By: John Sparenberg
When the Adirondack Phantoms called Philadelphia their home, weird things would happen often when they faced the Hershey Bears. There was the episode in Philadelphia when current Bears’ captain Boyd Kane, then skating for the Phantoms, scored a goal when he should have still in the penalty box serving out his sentence, but was instead granted an early, illegal release from his penalty sentence.
Then there was the time with a playoff berth on the line, the game in overtime, and the Bears’ goaltender pulled for an extra attacker. Their season and playoff hopes vanished in heartbreaking fashion when Shane Willis’ pass to a teammate failed to connect and the puck bounced off the boards at center ice at Giant Center and into the Bears’ vacated net.
However, since the Phantoms relocated to upper New York State, such occurrences have been rare, mostly due to the clubs not facing off against each other as often as a result of the Phantoms’ move north. But last night at Giant Center, the ghosts of games past revisited the clubs in the Bears’ 3-0 win over the Phantoms at Giant Center.
Former Phantom Matt Clackson, who nailed former Bear Danny Syvret into the end boards on his first shift of the game, laid a hearty hit on Phantoms’ defenseman Brandon Manning seconds later, and then subsequently duked it out with Manning in a spirited bout in which he gained a narrow decision, indirectly figured into the Bears’ first goal of the game when he was whistled off for an interference infraction at 12:41 of the opening frame.
With Clackson cooling his heels in the penalty box and the Phantoms on their first power play of the contest, things were moving along rather uneventfully as Hershey the defenseman gathered the puck in his own zone and fired an innocent-looking clearing pass down the ice, but at right about the same spot on the ice where Willis’ wayward pass struck the boards, the puck took a wild bounce, changed directions, and then slowly slithered into the Phantoms’ net which had been vacated by goaltender Scott Munroe who had ventured behind the net to play the clearing pass that never reached him.
“It was quite a goal,” Hershey’s head coach Mark French joked of the tally, eliciting a chuckle from the assembled media at his post-game press conference. Then French expounded on McNeill’s reaction to adversity this season, first on the shorthanded goal that his miscue led to on Friday night in Binghamton and then on his early season struggles to maintain a constant presence in Hershey’s lineup.
“Patrick is the longest serving consecutive member of this team,” explained French. “I think it’s safe to say when Patty was first breaking into the organization, the one thing he had to work on was mental toughness. It wasn’t his fault on the shorthanded goal; he mishandled it and it went down. That would have rattled a young Patrick McNeill, but he was able to steady himself and come back and help score a power play goal immediately after. I think you see a lot more maturity (in him); we all know we’re hardened by the adversity that we face, and Patrick obviously faced a little this year and has approached it the right way and has regained tremendous resolve, and I think everybody can be happy for him.”
McNeill, lending credence to French’s claims and showing the maturity that his coach spoke of, said the “Binghamton bobble” was just part of the game, and he quickly moved on from the episode.
“Those things happen; obviously when playing on the power play, shorthanded goals happen from time to time. It’s not something you want to happen, but when it does, you’ve got to get right back out there, be a professional and do my job and play the game. I was pretty fortunate to be able to come back and assist on those goals last night and help us squeak out a point, and obviously I was pretty fortunate with that bounce tonight.”
McNeill continued, “This season hasn’t gone the way I would have liked it to, but now that I’m in there getting my chance, I’m just trying to do the things that I do best out there. I’m a big believer in if you do the right things, good things will happen, and things have been going pretty good for me lately, so I’m pretty happy.”
Meanwhile, goaltender Philipp Grubauer had a relatively quiet opening frame, stopping all seven salvos he faced, and the one he didn’t stop, a shot from NHL veteran and former Philadelphia Phantom, Jon Sim, a member of their 2005 Calder Cup winning club, was ruled to have been kicked in by Sim and was waved off.
Exactly fifteen minutes into the middle frame, Ryan Potulny potted a power play goal, his ninth marker of the season to give the Bears a rare two-goal lead, a lead that was preserved in spectacular fashion in the waning minutes of the period when Grubauer made a scintillating, stretching skate save on Garrett Roe’s attempt to beat him on the glove side.
Ryan Stoa’s power play strike at 10:42 of the third stanza essentially put the game out of reach for the visitors, but Grubauer made another quality save on Roe with just over five minutes remaining to play to put an exclamation point on his first career American Hockey League shutout, a masterful 40-save performance.
“We’ve been lucky all year having Braden (Holtby), Dany (Sabourin) and Philipp; they are all great goaltenders and that gives you a lot of confidence as a team, especially our defensive corps. That’s shown by our goals against average which has been a good stat for us this year, and our whole team takes pride in that, but that starts and ends with the guy in the net and we have been very fortunate to have three quality guys back there,” said McNeill.
Notes-
The Phantoms and Bears are scheduled to meet twice more this season, once more at Giant Center and once more at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
Former Bear, Matt Ford, who was dealt to the Phantoms by the Bears last February for Kevin Marshall, was a scratch for the visitors.
The Phantoms are coached by former Washington Capitals and Baltimore Skipjacks head coach, Terry Murray. Terry’s brother Bryan, currently the General Manger of the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators, coached the Bears before being elevated to the same position with the Caps.
Grubauer had one prior professional shutout with the Bears’ former East Coast Hockey League affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays in the 2011-2012 season, a 26-save whitewashing of the Toledo Walleye.
Showing posts with label Patrick McNeill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patrick McNeill. Show all posts
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Pens Prey on Bears
When one considers the proximity between their respective cities, it’s not much of a surprise that the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have made Giant Center their unofficial home away from home. On Saturday night at the aforementioned venue, the visitors continued their recent mastery over the Hershey Bears and skated away with a convincing 3-1 win.
The Penguins, who with this victory have now won six straight outings against their Keystone State neighbors to the north, improved to 3-2-1-1 on the season while the Bears, who are a perfect 4-0 on the road, slipped to 0-1-1-0 at home with the setback.
Brian Gibbons, who scored the baby Pens’ first goal in their 3-2 loss to the Bears earlier in the season at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in the only prior meeting between the clubs on this young season, replicated that feat at 3:36 of the first period by deflecting a Jason Williams point shot by Hershey goaltender Braden Holtby while the visitors were on a power play.
The first period foretold the futility that the Bears would endure in this encounter as they failed to establish a prolonged presence in the Pens’ zone despite their 17 shots on net; Hershey also short-circuited one of their two extra-man advantages by taking a penalty of their own.
Holtby, who had a shaky outing in the Bears’ home opener a week ago, kept his club in the game in the first period by stopping 13 shots, including close-range bids from Gibbons (right pad save) and Colin McDonald (left pad, shorthanded) in the latter stages of the stanza.
Early in the second period, the Pens were pestering Holtby again, but he was up to the challenge and made a couple of early saves with some help from defenseman Patrick McNeill, who swept a puck out of danger when Holtby left a rebound in his crease.
However, the pesky Pens eventually doubled their lead when Penguins’ defenseman Simon Despres made it 2-0 at 7:19. Despres’ dart, which occurred with the teams skating at four aside, came only 29 seconds after Graham Mink derailed a Bears’ power play by committing a tripping infraction.
Bryan Lerg lengthened the Pens lead to 3-0 at 10:45 of the second period when he finished off a picturesque give-and-go sequence with Paul Thompson.
Hershey captain Boyd Kane thwarted Brad Thiessen’s bid for a shutout late in the third period by canning his second goal in as many days to make it 3-1 with a power play marker, but Kane’s caper would be all of the offense his club could muster on the evening.
Notes- Thiessen pitched a 26-save shutout on Friday night in Springfield against the Falcons.
With Dany Sabourin still on recall to the Washington Capitals, Holtby made his third straight start for the Bears.
The Bears scratched defensemen Danny Richmond and Brett Fleming and forwards Maxime Lacroix, Joel Rechlicz, Ryan Potulny and Kyle Greentree.
The Bears have now given up the first goal of the game in their last two games after scoring the game-opening goals in the prior four contests.
Hershey’s first period blanking was the first time season they failed to score in the first period and also marked the first time this season that they faced a deficit after 20 minutes of play.
Chris Bourque, who leads the league in shots on goal, registered only a single shot on net in this game, but did extend his point streak to six games with an assist on Kane’s goal, while his linemate Keith Aucoin saw his five-game point streak come to an end.
The Penguins, who with this victory have now won six straight outings against their Keystone State neighbors to the north, improved to 3-2-1-1 on the season while the Bears, who are a perfect 4-0 on the road, slipped to 0-1-1-0 at home with the setback.
Brian Gibbons, who scored the baby Pens’ first goal in their 3-2 loss to the Bears earlier in the season at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in the only prior meeting between the clubs on this young season, replicated that feat at 3:36 of the first period by deflecting a Jason Williams point shot by Hershey goaltender Braden Holtby while the visitors were on a power play.
The first period foretold the futility that the Bears would endure in this encounter as they failed to establish a prolonged presence in the Pens’ zone despite their 17 shots on net; Hershey also short-circuited one of their two extra-man advantages by taking a penalty of their own.
Holtby, who had a shaky outing in the Bears’ home opener a week ago, kept his club in the game in the first period by stopping 13 shots, including close-range bids from Gibbons (right pad save) and Colin McDonald (left pad, shorthanded) in the latter stages of the stanza.
Early in the second period, the Pens were pestering Holtby again, but he was up to the challenge and made a couple of early saves with some help from defenseman Patrick McNeill, who swept a puck out of danger when Holtby left a rebound in his crease.
However, the pesky Pens eventually doubled their lead when Penguins’ defenseman Simon Despres made it 2-0 at 7:19. Despres’ dart, which occurred with the teams skating at four aside, came only 29 seconds after Graham Mink derailed a Bears’ power play by committing a tripping infraction.
Bryan Lerg lengthened the Pens lead to 3-0 at 10:45 of the second period when he finished off a picturesque give-and-go sequence with Paul Thompson.
Hershey captain Boyd Kane thwarted Brad Thiessen’s bid for a shutout late in the third period by canning his second goal in as many days to make it 3-1 with a power play marker, but Kane’s caper would be all of the offense his club could muster on the evening.
Notes- Thiessen pitched a 26-save shutout on Friday night in Springfield against the Falcons.
With Dany Sabourin still on recall to the Washington Capitals, Holtby made his third straight start for the Bears.
The Bears scratched defensemen Danny Richmond and Brett Fleming and forwards Maxime Lacroix, Joel Rechlicz, Ryan Potulny and Kyle Greentree.
The Bears have now given up the first goal of the game in their last two games after scoring the game-opening goals in the prior four contests.
Hershey’s first period blanking was the first time season they failed to score in the first period and also marked the first time this season that they faced a deficit after 20 minutes of play.
Chris Bourque, who leads the league in shots on goal, registered only a single shot on net in this game, but did extend his point streak to six games with an assist on Kane’s goal, while his linemate Keith Aucoin saw his five-game point streak come to an end.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Bears Bounce by Pens
Longtime fans of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins already know what Hershey Bears’ goaltender Dany Sabourin is capable of, having witnessed his 30-win season in 2005-06when his outstanding work tending the twine for the baby Pens earned him the Baz Bastien award as the best goaltender in the AHL. On Saturday night, they were eyewitness to some more of his solid work as he backstopped the Bears to a 3-2 road win over the Penguins.
Sabourin got off to a rough start last season in his first season as a Bear, but eventually regained his form and finished with a solid 14-9 record. However, he struggled in two losing outings against his former club, including an October 30th outing at Giant Center where he only lasted 9:51 when he yielded way to backup goalie Todd Ford after allowing three goals on only seven shots.
“Those types of things are always there a little bit, but I came into this year thinking it doesn’t matter which team we’re playing. I knew they beat me last year, but that’s in the past. I’m just focused on looking forward, and I was pretty happy with my performance tonight. It was a team win where everybody played well and showed up,” said Sabourin, who finished with 23 saves and made his best save of the night in the first period when he beat down Bryan Lerg's shorthanded breakaway attempt.
In keeping with the night long “bounce theme”, the Bears benefitted from a fortuitous bounce in attaining the game’s first goal at 11:27 of the first period. With the puck high along the boards and just inside the blueline, WBS’ Eric Tangradi attempted to clear his zone, but Christian Hanson was able to get his puck on the attempt and the puck found its way to Kyle Greentree, who was stationed at the top of WBS goaltender Brad Thiessen’s crease. With little room to operate, Greentree stickhandled in a phone booth and skillfully slid a backhand shot behind Thiessen.
The Bears lead lasted exactly four minutes until the Pens’ Brian Gibbons went coast-to-coast with his team in shorthanded mode to knot the contest at one with an unassisted goal, but the visitors quickly regained their one-goal lead only twenty seconds after the Gibbons goal when Matt Ford intercepted a clearing attempt high in the WBS zone and then fluttered a shot on net that bounced off a stunned Thiessen and into the net.
The Pesky Penguins knotted the game at two when veteran Niko Dimitrakos, making his WBS debut, dented the twine 1:06 into the middle frame, converting a nice centering pass from Colin McDonald into his first goal as a baby Pen.
Things quieted down after Dimitrakos’ goal, but the Bears were presented with a glorious opportunity to take command of the affair just past the midway point of the session when they earned a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:09. Before the Bears went to work on their mission, head coach Mark French, with his team mired in a 0-for-6 power drought in this young season, called a timeout to talk strategy with his troops. However, despite the chalkboard talk from their coaches, the Bears squandered the opportunity, mostly as a result of excessive passing and minimal shooting (unofficially three shots on goal during the sequence).
“It’s one of those things that early in the year where you haven’t had a lot of time to practice,” said French. “So I thought it was good to use your timeout to make sure that everybody knew what their responsibilities were. I thought we had some pretty good chances to score on the 5-on-3 but the bottom line is that it didn’t go in. Oftentimes when you don’t score on those opportunities it comes back to bite you, but fortunately today it didn’t."
Christian Hanson, who scored his first goal as a Bear (shorthanded) in Binghamton on Friday, had a splendid chance at his second of the season in the fifteenth minute of the frame, but his breakaway forehand attempt was gloved by Thiessen and the game remained tied entering the third period.
Early in the final frame of regulation, the Bears finally put a positive number on their power play stats with Keith Aucoin doing the goal-scoring honors. Aucoin, after taking a pass from Ryan Potulny down low, had an option to pass to Matt Ford, but decided against that option and buzzed a blast by the glove of Thiessen at 3:33.
“The 5-on-3 was pretty frustrating. We had a couple of good opportunities, but the rebounds bounced to the side and to them. We stayed confident in ourselves and remained upbeat because we knew we’d get another chance, and we capitalized. It was kind of 2-on-1 and I saw him there, but the d-man actually played it really well. My last option is always to shoot, and knew I had to get it up and I was able to get it up over his glove,” said Aucoin.
Notes- The Bears scratched defenseman Zach Miskovic and Brett Flemming and forwards Joel Rechlicz and Graham Mink (veteran scratch).
The Bears have only allowed a thrifty 13 shots against in the first period of their two games this season.
Hershey defenseman Patrick McNeill left for the dressing room area in the first period after absorbing a hard hit, but later returned to the game.
Penguins forward Zach Sill missed the game, serving a suspension for illegal hit to the head that he laid on Miskovic at Giant Center in a pre-season game on October 1st.
Sabourin got off to a rough start last season in his first season as a Bear, but eventually regained his form and finished with a solid 14-9 record. However, he struggled in two losing outings against his former club, including an October 30th outing at Giant Center where he only lasted 9:51 when he yielded way to backup goalie Todd Ford after allowing three goals on only seven shots.
“Those types of things are always there a little bit, but I came into this year thinking it doesn’t matter which team we’re playing. I knew they beat me last year, but that’s in the past. I’m just focused on looking forward, and I was pretty happy with my performance tonight. It was a team win where everybody played well and showed up,” said Sabourin, who finished with 23 saves and made his best save of the night in the first period when he beat down Bryan Lerg's shorthanded breakaway attempt.
In keeping with the night long “bounce theme”, the Bears benefitted from a fortuitous bounce in attaining the game’s first goal at 11:27 of the first period. With the puck high along the boards and just inside the blueline, WBS’ Eric Tangradi attempted to clear his zone, but Christian Hanson was able to get his puck on the attempt and the puck found its way to Kyle Greentree, who was stationed at the top of WBS goaltender Brad Thiessen’s crease. With little room to operate, Greentree stickhandled in a phone booth and skillfully slid a backhand shot behind Thiessen.
The Bears lead lasted exactly four minutes until the Pens’ Brian Gibbons went coast-to-coast with his team in shorthanded mode to knot the contest at one with an unassisted goal, but the visitors quickly regained their one-goal lead only twenty seconds after the Gibbons goal when Matt Ford intercepted a clearing attempt high in the WBS zone and then fluttered a shot on net that bounced off a stunned Thiessen and into the net.
The Pesky Penguins knotted the game at two when veteran Niko Dimitrakos, making his WBS debut, dented the twine 1:06 into the middle frame, converting a nice centering pass from Colin McDonald into his first goal as a baby Pen.
Things quieted down after Dimitrakos’ goal, but the Bears were presented with a glorious opportunity to take command of the affair just past the midway point of the session when they earned a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:09. Before the Bears went to work on their mission, head coach Mark French, with his team mired in a 0-for-6 power drought in this young season, called a timeout to talk strategy with his troops. However, despite the chalkboard talk from their coaches, the Bears squandered the opportunity, mostly as a result of excessive passing and minimal shooting (unofficially three shots on goal during the sequence).
“It’s one of those things that early in the year where you haven’t had a lot of time to practice,” said French. “So I thought it was good to use your timeout to make sure that everybody knew what their responsibilities were. I thought we had some pretty good chances to score on the 5-on-3 but the bottom line is that it didn’t go in. Oftentimes when you don’t score on those opportunities it comes back to bite you, but fortunately today it didn’t."
Christian Hanson, who scored his first goal as a Bear (shorthanded) in Binghamton on Friday, had a splendid chance at his second of the season in the fifteenth minute of the frame, but his breakaway forehand attempt was gloved by Thiessen and the game remained tied entering the third period.
Early in the final frame of regulation, the Bears finally put a positive number on their power play stats with Keith Aucoin doing the goal-scoring honors. Aucoin, after taking a pass from Ryan Potulny down low, had an option to pass to Matt Ford, but decided against that option and buzzed a blast by the glove of Thiessen at 3:33.
“The 5-on-3 was pretty frustrating. We had a couple of good opportunities, but the rebounds bounced to the side and to them. We stayed confident in ourselves and remained upbeat because we knew we’d get another chance, and we capitalized. It was kind of 2-on-1 and I saw him there, but the d-man actually played it really well. My last option is always to shoot, and knew I had to get it up and I was able to get it up over his glove,” said Aucoin.
Notes- The Bears scratched defenseman Zach Miskovic and Brett Flemming and forwards Joel Rechlicz and Graham Mink (veteran scratch).
The Bears have only allowed a thrifty 13 shots against in the first period of their two games this season.
Hershey defenseman Patrick McNeill left for the dressing room area in the first period after absorbing a hard hit, but later returned to the game.
Penguins forward Zach Sill missed the game, serving a suspension for illegal hit to the head that he laid on Miskovic at Giant Center in a pre-season game on October 1st.
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