Hershey Takes Game Five in Dramatic Fashion From Wilkes-Barre (Photos, Video)

HERSHEY, PA – Liam O’Brien punches Tom Sestito in the face during Hershey’s 5-3 win over Wilkes-Barre Wednesday night. (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)

The Hershey Bears won one of the most dramatic games in Giant Center history Wednesday night. This game had a lot coming starting all the way on Monday night after Tom Sestito and Liam O’Brien had some top notch banter on Twitter.

O’Brien and Sestito would face off two seconds into the game and finally, we got the fight we have been waiting for. The two of them would trade blows, with O’Brien throwing 14 punches, landing 11, and Sestito landing seven out of his ten punches thrown. Sestito would get the take down as O’Brien tried to wrap him up, but the Penguins’ big man threw two late punches, for the second time in two fights, while O’Brien was on the ground. That would earn him his first misconduct of the night, sitting for the first 15 minutes of the game.

Hershey was able to score first on a Carter Camper wrap-around, and Jakub Vrana would add a goal of his own on a two-man advantage in the first period.

When the third period rolled around, Hershey would add on another as Sean Collins found the back of the net to make it 3-0.

Wilkes-Barre would get two back in the second to cut Hershey’s lead to 3-2, but changed goalies after scoring their first goal from Tristan Jarry to Casey DeSmith.

Then, Sestito would score in the third as he attacked the net. After flying under Justin Peters and tying the game for his team, Sestito had a very excessive celebration, getting up from the ground, taking his glove off, and shushing the Bears bench and crowd. That caused him to get a second ten-minute misconduct and giving him an automatic game misconduct. More on this later.

After Tyler Lewington took a cross-checking penalty right in front of the net, Zach Sill got a shorthanded breakaway which turned out to be a game changer. Sill scored on DeSmith, giving Hershey a 4-3 lead.

Finally, Ryan Bourque capped off the night with an empty-netter. Bears captain Garrett Mitchell and former captain Steve Oleksy would fight after the final whistle, too, as Mitchell then celebrated Hershey’s 5-3 win and 3-2 series lead.

After the game ended, I witnessed something I’ve never witnessed before. As usual, I rushed down the back steps of Giant Center to go on the ice and take photos of the three stars of the game. As I was about to go down the referee’s tunnel to the ice, Sestito was waiting in shorts and a t-shirt outside the officials locker room, yelling a series of profanities at the officials, telling them they were “a disgrace”. This caused Sestito to receive his second game misconduct, bringing his penalty minute total for the night to 47.

Hershey now takes a major 3-2 lead up to Wilkes-Barre on Friday night as they look to close out the series against the Baby Penguins.

“O’Brien did what he needed to do before the game and answered the bell there,” head coach Troy Mann said. “We certainly saw a lot of escapades out there over the course of the sixty minutes. I thought the refereeing crew did a very good job at handling certain situations.”

“It had nothing to do with what he was saying on Twitter,” O’Brien said. “It was all for the guys. Just give them that boost. They reacted well, they got three goals, and they made me look good – so thanks to them.”

This has been one of better match-ups between these teams in terms of intensity in recent memory. Zach Sill has been on both sides of this rivalry. “When I was in Wilkes, the teams were a little bit differently even. But now you got two teams that are pretty close in skill level and caliber so it’s a war out there every night.”

Video of O’Brien-Sestito fight.

Photos:

It took two seconds for this to happen. Should have only taken one. What a disappointment. /s

Mitchell throws his arms in the air after his fight with Oleksy