Bears beat the Whale for French’s 100th Coaching Win
The Bears celebrate Brian Willsie’s goal, which proved to be the game-winner.
Break out the Brass Bonanza! The Hershey Bears came to town to play their first game against the Connecticut Whale (though they did play them earlier in the season when they were still the Hartford Wolfpack).
Kyle Greentree scored the first goal of the night with a nice shot from between the face-off circles. New addition, Andrew Kozek (who was playing in his first game as a Bear) had the primary assist to register his first point as a Bear.
The Bears extended their lead during the second period when Connecticut had an iffy line change. Greentree dished a long pass to Brian Willsie who was waiting up ice. Once he got the puck, Willsie raced towards the net, took aim, and scored. 2-0 Bears.
The Whale finally broke the shutout during the third period when Kris Newbury darted through the zone and right up to the net. There wasn’t much Nolan Schaefer could do to stop it. Connecticut couldn’t muster up any more goals and Bears win 2-1!
You know what that means? We finally get to congratulate Coach Mark French on his 100th AHL coaching victory! He is the fastest coach in AHL history to reach the 100 win plateau. We can’t even begin to say how much French has done for the Bears. We know the team is in great hands with him. Now the race begins to 200 wins!
Just a heads up to our readers: we will not be covering the game tomorrow night against the Adirondack Phantoms. Instead, we’ll be in Virginia with our Russian Machine Never Breaks brothers at the RMNB Party 2: Electric Boogaloo. If you’re free, head down to Arlington and have fun while donating money to the Brian St. Louis Family Fund.
Tonight’s Notes:
- The Bears released Andrew Sarauer from his professional tryout contract. He returns to the Reading Royals.
- Jared DeMichiel was recalled to Hershey but it was only a paper transaction. He has been loaned the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals and according to John Walton, DeMichiel “had to pass through Hershey because of his AHL contract.”
- Towards the end of the game, Sheldon Souray dropped the ice when the play was well away from him. He appeared to have a lower body injury and had to have a little help to get him down the tunnel. We’re not exactly sure what happened to him but we’ll keep you updated on our twitter if we hear anything.
Lines and Pairings:
Kane – Perreault – Bouchard
Greentree – Willsie – Kozek
Lacroix – Joudrey – Rome
de Kastrozza – Carroll – Rechlicz
Souray – Orlov
McNeill – Collins
Wellar – Fahey
Actual three stars of the game:
1. Brian Willsie (HER)
2. Kyle Greentree (HER)
3. Kris Newbury (CT)
Sweetest Hockey On Earth’s three stars of the game:
1. Willsie: game-winning goal and assist
2. Greentree: goal and assist
3. Schaefer: stopped 23 of 24 shots