Three Goals in One Minute Push Monsters to Victory

An unhappy Todd Ford takes his spot on the bench after getting pulled.

The Bears were in control of this game for approximately five minutes before the Lake Erie Monsters took over.

It started with a strange penalty against Maxime Lacroix (my personal favorite penalty: “closing hand on puck”). The Bears were running their usual penalty kill when the Monsters got through them and scored the first goal. And then a second goal 18 seconds later. And then a third goal 22 seconds after that. Three goals before Hershey had time to even get one shot on goal.

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to predict that Todd Ford was pulled after allowing three goals on seven shots. It was up to Jared DeMichel, who had just arrived in town after being called up this morning. During the shootout last night, Braden Holtby tweaked something. He finished that game but is now listed as week-to-week. It’s like we’ve gone back in time.

The first period was completely bleak. Boyd Kane, in the clutch way that only Kane can, refused to go down without a fight and scored on former bear, Jason Bacashihua.

During the second period, the Bears were able to mostly hold the Monsters back, but unfortunately Lake Erie did find the score sheet once again. The game might as well have been only two periods long. The third was the epitome of quiet. No scoring, no penalties, no fun. Some flashes of offense, a hit or two, but really nothing to write home about. We really only needed the first period to decide this one. Bears lose 4-1.

It was good showing for DeMichiel though. He was ready to step up for a game that he wasn’t meant to play. Without him, the Bears may not have been able to close the floodgates and keep Lake Erie from running away with this game.

Tonight’s Notes:

• Bad news continues as Johann Kroll was also injured during last night’s game. He’s listed as week-to-week with a significant lower body injury. Now is as good a time as any for Dmitri Orlov to join the line-up…
• Jason Bacashihua had a great showing against his former team, stopping 20 of 21 shots. The same cannot be said for Brian Fahey, also playing against his former team. He was on ice for two goals and didn’t do much to impress.
• Stat from Tim Leone that only makes us feel a little better: “40 seconds not a HER record for 3 fastest goals allowed. Bingo did it in 38 on 1-24-94.” So…there’s that.

Lines and Pairings:

Kane – Aucoin – Willsie
Greentree – Beagle – Pinizzotto
Lacroix – Joudrey – de Kastrozza
Kugryshev – Carroll – Bouchard

McNeill – Collins
Fahey – Souray
Wellar – Yeo

Actual three stars of the game:

1. Ben Walter (LE)
2. David Van der Gulik (LE)
3. Matthew Ford (LE)

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

1. DeMichiel: stopped 18 of 19 shots in relief of Ford
2. Kane: scored Hershey’s only goal, only Bear with + rating
3. Souray: assist and a good offensive road trip