The Hershey Bears could see a few former members suiting up for Team Canada in the 2018 Olympics.
Andrew Gordon, Sean Collins, Jacob Micflikier, Justin Peters, Patrick McNeill, and Chay Genoway have all been named to Team Canada’s pre-Olympic tournament rosters.
With the Hershey Bears season coming to a close, most Bears fans will be putting all of their focus on the NHL playoffs. One of those teams left in the NHL playoffs are the Washington Capitals, the Bears affiliate. Monday night the Capitals will face off against the New York Rangers in game two of their series, but you could see some recalls before that. Those recalls are called “Black Aces,” named after holding the “Dead Man’s Hand” (two black aces) in a game of poker. So who could some of those “Black Aces” be?
Dany Sabourin sees a shot enter his net. All photos by Kyle Mace.
The quest for the 12th Calder Cup began tonight. Even though the Bears are viewed as the underdogs in the series, we know that they’re not going down without a fight (literally and figuratively).
It wasn’t a strong start for the Bears. After twenty minutes, they only had three shots on goal and were down one goal. It could’ve been worse, however. Dany Sabourin was back and doing his best to keep his team in it. The Penguin goal came from Colin McDonald just ten seconds into their first power play of the night.
A picture says a thousand words.
Yesterday, the Bears took to the skies and landed in Newfoundland. Tonight they faced the St. John’s IceCaps for the first time ever. It was sure to be a tough game with all the recent injuries to the Hershey squad that came just in time to play one of the top teams in the conference.
The IceCaps took the lead about halfway through the first period when Patrice Cormier scored on a breakaway. Braden Holtby couldn’t stop the puck from sneaking through. The Bears tied it up with a power play goal a few minutes later. Ryan Potulny had a great pass to Kyle Greentree, who scored on a backdoor play.
Yesterday’s AHL Clear Day deadline has come and gone. From now til the end of the season, these will be the players in the Bears lineup. Exceptions of course for call-ups and injuries. Take a look at who made the list after the jump.
Photo by Kyle Mace
Today is the day we find out who will be on the roster for the remainder of the season. For those of you unfamiliar with AHL Clear Day, here is the explanation directly from the AHL.
Only those players listed on a team’s Clear Day roster are eligible to compete in the remainder of the AHL regular season and in the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs, unless emergency conditions arise as a result of recall, injury or suspension.
Teams may also add signed junior players or players on amateur tryout contracts after Clear Day, but only once their respective junior or college seasons are complete.
Those listed in the 22 available spots are the ones that will be able to play. If there is an injury or one of the players on the roster is called up to Washington, that spot will be filled in by a non-roster player. Those players are traditionally called the “Black Aces”. They stay in Hershey and practice with the team.
So who makes the cut?
Braden Holtby faced the Norfolk Admirals tonight. Photo by John Wright.
As we get closer to the end of the season, games against big teams like the Norfolk Admirals become even more important.
The Bears owned the first period. They out-shot the Admirals, stopped a Norfolk power play, and maintained the majority of puck possession. They did everything right except they couldn’t find the back of the net.
Boyd Kane celebrates Jacob Micflikier’s second goal of the game (All photos by Kyle Mace)
After a tough loss last night, the Bears looked to re-bound and win their second straight at home against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pens for the first time since the 2009-10 season. Scoring five goals tonight, all the Bears needed was the help of Braden Holtby, which they got. Holtby only allowed one goal on 35 shots, helping the Bears to a 5-1 victory over the Pens.
Graham Mink collides with a Norfolk Admiral. Photo by John Wright.
It’s almost time for the All-Star break but first the Hershey Bears have to play back-to-back games against the Norfolk Admirals.
The Hershey Bears have picked up many rivals throughout the years. It’s not much of a secret that these teams always play a tough game against each other. The first period saw seven combined penalties and no score.
Photo credit: Mitchell Layton (and hijacked from our sister blog RMNB)
I’d rather not talk about this past weekend, but there were 3 games. Here are recaps from Friday, Saturday and Sunday all resulting in no points. The only good things to come out of this past week was an announcement that the All-Star Classic would be on TV and the Bears continued their tradition of reading in schools.
Keith Aucoin voted a starter at this year’s All-Star Game. [The AHL]
This isn’t the kind of season Zach Miskovic hoped he would have, but he is still making the best of it. [PennLive]
The Old Barn hockey show had Jim Jones, John Walton and Doug Yingst join them this week. [OBHS]
Tomas Kundratek has been a nomad this season. [CSNWash]
Speaking of Kundratek, he’s back in Hershey. [Caps]
And playing in the NHL was a dream come true. [PennLive]
