Checkers twist up Bears, 4-2

Bryan Rodney and Boyd Kane take a ceremonial face-off before the first game between these two clubs. Photo by Checkers SmugMug

The Hershey Bears played their very first game against the Charlotte Checkers, a new team this year after the Albany River Rats were relocated. For the Bears, it was a game to forget.

Dany Sabourin continues to be a main focus of the season but not for good reasons. He had one good showing in Syracuse but has put up very mediocre numbers otherwise. He is a talented goaltender but he has not been himself this season. It’s not much of a stretch to wonder if he will be released from his contract if he can’t get back on track. I think you can see that his team is having difficulty being confident in Sabourin. He made some stellar saves in the third period after puttin up abysmal numbers during the second period. I brought up this discussion on Twitter and would like to hear some more answers: Would you rather have Sabourin or Daren Machesney?

Keith Aucoin played tonight after hurting his knee in the game against Manchester. He played for about half the game until he fell on his knee again. He stayed on the bench at first but then took that fateful walk down the tunnel and never returned. Unfortunately, this means the end of his point streak, which had reached ten games. Get well soon!

The power play was able to click late in the game to save Hershey from complete embarrassment. Both goals went to Kyle Greentree, his fourth and fifth goals of the season. Brian Fahey had a pretty good night, with primary assists on both goals. He also had some excellent plays to help out Sabourin.

Marcus Johansson had a pretty quiet night. No points or penalties and only two shots on goals. Hershey probably could have used him to step up with the absence of Aucoin.

And so Hershey loses the first ever meeting between these two teams with a score of 4-2. Rematch is set for Tuesday night.

Tonight’s Notes:

• Aucoin was named the Reebok AHL Player of the Month for October. Congratulations Coiner! It was well-deserved!
• Oskar Osala did not have much of an impact against his former team. He logged only one shot on goal.
• Johansson centered a line with Greentree and Jay Beagle. He logged a decent amount of minutes and even saw power play time.
• Steve Pinizzotto got in a fight with Brad Herauf and he absolutely destroyed him. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out to see if a video of it emerges.
• Boyd Kane got a 10 minute misconduct for abuse of officials. Apparently the coaches gave him a game misconduct. Even after returning to the bench after his penalty was over, he did not see another minute of play.
• Lawrence Nycholat was a bit of a late scratch as he aggravated an injury during practice. Joe Finley took his place.
• Dylan Yeo had a fantastic chance to tie up but the game but he hit the post. The noise of the puck hitting the post might be haunting his nightmares tonight.
• We had a request to start posting the lines so here we go:

Lines:

Willsie – Aucoin – Gordon
Greentree – Johansson – Beagle
Kane – Perreault – Bouchard
Rome – Joudrey – Pinizzotto

Fahey – Finley
Yeo – Collins
Miskovic – Wellar

Actual three stars of the game:

1. Chris Terry (CHA)
2. Jerome Samson (CHA)
3. Mike Murphy (CHA)

Sweetest Hockey On Earth’s three stars of the game:

1. Greentree: two goals
2. Fahey: two assists
3. Willsie: one assist, 4 shots on goal