Syracuse Crunch Destroy Hershey Bears, 5-2
Braden Holtby very clearly disagrees with the call on the Syracuse goal. Photo by Kyle Mace
The Bears wrapped up this 3-in-3 with a Sunday matinée game against the Syracuse Crunch. With one win and one loss already, this game decided whether it would be a winning or losing record for the weekend.
The Crunch got the first lead of the night on just their second shot of the game. There wasn’t much Braden Holtby could do as Matt Kennedy spun around and deflected the puck off Dmitry Orlov‘s leg.
But the Bears tied it up at the end of the period during a delayed penalty call. Brian Willsie took at shot and it bounced out to Kyle Greentree was behind Jean-Philippe Levasseur and had a mostly empty net to shoot at. Tie game.
Enter controversy. At first, it looked like the second period was going to wrap up without a scoring change. The Bears got a late period power play but it was Syracuse that scored. Nick Bonino was left alone and had a bit of a breakaway right up to the goal. He deked a few times and took a quick shot. The puck flipped past Holtby and appeared to hit the crossbar and bounce back out. The goal light never went off but referee Francis Charron said it was good.
The replay that played in-house was a little hard to decipher but I’m still not convinced it went in. Many people were pointing to the fact that the water bottle that was resting on the netting jumped, usually signaling a good goal. Tim Leone, who most likely got a better look at the replay, had this to say:
I’d be interested to hear what some of you who saw it in person have to say, especially those seated near the goal.
Despite leading in shots on goal 26 to 11, the Bears were down a goal going into the third period. It took just under twelve minutes before the Bears were able to tie it up. They threw a bunch of shots towards Levasseur and Greentree ended up scoring on his own rebound to get his second goal of the night.
However, the Crunch didn’t take long to respond. They couldn’t even finish announcing Hershey’s goal when Syracuse regained their lead on a strange goal. I can’t fault Holtby too much on this first two goals, but this was one he should have had. He was flush up against the post but a Crunch player was able to sneak it past him after Holtby tried to poke check it away.
Then the wheels fell off and Syracuse scored on a 2-on-1 rush with a minute and a half left. The final nail in the coffin was the empty net goal with five seconds left. Hershey loses 5-2.
Tonight’s Notes:
- Not surprising news, but Todd Ford was sent back down to South Carolina since Holtby has returned to Hershey.
- Joel Rechlicz dropped the gloves with John Kurtz during the second period. Rechlicz had the decisive victory, absolutely raining down punches on Kurtz. I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of watching Rechlicz fight.
- Definitely not a good game for Holtby. He finished the game with 0.778 save percentage after allowing four goals on eighteen shots.
- After the game, Mark French said that he believed it was Holtby’s stick that hit the net and made the water bottle jump. The coaches seemed pretty convinced that the puck was not in.
- Let’s find a bright spot, shall we? The penalty kill unit was pretty good again. The Crunch only had two power plays but Hershey stopped both of them.
Video Highlights:
Lines and Pairings:
Greentree – Willsie – Gordon
Kane – Perreault – Bouchard
Kozek – Joudrey – Pinizzotto
Kugryshev – Lacroix – Rechlicz
McNeill – Collins
Wellar – Orlov
Yeo – Fahey
Actual three stars of the game:
1. Kyle Palmieri (SYR)
2. Jean-Philippe Levasseur (SYR)
3. Kyle Greentree (HER)
Sweetest Hockey On Earth’s three stars of the game:
1. Greentree: two goals
2. Willsie: two primary assists
3. Rechlicz: great fight
More photos by Kyle Mace
This was an early moment in the game and eerily foreshadowing of the rest of the game.
Greentree shows off his ability to be in the right place at the right time.
Too late, Guenin. Greentree has already scored.
Happier times…
Rechlicz unleashes the fury on Kurtz.
The controversial shot from Bonino.
Angry Holtby very visibly disagrees with the ref’s goal call.
Even with five Crunch players in front of the net, Greentree stills score.
Syracuse scores what ended up being the game-winning goal.
Syracuse makes sure that Hershey has no wind left in their sails.
Maybe next time.
Comments are closed.
Agreed. If you download youtube video, and step through it at around 1:27 and 1:28 it clearly shows puck deflecting off cross bar before water bottle moves. Unfortunate.
Wasn’t at the game, but from the video it looks like Holtby’s stick hit the net causing the water bottle to jump. Can see the entire net/goal shake (altho’ that can be from Holtby making contact). Also, the impact of the puck doesn’t look to be anywhere near the water bottle. Hard to say…
No way! I sit in Section 104. It hit the cross bar and Holtby’s stick knocked the water bottle.
Boooo!!!
NO GOAL! If you pause video at 1:28 and then hit play, you will see puck has already hit the post and deflected then water bottle jumps after Holtby’s stick its side of net.
Thanks for the video proof!!
I don’t think it was a good goal.
I thought Holtby’s stick bounced the bottle – was sitting right behind the goal – admittedly upstairs – and the way the puck went after the so-called “goal,” I don’t think it *could* have been inside the net and bounced that direction. It kindof reminds me of the magic bullet that shot Kennedy and half a dozen other people in that car… yeah-right!
I thought it was a goal. I know some people think that the bottle was resting on the crossbar and that it bounced when the puck hit the bar but there is no way the bottle bounced that high with that shot if it hit the bar. It hit the bottle and bounced out.
In my opinion anyway.
I think the biggest problem most people had is that Charron’s explanation to the players was that the bottle popped so it must have gone in. I don’t think he saw it definitively but I think he got the call right anyway.