It was another milestone night at Giant Center on Sunday when a night after Worcester head coach Roy Sommer celebrated his 500th career win, Hershey goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 34-of-35 salvos fired at him by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to backstop his club to a 5-1 win. Holtby, in attaining his club’s 28th win of the season, also registered his 60th career win in the Chocolate and White.
After a rather lackluster 13:59 of first period play, things took a drastic change for the better for the Bears a second later when Ryan Potulny redirected Chris Bourque’s centering pass over the right shoulder of WBS netminder Brad Thiessen for his 16th goal of the season at 14:00. Bourque picked up the primary assist on the Potulny put-away and Patrick Wellar, who kept the play alive at the blueline with an impressive interception of an attempted clear by the visitors, picked up the secondary helper.
The Bears kept their foot on the accelerator and added a power play goal from Jacob Micflikier at 15:39 with assists from Bourque and Patrick McNeill to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
In their previous two outings this weekend, the Bears scored a first period power play goal, but then went without another in the subsequent two periods in each affair; however, only 2:01 into the middle frame, they erased the possibility of that same scenario occurring in a third straight game when Micflikier added a power play strike at 2:01 and gave his club a 3-0 lead to enter the third period.
Entering the final frame with the three-goal cushion, it’s likely that the Bears’ coaching staff reminded their charges that they held that same lead nine days earlier in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton only to see the baby Pens emerge with a 4-3 victory. However, rookie forward Garrett Mitchell, who had also scored the first goal of the game in the February 3rd meeting, netted his fifth goal of season and third in his last games 2:30 into the third to make it a 4-0 Hershey lead. Mitchell’s marker was aided by his fourth line mates, Andrew Carroll and D.J. King.
In the last six games, which have incidentally coincided with Keith Aucoin’s recall to the Capitals, the fourth line unit, with Carroll and Mitchell as the constants and with King and Joel Rechlicz taking turn as the third wheel, has seen their ice time increase during that period, and the unit has responded by playing their best hockey of the season.
The baby Pens avoided being shut out by the Bears for the second time this season with a little less than nine minutes remaining in the game, but Potulny put his team ahead again by four goals shortly thereafter.
Notes:
Today’s meeting was the 11th of the 12 game season series with the Baby Pens with one more matchup scheduled between the clubs on April 6th in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Bears, who entered the game tied for second in the AHL with a couple of other clubs for most penalties killed this season (244), allowed only one power play in the game.
The Bears have scored the first goal of the game in 32 games this season, the most in the league.
Holtby’s last regulation win at Giant Center was on December 11th versus Norfolk when he stopped 22-of-25 shots in a 6-3 triumph.
Tonight’s game marked the 50th of the season for the Bears, who find themselves with 64 points in the standings. Last season, the Bears reached the 50-game plateau with 68 points and found themselves with 70 points at the same juncture in the 2009-10 season.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sharks Snack on Bears 2.11.12
Depending upon which club you were cheering for, Saturday night’s encounter between the Worcester Sharks and Hershey Bears at Giant Center was either a memorable one or one that you’d prefer to quickly forget.
If you were the Sharks, it was a wonderful memory, as their 3-2 shootout win gave their coach Roy Sommer his 500th AHL win as an AHL bench boss. But if you were the Bears, it was one you’d likely wish to put in the back of your memory and move on from since they squandered a one-goal lead in the final two minutes of regulation time by taking an untimely penalty, which ultimately led to a game-tying power play goal.
The Sharks struck for the first goal of the game at 17:09 of the first period when Jack Combs corralled a rebound and then deposited his 10th goal of the season behind Hershey netminder Dany Sabourin. Combs’ caper was struck with the Sharks enjoying a five minute power play that was prompted by a major penalty for boarding assessed to Bears captain Boyd Kane, who also received a fighting major and a game misconduct for his devious deed.
However, the Bears battled back to tie the game before the first intermission when Chris Bourque’s wrist shot from the point on the Bears’ first power play of the night sizzled past Worcester netminder Tyson Sexsmith at 18:52. Bourque’s goal was his 23rd of the season and his first extra-man strike in 15 games.
Bourque’s goal, which tied the score at one, was last goal scored for nearly forty minutes of action until Cody Eakin gave the Bears a 2-1 lead at 17:59 of the third period when he poked a rebound by Sexsmith.
However, less than a minute after Eakin’s goal, Bears’ forward Mike Carman took a tripping penalty in the Worcester defensive zone which sent the Sharks on a power play. At that point, Sommer elected to bring Sexsmith to the bench in favor of an extra attacker which gave his club a 6-on-4 manpower advantage, and they quickly capitalized on the opportunity and took only seven seconds of time off the scoreboard clock to tie the game at two when Tim Kennedy captured his fourth goal of the year at 18:44.
After neither team was able to win the game during the remainder of regulation or the overtime session, the game went into the shootout session. In the shootout, both Sabourin and Sexsmith were rock solid through the first six rounds and stopped every salvo they saw. But in the seventh round, Worcester’s Brodie Reid found a wrinkle in Sabourin’s armor, and then Sexsmith promptly snuffed out Patrick McNeill’s attempt to extend the festivities which gave the Sharks the win.
Notes- Sommer began his professional head coaching career in the 1991-92 season with the Roanoke Valley Rebels of the ECHL where he coached former Bear Frank Bialowas.
If you were the Sharks, it was a wonderful memory, as their 3-2 shootout win gave their coach Roy Sommer his 500th AHL win as an AHL bench boss. But if you were the Bears, it was one you’d likely wish to put in the back of your memory and move on from since they squandered a one-goal lead in the final two minutes of regulation time by taking an untimely penalty, which ultimately led to a game-tying power play goal.
The Sharks struck for the first goal of the game at 17:09 of the first period when Jack Combs corralled a rebound and then deposited his 10th goal of the season behind Hershey netminder Dany Sabourin. Combs’ caper was struck with the Sharks enjoying a five minute power play that was prompted by a major penalty for boarding assessed to Bears captain Boyd Kane, who also received a fighting major and a game misconduct for his devious deed.
However, the Bears battled back to tie the game before the first intermission when Chris Bourque’s wrist shot from the point on the Bears’ first power play of the night sizzled past Worcester netminder Tyson Sexsmith at 18:52. Bourque’s goal was his 23rd of the season and his first extra-man strike in 15 games.
Bourque’s goal, which tied the score at one, was last goal scored for nearly forty minutes of action until Cody Eakin gave the Bears a 2-1 lead at 17:59 of the third period when he poked a rebound by Sexsmith.
However, less than a minute after Eakin’s goal, Bears’ forward Mike Carman took a tripping penalty in the Worcester defensive zone which sent the Sharks on a power play. At that point, Sommer elected to bring Sexsmith to the bench in favor of an extra attacker which gave his club a 6-on-4 manpower advantage, and they quickly capitalized on the opportunity and took only seven seconds of time off the scoreboard clock to tie the game at two when Tim Kennedy captured his fourth goal of the year at 18:44.
After neither team was able to win the game during the remainder of regulation or the overtime session, the game went into the shootout session. In the shootout, both Sabourin and Sexsmith were rock solid through the first six rounds and stopped every salvo they saw. But in the seventh round, Worcester’s Brodie Reid found a wrinkle in Sabourin’s armor, and then Sexsmith promptly snuffed out Patrick McNeill’s attempt to extend the festivities which gave the Sharks the win.
Notes- Sommer began his professional head coaching career in the 1991-92 season with the Roanoke Valley Rebels of the ECHL where he coached former Bear Frank Bialowas.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Bears Seize A Close Win in Syracuse
The Hershey Bears finally put in a full sixty minute effort on Friday night in Syracuse against the Syracuse Crunch, and the result was a 2-1 win, giving winning goaltender Braden Holtby, who stopped 25-of-26 Syracuse salvos, his 59th career win as a Bear.
Holtby, facing veteran NHL netminder Antero Niittymaki in the ‘Cuse crease, yielded the first goal of the game to Rick Schofield at 13:10 of the opening period to give the Crunch their only lead of the game. Schofield’s strike was assisted by Luca Caputi and former Bear Andrew Gordon, who was facing his former club for the first time in his AHL career.
Later in the frame the Bears scored their first power play goal in four games when Cody Eakin’s cannon from the left wing eluded Niittymaki and found the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1. Eakin’s goal was assisted by Patrick McNeill and Holtby.
There would only be one more goal in final two frames and that was struck by Hershey rookie forward Garrett Mitchell at 17:19 of the second period. Mitchell’s marker was assisted by defenseman Tomas Kundratek, the Bears’ swift skating defenseman who intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, and then took advantage of a bad Syracuse line change to lead an odd man rush into the Crunch zone that culminated with Mitchell’s goal.
Notes- Gordon, who averaged 23 goals per seasons in four campaigns with the Bears, has now failed to register a goal in 11 games since being assigned to the Crunch from the Anaheim Ducks. Gordon’s last goal in the AHL was scored against the Crunch at Giant Center last April 10, when he notched the Bears’ only goal in a 4-1 setback.
Holtby’s helper was his second of the season, tying him with his goaltending partner Dany Sabourin in that category.
Hershey’s 2-1 win, was their 27th of the season, but first by a score of 2-1.
Holtby, facing veteran NHL netminder Antero Niittymaki in the ‘Cuse crease, yielded the first goal of the game to Rick Schofield at 13:10 of the opening period to give the Crunch their only lead of the game. Schofield’s strike was assisted by Luca Caputi and former Bear Andrew Gordon, who was facing his former club for the first time in his AHL career.
Later in the frame the Bears scored their first power play goal in four games when Cody Eakin’s cannon from the left wing eluded Niittymaki and found the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1. Eakin’s goal was assisted by Patrick McNeill and Holtby.
There would only be one more goal in final two frames and that was struck by Hershey rookie forward Garrett Mitchell at 17:19 of the second period. Mitchell’s marker was assisted by defenseman Tomas Kundratek, the Bears’ swift skating defenseman who intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, and then took advantage of a bad Syracuse line change to lead an odd man rush into the Crunch zone that culminated with Mitchell’s goal.
Notes- Gordon, who averaged 23 goals per seasons in four campaigns with the Bears, has now failed to register a goal in 11 games since being assigned to the Crunch from the Anaheim Ducks. Gordon’s last goal in the AHL was scored against the Crunch at Giant Center last April 10, when he notched the Bears’ only goal in a 4-1 setback.
Holtby’s helper was his second of the season, tying him with his goaltending partner Dany Sabourin in that category.
Hershey’s 2-1 win, was their 27th of the season, but first by a score of 2-1.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Bears Beached by the Whale 2.4.12
The Hershey Bears, who were iced on the road by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday night when they squandered a three-goal third period lead in a game, were harpooned by the Connecticut Whale on Saturday night on home ice, 4-1, in a game in which they never led.
The Whale, who snapped an 11-game winless streak on Friday night, struck for the first goal of the game at 16:00 of the opening frame when Tommy Grant tucked a shot inside the left post behind Hershey netminder Dany Sabourin. Sabourin had been stellar up until the time of Grant’s goal and registered seven saves, including a pair of sparkling stops on Mats Zuccarello during the Bears’ first penalty kill of the night earlier in the stanza.
But the Bears managed to tie the game before the end of the first period when Cody Eakin earned his 8th marker of the season by deflecting a point shot from Tomas Kundratek, a former member of the Whale, by goaltender Chad Johnson.
Just past the midway point of the middle frame, the Whale blew the game wide open when AHL veterans Kris Newbury (power play) and Andre Deveaux solved Sabourin within a span of 1:22 which gave the visitors a 3-1 lead entering the third period.
The Bears had a chance to cut into Connecticut’s cushion when they had 1:18 of carryover power play to start the third period; but the power play unit failed to capitalize, and Grant added his second goal of the contest with just over six minutes left in the game to give the visitors the final margin of victory.
Notes-The Bears scratched forwards D.J. King and Matt Pope and defensemen Patrick Wellar and Phil Oreskovic (all healthy).
Hershey’s Joel Rechlicz, who was put on waivers on Friday by the Washington Capitals after a two-game recall, was in the lineup after clearing waivers.
Hershey’s Mike Carman and Kevin Marshall, both obtained in separate trades earlier this week, made their Giant Center debuts wearing the Chocolate and White.
Marshall, who suffered a facial injury in the second period when he was struck by the puck while breaking up and odd-man rush, left a puddle of blood on the ice and did not return for the rest of the game.
Among the Connecticut scratches were NHL veterans Wade Redden and Sean Avery who possess 1,574 games of NHL experience combined.
The Whale, who snapped an 11-game winless streak on Friday night, struck for the first goal of the game at 16:00 of the opening frame when Tommy Grant tucked a shot inside the left post behind Hershey netminder Dany Sabourin. Sabourin had been stellar up until the time of Grant’s goal and registered seven saves, including a pair of sparkling stops on Mats Zuccarello during the Bears’ first penalty kill of the night earlier in the stanza.
But the Bears managed to tie the game before the end of the first period when Cody Eakin earned his 8th marker of the season by deflecting a point shot from Tomas Kundratek, a former member of the Whale, by goaltender Chad Johnson.
Just past the midway point of the middle frame, the Whale blew the game wide open when AHL veterans Kris Newbury (power play) and Andre Deveaux solved Sabourin within a span of 1:22 which gave the visitors a 3-1 lead entering the third period.
The Bears had a chance to cut into Connecticut’s cushion when they had 1:18 of carryover power play to start the third period; but the power play unit failed to capitalize, and Grant added his second goal of the contest with just over six minutes left in the game to give the visitors the final margin of victory.
Notes-The Bears scratched forwards D.J. King and Matt Pope and defensemen Patrick Wellar and Phil Oreskovic (all healthy).
Hershey’s Joel Rechlicz, who was put on waivers on Friday by the Washington Capitals after a two-game recall, was in the lineup after clearing waivers.
Hershey’s Mike Carman and Kevin Marshall, both obtained in separate trades earlier this week, made their Giant Center debuts wearing the Chocolate and White.
Marshall, who suffered a facial injury in the second period when he was struck by the puck while breaking up and odd-man rush, left a puddle of blood on the ice and did not return for the rest of the game.
Among the Connecticut scratches were NHL veterans Wade Redden and Sean Avery who possess 1,574 games of NHL experience combined.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Monarchs Crown Bears 1.21.12
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.
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.
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.
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