just that when Graham Mink, the league’s leader in power play strikes, finished off a beautiful three way sequence involving fellow forwards Bourque and Aucoin by blasting a shot past Leighton at 12:53.
However, the feisty Phantoms tied the game with 20.8 seconds left in regulation when Ben Holmstrom tallied his 10th goal of the season with Leighton on the bench in favor of an extra attacker.
The Phantoms needed less than a minute of the overtime to send the Bears to their fourth overtime setback of the season when Shane Harper fought off Bourque’s back checking effort and backhanded the biscuit by Holtby at 58 seconds.
Notes:
With their multi-point efforts, Aucoin and Bourque each increased their totals in that category to 16 and 13 respectively.
The Bears roster featured just two players who were in their lineup in the last regular season AHL game played in Philadelphia on April 10, 2009: Chris Bourque and Patrick McNeill. Current Bears’ captain Boyd Kane also skated in that game, but he was captaining the Phantoms in that encounter.
Phantoms’ head coach Joe Paterson is a former Bear who played for the club in the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.
Hershey scratched Matt Pope, Joel Rechlicz, D.J. King and Danny Richmond (veteran).
The Bears’ record this season for fastest goal from the start of the game is 18 seconds, set by Bourque on November 23rd against the Providence Bruins at Giant Center.
Bears’ defenseman Patrick Wellar left the playing surface at 14:44 of the first period favoring his left leg and did not return to the game.
In falling to their former bitter rivals, the Bears wasted a fine outing from Braden Holtby who entered the game on a four-game winning streak. Holtby, who finished with 40 saves, was stellar throughout the contest, particularly in the second period when he stopped all 17 shots he faced.
The Bears wasted little time in jumping out to an early lead 1-0 lead when Chris Bourque converted the rebound of Keith Aucoin’s shot into his 19th goal of the season only 28 seconds into the contest. Bourque’s goal was his 125th as a Bear.
Mike Testwuide tied the game up at 12:03 by banking a shot off of the body of Zach Miskovic which gave Holtby no chance of stopping the redirection. Miskovic, who was a healthy scratch in the previous seven games, was appearing in his 13th game of the season.
The second period was scoreless until the final two minutes when Kyle Greentree, a former Phantom who scored 26 goals in his two seasons with the club, gave the Bears a 2-1 lead at 18:37. Greentree gathered in the rebound of a Cody Eakin shot and slithered a rebound shot past prone Phantoms’ netminder Michael Leighton to pick up his third goal of the season.
The Bears carried their one-goal cushion into the third period, and it held up until the 7:03 mark when Luke Pither potted his second goal of the season. Pither, after an icing call to the Bears, outdueled Bears centerman Christian Hanson on the ensuing faceoff. After the faceoff win, the Phantoms, persistent in their pursuit to tie the game, kept the puck in the Bears’ zone with Pither finishing off the sequence himself.
With the game on the line in the third period, Hershey’s usually lethal power play which is ranked first in the league entering the contest, had a chance to shine and did just that when Graham Mink, the league’s leader in power play strikes, finished off a beautiful three way sequence involving fellow forwards Bourque and Aucoin by blasting a shot past Leighton at 12:53.
However, the feisty Phantoms tied the game with 20.8 seconds left in regulation when Ben Holmstrom tallied his 10th goal of the season with Leighton on the bench in favor of an extra attacker.
The Phantoms needed less than a minute of the overtime to send the Bears to their fourth overtime setback of the season when Shane Harper fought off Bourque’s back checking effort and backhanded the biscuit by Holtby at 58 seconds.
Notes:
With their multi-point efforts, Aucoin and Bourque each increased their totals in that category to 16 and 13 respectively.
The Bears roster featured just two players who were in their lineup in the last regular season AHL game played in Philadelphia on April 10, 2009: Chris Bourque and Patrick McNeill. Current Bears’ captain Boyd Kane also skated in that game, but he was captaining the Phantoms in that encounter.
Phantoms’ head coach Joe Paterson is a former Bear who played for the club in the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.
Hershey scratched Matt Pope, Joel Rechlicz, D.J. King and Danny Richmond (veteran).
The Bears’ record this season for fastest goal from the start of the game is 18 seconds, set by Bourque on November 23rd against the Providence Bruins at Giant Center.
Bears’ defenseman Patrick Wellar left the playing surface at 14:44 of the first period favoring his left leg and did not return to the game.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Walker and Pens Waddle by Bears 12.28.11
Although the logo on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ uniforms is a penguin, the Baby Pens are apparently living a cat’s life as the visitors overcame a two-goal third period deficit and emerged with a 6-5 shootout win over the Hershey Bears at Giant Center on Wednesday night.
The win by the Penguins was their ninth straight triumph at Giant Center, a streak that dates back to last season.
After a scoreless first period, the Penguins tallied the first goal of the game when Eric Tangradi tickled the twine 1:21 into the second period.
Hershey’s Graham Mink (power play) and Cody Eakin countered Tangradi’s goal to give the Bears their first lead of the game, but a goal by Geoff Walker with just over a minute after Eakin’s marker tied it up at two entering the last minute of the second period.
In the eventful last minute, WBS’s Zach Sill struck with his club in shorthanded mode, but a power play goal by Hershey’s Tomas Kundratek at 19:38 sent the game into the third period tied at three.
Power play goals seventy-five seconds apart by Chris Bourque (4-on-3) and Ryan Potulny gave the Bears a 5-3 lead less than eight minutes into the third period, but the pesky Pens sent the game into overtime and eventually the shootout when Tangradi (at 11:02) and Nick Petersen (at 18:07) put pucks behind Bears’ netminder, Dany Sabourin.
Ironically, the shootout went nine rounds and ended with Walker beating Sabourin on the Pens ninth attempt.
Notes-Potulny has a point in each of the five games he has played this season against WBS.
The game drew a sellout crowd of 10,801 and improved Hershey’s average through 17 home dates to 9,250 which is nearly double the average AHL home attendance (5,023).
The win by the Penguins was their ninth straight triumph at Giant Center, a streak that dates back to last season.
After a scoreless first period, the Penguins tallied the first goal of the game when Eric Tangradi tickled the twine 1:21 into the second period.
Hershey’s Graham Mink (power play) and Cody Eakin countered Tangradi’s goal to give the Bears their first lead of the game, but a goal by Geoff Walker with just over a minute after Eakin’s marker tied it up at two entering the last minute of the second period.
In the eventful last minute, WBS’s Zach Sill struck with his club in shorthanded mode, but a power play goal by Hershey’s Tomas Kundratek at 19:38 sent the game into the third period tied at three.
Power play goals seventy-five seconds apart by Chris Bourque (4-on-3) and Ryan Potulny gave the Bears a 5-3 lead less than eight minutes into the third period, but the pesky Pens sent the game into overtime and eventually the shootout when Tangradi (at 11:02) and Nick Petersen (at 18:07) put pucks behind Bears’ netminder, Dany Sabourin.
Ironically, the shootout went nine rounds and ended with Walker beating Sabourin on the Pens ninth attempt.
Notes-Potulny has a point in each of the five games he has played this season against WBS.
The game drew a sellout crowd of 10,801 and improved Hershey’s average through 17 home dates to 9,250 which is nearly double the average AHL home attendance (5,023).
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Bears Pound Pens 12.27.11
The Hershey Bears scored early and then often against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Tuesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza and pounded the Pens 6-0.
In their first action after the Christmas break, the Bears blitzed out to a 1-0 lead only 2:35 into the game when defenseman Tomas Kundratek was left all alone in front of WBS netminder Brad Thiessen and converted a centering pass from Matt Ford into his 5th goal of the season.
Before the first stanza was over, Kundratek’s fellow defensemen Julien Brouillette and Patrick McNeill also found the back of the net to give the Bears a 3-0 after twenty minutes of play.
In the middle frame, the Pens outshot the Bears by a 3-to-1 ratio (9-3), but thanks to some stellar work from the goalposts and from Bears’ backstoppper Braden Holtby, the Bears carried a 3-0 lead into the third period.
Jacob Micflikier’s power play strike 6:26 into the third period was followed by a pair of capers by Cody Eakin and gave the Bears the final 6-0 margin of victory, increasing their lead to four points over the Penguins and the Norfolk Admirals for first place in the AHL’s East Division.
Notes-The Bears have outscored their opponents in the first period this season, 47-23.
The Bears have not allowed a first period goal to the Pens in the last three games between the clubs.
Tonight’s game marked the seventh time this season that the Bears have received goals from at least five different players in a game.
Hershey’s six-goal margin of victory was their second of the season (7-1 win over Portland at Giant Center on December 3rd).
In their first action after the Christmas break, the Bears blitzed out to a 1-0 lead only 2:35 into the game when defenseman Tomas Kundratek was left all alone in front of WBS netminder Brad Thiessen and converted a centering pass from Matt Ford into his 5th goal of the season.
Before the first stanza was over, Kundratek’s fellow defensemen Julien Brouillette and Patrick McNeill also found the back of the net to give the Bears a 3-0 after twenty minutes of play.
In the middle frame, the Pens outshot the Bears by a 3-to-1 ratio (9-3), but thanks to some stellar work from the goalposts and from Bears’ backstoppper Braden Holtby, the Bears carried a 3-0 lead into the third period.
Jacob Micflikier’s power play strike 6:26 into the third period was followed by a pair of capers by Cody Eakin and gave the Bears the final 6-0 margin of victory, increasing their lead to four points over the Penguins and the Norfolk Admirals for first place in the AHL’s East Division.
Notes-The Bears have outscored their opponents in the first period this season, 47-23.
The Bears have not allowed a first period goal to the Pens in the last three games between the clubs.
Tonight’s game marked the seventh time this season that the Bears have received goals from at least five different players in a game.
Hershey’s six-goal margin of victory was their second of the season (7-1 win over Portland at Giant Center on December 3rd).
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Bears Singe Sound Tigers 12.17.11
No Graham Mink? No problem.
The Hershey Bears, skating without Mink, one of the league’s premier power play performers, still managed to pot three power play goals and cruised to a 5-0 shutout win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday night at Giant Center.
Christian Hanson started the scoring for the Bears by netting his first goal in 20 games to stake the home club to a 1-0 lead at 8:56 of the first period with his fourth goal of the season, a power play marker.
“I was getting my chances, but the puck just wasn’t going in,” said Hanson of his struggles. “It was nice to contribute and hopefully I will continue to be able to do that going forward.”
Hanson’s goal came after he received a crisp pass from Chris Bourque, Hershey’s power play quarterback, who was at his customary point position. Hanson knocked the puck down with his stick and then sailed a shot by Bridgeport netminder Kevin Poulin.
“The one-timer wasn’t possible because it was coming across body from (Chris) Bourque, but he made a nice play to find me in the seam. I knew Kane was in front, and I just wanted to get it on net as quickly as possible, and Kaner made a nice play on the screen and the goalie didn’t see it,” said Hanson.
Later in the period, Hershey captain Boyd Kane, who sat out of his club’s previous two games with a minor injury, turned diligent defensive work into offensive output when he netted his 9th goal of the season at 10:54 and beat Poulin on a breakaway after blocking Ty Wishart’s shot at the Bridgeport blueline.
In the middle frame, Bridgeport came out buzzing and outshot the Bears 5-0 in the early going, and 16-7 overall, but they could not beat Hershey netminder Dany Sabourin. Sabourin, who remained stellar all night long, made his best save of the night in the seventh minute of play when he snuffed out Casey Cizikas’ backhand bid on a semi-breakaway.
Matt Ford tacked on a late period goal to give the Bears a 3-0 lead after forty minutes of action. The sequence started with a faceoff in the Bridgeport zone between Ryan Potulny and Bridgeport’s Trevor Frischmon.
Frischmon controlled the draw in the faceoff circle and then whirled around and erroneously fired a perfect pass behind his own net right onto the stick of a surprised Bear, Jacob Micflikier. Micflikier drifted slightly to his left and then threaded a pass to Matt Ford in the crease area; Ford subsequently proceeded to push the puck into the net behind Poulin who seemed incensed that Ford had completed his mission while surrounded by three Bridgeport defenders.
Ryan Potulny then put the Sound Tigers on ice in the third period with a pair of power play strikes in the first half of the final frame which gave the Bears three power play goal on six opportunities on the evening. Counting tonight’s impressive showing with the extra man (3-for-6), the Bears are a combined and 8-for-25 (32.0%) in their six games and post a 4-1-1-0 record without Mink’s services.
“It’s pretty much the same personnel,” said Bourque when explaining the reason for the success. “Mink’s a big body in front, and he’s so good at tipping pucks and making screens; but we’ve got other guys who fill in that spot, and tonight they were able to get some good lanes for shots from the point. I thought Jake (Micflikier) did a great job of getting in the goalie’s eyes and taking away his vision on the shots from the point.”
Notes- Sabourin, who stopped the last 20 shots he faced against the Portland Pirates on December 3rd at Giant Center, has now stopped 52 straight shots at the venue.
Hershey scratches were Graham Mink (veteran), Kyle Greentree (injured), and Maxime Lacroix, Zach Miskovic, and Patrick Wellar (all healthy).
The Bears now lead the league in wins (12) when leading after two periods.
Bourque and Keith Aucoin, who garnered an assist on Potulny’s first goal, have now each tallied at least a point in 23 of the Bears’ 28 outings.
Hershey’s seven game-winning goals this season at Giant Center have been scored by seven different players (Hanson, Bourque, Kane, Micflikier, Mink, Dimitri Orlov, and Potulny).
The Bears have outscored their opponents 24-11 in first period at GC on the season.
Kane’s goal was the Bears 100th of the season.
The Bears three largest margins of victory have occurred with Sabourin in net: tonight’s game, a six-goal verdict over Portland on December 3rd, and a seven-goal verdict over Syracuse on October 23rd.
The Hershey Bears, skating without Mink, one of the league’s premier power play performers, still managed to pot three power play goals and cruised to a 5-0 shutout win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday night at Giant Center.
Christian Hanson started the scoring for the Bears by netting his first goal in 20 games to stake the home club to a 1-0 lead at 8:56 of the first period with his fourth goal of the season, a power play marker.
“I was getting my chances, but the puck just wasn’t going in,” said Hanson of his struggles. “It was nice to contribute and hopefully I will continue to be able to do that going forward.”
Hanson’s goal came after he received a crisp pass from Chris Bourque, Hershey’s power play quarterback, who was at his customary point position. Hanson knocked the puck down with his stick and then sailed a shot by Bridgeport netminder Kevin Poulin.
“The one-timer wasn’t possible because it was coming across body from (Chris) Bourque, but he made a nice play to find me in the seam. I knew Kane was in front, and I just wanted to get it on net as quickly as possible, and Kaner made a nice play on the screen and the goalie didn’t see it,” said Hanson.
Later in the period, Hershey captain Boyd Kane, who sat out of his club’s previous two games with a minor injury, turned diligent defensive work into offensive output when he netted his 9th goal of the season at 10:54 and beat Poulin on a breakaway after blocking Ty Wishart’s shot at the Bridgeport blueline.
In the middle frame, Bridgeport came out buzzing and outshot the Bears 5-0 in the early going, and 16-7 overall, but they could not beat Hershey netminder Dany Sabourin. Sabourin, who remained stellar all night long, made his best save of the night in the seventh minute of play when he snuffed out Casey Cizikas’ backhand bid on a semi-breakaway.
Matt Ford tacked on a late period goal to give the Bears a 3-0 lead after forty minutes of action. The sequence started with a faceoff in the Bridgeport zone between Ryan Potulny and Bridgeport’s Trevor Frischmon.
Frischmon controlled the draw in the faceoff circle and then whirled around and erroneously fired a perfect pass behind his own net right onto the stick of a surprised Bear, Jacob Micflikier. Micflikier drifted slightly to his left and then threaded a pass to Matt Ford in the crease area; Ford subsequently proceeded to push the puck into the net behind Poulin who seemed incensed that Ford had completed his mission while surrounded by three Bridgeport defenders.
Ryan Potulny then put the Sound Tigers on ice in the third period with a pair of power play strikes in the first half of the final frame which gave the Bears three power play goal on six opportunities on the evening. Counting tonight’s impressive showing with the extra man (3-for-6), the Bears are a combined and 8-for-25 (32.0%) in their six games and post a 4-1-1-0 record without Mink’s services.
“It’s pretty much the same personnel,” said Bourque when explaining the reason for the success. “Mink’s a big body in front, and he’s so good at tipping pucks and making screens; but we’ve got other guys who fill in that spot, and tonight they were able to get some good lanes for shots from the point. I thought Jake (Micflikier) did a great job of getting in the goalie’s eyes and taking away his vision on the shots from the point.”
Notes- Sabourin, who stopped the last 20 shots he faced against the Portland Pirates on December 3rd at Giant Center, has now stopped 52 straight shots at the venue.
Hershey scratches were Graham Mink (veteran), Kyle Greentree (injured), and Maxime Lacroix, Zach Miskovic, and Patrick Wellar (all healthy).
The Bears now lead the league in wins (12) when leading after two periods.
Bourque and Keith Aucoin, who garnered an assist on Potulny’s first goal, have now each tallied at least a point in 23 of the Bears’ 28 outings.
Hershey’s seven game-winning goals this season at Giant Center have been scored by seven different players (Hanson, Bourque, Kane, Micflikier, Mink, Dimitri Orlov, and Potulny).
The Bears have outscored their opponents 24-11 in first period at GC on the season.
Kane’s goal was the Bears 100th of the season.
The Bears three largest margins of victory have occurred with Sabourin in net: tonight’s game, a six-goal verdict over Portland on December 3rd, and a seven-goal verdict over Syracuse on October 23rd.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Pens Put Bears' Win Streak on Ice 12.10.11
There’s a reason that hockey games are played on the ice and not on paper, and Saturday night’s matchup between Keystone state rivals Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears at Giant Center was a good testament to that.
The baby Pens entered the game without the services of Jason Williams who had been recalled to Pittsburgh prior to the game, as well as a couple of other key cogs to their engine who were also recently recalled. Additionally, backup goaltender Scott Munroe was tending the twine. While the Bears entered the game on a four-game winning streak and have recently been playing some of their best hockey of the season, it was the baby Pens who prevailed with a 4-2 win.
After a scoreless first period in which the Bears decisively outplayed and also outshot the visitors 15-10, the teams entered the first intermission with neither team able to put a goal on their side of the scoreboard.
In the middle stanza, it was the Bears who lit the lamp for the first goal of the game with their solid second line combination of Matt Ford, Andrew Carroll, and Ryan Potulny all factoring into the goal, with Potulny doing the goal-scoring honors and garnering his 7th goal of the season in the process at 7:38. The sequence started seconds before the Potulny put-away when Carroll craftily redirected a centering pass from Ford in the direction of Munroe and the puck then slithered toward the goal line before defenseman Carl Sneep steered it away. However, the Bears kept the puck in the WBS zone with Ford eventually gathering it in along the back boards. Ford then proceeded to backhand a pass to Potulny who buzzed a shot by Munroe, with Carroll providing a strong screen in front of Munroe to help in the effort.
Hershey’s lead lasted just over four minutes before the pesky Pens tied the game when Ben Street found an open avenue on the blocker side of Bears’ backstoppper Braden Holtby and squeezed a shot by him at 11:48, just 14 seconds after the Bears had successfully killed off WBS’ third power play of the game.
Within the first four minutes of the final frame, the Pens scored on two of their first three shots to essentially put the game out of reach for the Bears. First, it was Eric Tangradi who tickled the twine on a soft backhander from the bottom of the faceoff circle only 46 seconds in, and then it was a Bryan Lerg one-time laser from between the faceoff circles that did the damage.
The Bears pulled Holtby in the final three minutes of regulation, but it was all for naught when the Pens were awarded an empty net goal at 17:55 when referee David Banfield correctly ruled that Hershey’s Graham Mink had intentionally knocked the net off its moorings.
The Bears added a goal by defenseman Tomas Kundratek in the final minute of a play, which extended his scoring streak to five straight games and also gave rough-and-tumble forward Joel Rechlicz his first point of the season, but it was too little too late for the Bears who fell to 13-7-3-2 in suffering the setback.
Notes- Hershey’s scoreless first period was only the second such occurrence on Giant Center ice this season; the other occasion was also a loss against the baby Pens on October 22nd.
The Bears outscored their opponents 19-7 overall during their four-game winning streak, including 10-0 during the second periods of those four outings.
The game marked the first time this season that Potulny only scored one goal in a game. In three previous games, he scored two in each game.
The Bears scratched injured forwards D.J. King and Kyle Greentree, in addition to healthy scratches Garrett Mitchell, Danny Richmond (veteran), and Zach Miskovic (for the sixth straight game).
Washington Capitals’ coach Dale Hunter and his assistant coach Jim Johnson, the former head coach of the Norfolk Admirals, watched the game from the Bears’ suite along with Bears’ President and GM, Doug Yingst.
The baby Pens entered the game without the services of Jason Williams who had been recalled to Pittsburgh prior to the game, as well as a couple of other key cogs to their engine who were also recently recalled. Additionally, backup goaltender Scott Munroe was tending the twine. While the Bears entered the game on a four-game winning streak and have recently been playing some of their best hockey of the season, it was the baby Pens who prevailed with a 4-2 win.
After a scoreless first period in which the Bears decisively outplayed and also outshot the visitors 15-10, the teams entered the first intermission with neither team able to put a goal on their side of the scoreboard.
In the middle stanza, it was the Bears who lit the lamp for the first goal of the game with their solid second line combination of Matt Ford, Andrew Carroll, and Ryan Potulny all factoring into the goal, with Potulny doing the goal-scoring honors and garnering his 7th goal of the season in the process at 7:38. The sequence started seconds before the Potulny put-away when Carroll craftily redirected a centering pass from Ford in the direction of Munroe and the puck then slithered toward the goal line before defenseman Carl Sneep steered it away. However, the Bears kept the puck in the WBS zone with Ford eventually gathering it in along the back boards. Ford then proceeded to backhand a pass to Potulny who buzzed a shot by Munroe, with Carroll providing a strong screen in front of Munroe to help in the effort.
Hershey’s lead lasted just over four minutes before the pesky Pens tied the game when Ben Street found an open avenue on the blocker side of Bears’ backstoppper Braden Holtby and squeezed a shot by him at 11:48, just 14 seconds after the Bears had successfully killed off WBS’ third power play of the game.
Within the first four minutes of the final frame, the Pens scored on two of their first three shots to essentially put the game out of reach for the Bears. First, it was Eric Tangradi who tickled the twine on a soft backhander from the bottom of the faceoff circle only 46 seconds in, and then it was a Bryan Lerg one-time laser from between the faceoff circles that did the damage.
The Bears pulled Holtby in the final three minutes of regulation, but it was all for naught when the Pens were awarded an empty net goal at 17:55 when referee David Banfield correctly ruled that Hershey’s Graham Mink had intentionally knocked the net off its moorings.
The Bears added a goal by defenseman Tomas Kundratek in the final minute of a play, which extended his scoring streak to five straight games and also gave rough-and-tumble forward Joel Rechlicz his first point of the season, but it was too little too late for the Bears who fell to 13-7-3-2 in suffering the setback.
Notes- Hershey’s scoreless first period was only the second such occurrence on Giant Center ice this season; the other occasion was also a loss against the baby Pens on October 22nd.
The Bears outscored their opponents 19-7 overall during their four-game winning streak, including 10-0 during the second periods of those four outings.
The game marked the first time this season that Potulny only scored one goal in a game. In three previous games, he scored two in each game.
The Bears scratched injured forwards D.J. King and Kyle Greentree, in addition to healthy scratches Garrett Mitchell, Danny Richmond (veteran), and Zach Miskovic (for the sixth straight game).
Washington Capitals’ coach Dale Hunter and his assistant coach Jim Johnson, the former head coach of the Norfolk Admirals, watched the game from the Bears’ suite along with Bears’ President and GM, Doug Yingst.
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