Pens slide by Bears

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, despite the efforts of Hershey goaltender Dany Sabourin who was outstanding in net for a second consecutive game, swept their two-game weekend exhibition series over the Hershey Bears and downed the home team at Giant Center on Saturday night, 2-1.

Hershey was making their pre-season home debut and roared out of the gate; they mustered the first six shots of the game against Pens’ netminder Scott Munroe and garnered a 1-0 lead on a pretty backhanded shot by Matt Pope only 1:31 into the contest. Pope’s goal was assisted by his linemates, Keith Aucoin and Graham Mink.

Immediately after Pope’s potting, the Penguins made huge strides in closing the shot differential by notching eight consecutive shots on Sabourin. Included among those eight salvos was a penalty shot attempt by WBS’ Chris Barton at 13:56 that was snuffed out by Sabourin, who repelled the bid by kicking it out in a razor like fashion with his right pad. Sabourin stopped all eight shots he faced in the first period as the Bears took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

The second period was more of the same for the Bears in the early going, minus the goal, as the home club registered the first five shots on net before Barton stemmed that tide by putting a point blank shot on Sabourin, who squashed Barton’s bid. Barton was the catalyst of another Penguins quality chance later in the stanza when he spearheaded a two-on-one break with Brian Gibbons. Gibbons took the shot on net only to have Sabourin make a sparkling save to preserve Hershey’s one-goal lead heading into the third period.

Altering their strategy in the early going of the final frame, the Pens tied the game at one when Ben Street came down the center avenue and then proceeded to skillfully slide a puck between Sabourin’s right pad and the right post.

With less than three minutes left in regulation, Gibbons went solo into the Bears’ zone and backhanded a shot by the glove of Sabourin at 16:39 to give the Penguins the win.

Notes: The Columbus Blue Jackets have placed AHL sniper Alexandre Giroux on waivers, but it’s highly unlikely that the Bears/Caps will have any interest in the former Bear, primarily due to their already abundant supply of veterans.

Hershey defenseman Zach Miskovic was injured midway through the second period on a hit by Zach Sill that drew blood from the facial area. Miskovic never returned to the game and Sill was given a match penalty for deliberate attempt to injure by referee Ryan Fraser for the hit.

Munroe, who played his college hockey at the University of Alabama-Huntsville and has been the losing goaltender in playoff series against the Bears while patrolling the pipes for the Philadelphia Phantoms and Bridgeport Sound Tigers, finished the game with 34 saves while Sabourin finished with 23 stops.

Pope was among a group of Bears who was assigned to their ECHL affiliate, The South Carolina Stingrays after the game.

Predators Plod Past Capitals

There was a nostalgic feeling at Baltimore’s 1st Mariner Arena last night as professional hockey returned to “Charm City” for the first time since 1997, with the Washington Capitals falling to the Nashville Predators 2-0 in the Capitals’ exhibition opener. Adding to the nostalgia, the notoriously bad ice at Baltimore’s arena also returned and made sustained play on either team’s part nearly impossible.

There were few bright spots for the Capitals on this night, particularly in the first period, but one of them was defenseman, Sean Collins, who registered a solid body belt on Nashville’s Martin Erat on his first shift of the game. He also registered a couple of shots on goal in the frame and has skated in 19 contests for the Caps over the last two seasons.

“Everyone’s really excited to get back into it,” said Collins, who is trying to earn his spot on Washington’s opening night roster. “It’s one of those games that it’s not really hard to get up for. I was excited to get out there and try to make some plays. As the game went on, the ice got a little bit chippier, and it was a little bit tougher to make those plays. It was nice to get a good start.”

“It’s always nice to play with someone you’re comfortable with,” said Collins when asked how much his pairing with Patrick McNeill helped his performance. “I played last year with Patrick for quite a while and we’ve played together for four years. He helped out a lot.”

Although he admitted the ice conditions presented a huge challenge for the players, Collins refused to say the surface was the worst that he has ever skated on.

“It forces you to play a quick puck moving, dump-and-chase kind of game. It seemed like a lot of our passes were bouncing off sticks. It’s hard to handle a puck out there. The conditions made a difference, but both teams were playing on it.”

The Predators struck for their first goal of the game at 17:31 of the second period, with Chris Mueller doing to the honors.

Nashville tacked on another goal in the third period when Colin Wilson was able to slide the puck past goaltender Michal Neuvirth and sprawling defenseman, Patrick Wellar, but Collins provided a bit of comic relief in the frame by getting his stick stuck in the door in the Caps zone, with efforts to remove it proving futile. Eventually, Collins threw in the towel and skated away, sans stick.

“I was trying to go stick-on-puck with that guy and kind of flush it up the boards, and it got stuck in the Zamboni door. I tried to pull on it and it wouldn’t come out. I couldn’t just sit in the corner and yank on it,” he laughed.

Notes: Former Capitals and Hershey Bears defenseman, Tyler Sloan, who signed with the Predators over the summer after being bought out of the remainder of his contract by the Capitals, skated in the contest, as did Kyle Wilson, who spent four years with the Capitals organization before signing with the Columbus Blue Jackets last season.

Capitals’ coach Bruce Boudreau has a bit of Baltimore hockey history in his past, having skated in 17 late season games for the Baltimore Skipjacks in the 1984-85 season, when he joined the club after the culmination of his season in Germany. Nashville head coach Barry Trotz also has a Baltimore hockey background, having served as an assistant coach and head coach with the Skipjacks.

Capitals head athletic trainer, Greg Smith, also served in the same capacity for the Baltimore Bandits in the 1996-97 AHL season when they were the top minor league affiliate of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Nashville netminder, Pekka Rinne, who started the game before yielding way to Jeremy Smith in the second half of the second period, was bested by the Bears in the 2006 Calder Cup Finals when he patrolled the pipes for the Milwaukee Admirals.

The Capitals continue their exhibition season tomorrow night, when they travel to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets.

Bears Bounce Back to Even Series

The bounces and the breaks, which were both pivotal factors in the Hershey Bears’ loss to the Charlotte Checkers in game one of the series on Thursday night at Giant Center, went the way of the home club on Sunday evening at the same venue, as the Bears evened their East Division Semifinals series against the Charlotte Checkers with a 4-2 win.

In the first period, it was the bounces that were featured as the Checkers’ Jon Matsumoto and Chris Terry both pinged shots off the post behind Hershey netminder Braden Holtby, but it was the Bears who netted the only goal of the frame when defenseman Patrick McNeill’s backhanded shot bounced off the catching equipment of Charlotte netminder Justin Pogge at 12:02.

Fast forward to the second period and it was Bears gathering in their first two-goal lead of the contest, with Andrew Kozek authoring his first playoff goal at 4:25 after a nice keep-in by defenseman Dimitry Orlov, who earned the sole helper on Kozek’s caper.

The two-goal lead quickly wilted down to a single goal when Zac Dalpe dented the twine for the second time in as many games against the Bears, but Brian Willsie willed the Bears back to another two-goal lead at 7:08. Willsie’s initial attempt was blocked by Checkers’ forward Jacob Micflikier, but he then gathered in the loose biscuit and blazed a wrist shot by the glove hand of Pogge.

Dalpe was at it again later in the frame and fired a shot by Holtby with the Checkers on the power play while the Bears’ keeper was apparently distracted by Matsumoto lying in his crease; but the Bears once again bounced back, building their third and final two-goal lead of the game at 17:05, with defenseman Sheldon Souray doing the honors with the Bears in shorthanded mode. Souray, on an odd man jaunt onto the Checkers’ zone, took a short pass from Steve Pinizzotto and then fired a missile by the helpless Pogge, who futilely waved his glove hand at Souray’s salvo.

In the third period, the Checkers picked up their offensive pace, and apparently scored a goal in the final minute of play, but after a consultation among the officials, the goal was waved off due to coincidental minor penalties assessed to Dalpe and Souray.

The series locale switches to the Tarheel State this week, with games scheduled Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.

Stuck Helps Bears Keep Eyes on the Prize

When the calendar flips to April after a long winter and an even longer American Hockey League season, it signifies that the start of the Calder Cup Playoffs is right around the corner. For longtime Hershey Bears’ trainer, Dan “Beaker” Stuck, who is entrusted with the care of the players whose every shift, good or bad, potentially turns the course of a series, it also means a lot more.

In addition to his duties with the Bears, Stuck, who has been the Bears’ trainer for the last 27 years, is also the head trainer for all of the entertainment shows at HERSHEYPARK.

Seemingly, that would cause a scheduling conflict with his Bears’ duties, due to the club going to the Calder Cup Finals in four of the past five seasons, but just like every other detail, Stuck has it covered.

“I communicate with Jim Paul, who is the entertainment manger at the park, and if by chance something pops up that needs my attention, I’ll setup my schedule so that I can go over and meet with the performers,” said Stuck. “Hopefully, it’s during an off time over here so that I can go over there and see them and make it back here before it interferes with something over here. If I’m not here, there will definitely be coverage for me.”

Stuck’s duties at HERSHEYPARK are much like his responsibilities with the Bears as he tends to whatever physical aliments need his attention, but over the years, his area of expertise has also evolved into other areas pertaining to medical treatment.

“I take care of any injuries the performers may suffer, so if they get hurt during a show or they need any assistance as far as stretching or getting something taped up, I’m there. It’s not always sports-related stuff, but it may also be something else such as personal issues that may need attention.”

“Just like a lot of the players here in the hockey club who are very young, a lot of the performers are also very young, and some of them are even high school kids getting ready to go into college,” he explained. Sometimes, I wish I’d taken some classes in psychology, because sports psychology is what I do with the hockey team where I’m like a den mother, giving the kids a little of the direction that they need, and it’s also a lot like that over at the park.”

The Bears, who have enjoyed unparalleled success since reuniting with the Capitals prior to the 2005-06 season, capturing three Calder Cup Championship in five seasons, failed to reach playoffs in their final two seasons prior to their Capital affiliation, and Stuck, who has unique insight into the matter, offers up his points of view on the reasons for the Bears’ recent success, as well as for the failures in the final years of the Colorado days.

"I don’t know whether there were more Europeans or more younger guys in the last couple years with Colorado, but maybe their motivations were different than the Washington guys. These guys that come here now, maybe we’re so close to Washington and we’ve had such huge success that I think it rubs off. After not having too much success in the minors with Colorado, I think it hurt them a little bit, but they were such a great organization up top, but maybe it just didn’t flow to us at the bottom.”

This season, the Bears were beset by a bevy of injuries, which often found Stuck in the locker room tending to an existing injury while another injury occurred on the ice. In those cases, Bears’ equipment manager, Justin Kullman, made an ice call to the wounded Bears’ player.

“This is what happens: there’s only one Beaker,” joked Stuck. "The normal thing is to have the other trainer go out to tend to an injury if I’m busy, but the advantage of having Justin go out is that he is someone the players know. We’ve had a lot of injuries this year; it was a tough year. So, if someone goes down and I’m off with somebody, he goes out. If I have injured guys back here I want to follow up with and I’m taking care of someone, I might get out to the bench late, but I always tell the boys that even though I’m not there right away, I’m right in the back so I’m quicker than Life Lion.”

The grind of the regular season guarantees its share of events, like winning and losing streaks, and 40 home dates; likewise, Stuck says he can pretty much know when a particular player is going to come into his office, and what he’s going to need, with a “Groundhog Day” feeling prevailing. However, in the playoffs, Stuck says it’s a totally different animal.

“During the playoffs, I have more responsibilities to make sure there aren’t any excuses. There are things that the players do not need to worry about when it comes to the game time; when they come to the rink, they can be totally focused on the game and they don’t need to worry about anything else.”

A big part of that “no worries” mentally for the players in the playoffs is Stuck’s attention to detail in the spread that is laid out for the players on game days during the playoffs. I can personally attest to the spread consisting of fruit bars, bagels with toppings, as well as a bountiful variety of fruits with an assortment of sports drinks and water.

However, don’t be fooled into thinking the way the Bears organization goes to great lengths to keep their players nourished during the playoffs is the norm around the league. Stuck says that he has had more than a few players with prior AHL playoff experience be in total awe when they see what the Bears do since some other organizations only offer water, and maybe a fruit bar during their other stops.

“They are really catered to here,” said Stuck, who added that the team even goes the extra step to provide a toaster for the bagels. “As much as I’m the trainer, sometimes I feel like I’m the concierge at the Ritz or at the Hotel Hershey. I’m that person that makes sure they have nothing to worry about but the game. I try to make sure everything is exactly the same for them in the playoffs, whether it’s a home game or an away game.”

On the eve of his 22^nd playoff season as the Bears’ trainer, Stuck still seems to be enjoying his job as his constant smile and cheery demeanor certainly attest to, and according to him, retirement is still a number of years away.

“I’ve been fortunate to win so many Cups (five),” said Stuck, who jokingly added, “When we win, it’s all because of the trainers, when we lose, I pity the coaching staff, it’s all them.”

“I look back and think what a great career it’s been, but it’s not over and my candle is burning as bright as it was before. On the day that people come by and look at me and I’m not smiling and enjoying myself, that’s when I’ll know it’s enough. I still love this life every day and I love what I do here, and I want to keep doing it, and age for me is only a number.”

“I’m in my mid-40s, and to be around these younger guys is great because I have to come down to their level and be relaxed and talk about anything that goes on in their lives. I look at it as an opportunity to help them out in life, not just in hockey. I’m still having a good time and looking forward to things to come."

Eventually, Stuck conceded that he knows that someday down the road he will hang up his trusty fanny pack full of medical supplies and make way for someone else to take over his position, and quite possibly his replacement could have a very familiar last name, if the price is right.

“Just like when anybody else who has been in a job a long time goes to retire, there’s always somebody willing and ready to take over. In fact, my son, Dustin, is graduating high school this year and he’s taking his athletic training and then he’ll go to PT school, that’s his goal.”

“I told him it’s great, so I’ll only have a couple more years to wait for you. Then he told me that he doesn’t want my job, but Greg Smith’s job (Washington Capitals’ trainer). He said he wants to make more money.”

Photos Courtesty of JustSports Photography

Pirates Pilfer Overtime Win From Bears

Despite potting a couple of power play markers, it was a couple of golden extra man advantages gone by the wayside that figured prominently into the Hershey Bears’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Portland Pirates on Saturday night at Giant Center.

After opening the score on an early goal by Andrew Joudrey at 1:34, the Pirates tied the game at one on a power play goal by Matt Ellis only to see the Bears regain their lead when Patrick McNeill cashed in on the Bears’ first power play of the contest.

Later in the period, the Bears offered little offense and few shots on Portland netminder David Leggio during a full five minute power play, and also added to their frustrations early in the second period when they failed to capitalize on an extended 5-on-3 situation.

However, the Bears did garner another power play goal later in the second period when Andrew Gordon, who returned to Giant Center ice for the first time in over a month due to injury, lofted a rebound into the upper portion of the net.

However, the pesky Pirates scored the next two goals in regulation and potted the game winner in overtime when Mark Parrish pounced upon a rebound and backhanded a shot behind Bears netminder Braden Holtby who had been returned to the Bears earlier in the day by the Washington Capitals.

Bears Tame Tigers

Bears Mangle Moose

The Hershey Bears, who blew a three-goal lead to the Manitoba Moose the night before and eventually fell in a shootout, avenged that setback by marching over the Moose on Sunday afternoon, 5-1.

With the win, the Bears improved to 17-8-0-2 on home ice, and 31-14-1-3 overall, moving within six points of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the top spot in the AHL’s East Division with a date with the baby Pens on the schedule slated for next Sunday.

In a tightly contested opening period, which featured each team registering only 5 shots on net, neither team was able to find the back of the net. With high-scoring forward, Andrew Gordon, out of the lineup, the Bears only managed one shot on net from a forward, with that shot coming from Keith Aucoin at the two minute mark.

In the first minute of the second period, Aucoin drew a hooking penalty against Yann Sauve, putting the Bears, who were blanked in four forays on the power play on Saturday, on their first of the game.

Only 20 seconds into the Sauve sentence, the Bears struck with the extra man when Brian Willsie drifted down from his point position and then wristed a “wicked wrister” by Manitoba netminder, Tyler Weiman, at 1:08, with Aucoin and Patrick McNeill gathering the helpers on the goal.

Shortly after Willsie’s goal, the Moose went on their second power play of the game, but were denied by the Bears and goaltender, Todd Ford, and preserved Hershey’s 1-0 lead. Ford, starting his third consecutive game, made an outstanding glove save on Evan Oberg during the sequence, denying Oberg his sixth goal of the season.

The visitors from Manitoba persisted after their failed power play excursion, eventually getting tying the goal at 5:43 when Bill Sweatt took advantage of a defensive zone turnover by the Bears, converting it into his 13th goal of the season.

Entering the final frame deadlocked at one, the Bears jumped out to an early 4-0 shot lead, and then took the lead for good when Boyd Kane converted from close range at 7:13. Kane’s caper, the Bears’ 100th goal on home ice this season and was registered with each team skating a man short, was the eventual game-winning goal.

Zach Miskovic, Kyle Greentree (PPG), and Ashton Rome tacked on insurance goals for the Bears, giving Ford, who stopped 16 shots, his 15th career AHL win.