Bears Start Weekend with 4-1 Win against Albany

October 21, 2011
Kathryn Hedrick
Game Recap

Tonight began the first three games in three days of the season for the Bears. Stage one: take on the Albany Devils on the road.

For the first time this season, the Bears gave up the first goal of the game. Steve Zalewski scored on a breakaway. Patrick Wellar tried to catch up to him but couldn’t make it in time. Braden Holtby tried his best to stand Zalewski up but the shot went high and into the net.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for the Bears to counter with a goal of their own. Keith Aucoin took an Albany turnover and set up Matt Ford, who was all alone in front of the goal. Tie game.

If the Bears can continue to dominate on the man advantage, opponents should be afraid. It’s no secret that Chris Bourque has the magic touch for the power play. Tonight, he put a shot on goal during Hershey’s first power play. That shot took a funny bounce off of Cody Eakin and Jeff Frazee had no chance of stopping it. 2-1 after twenty minutes.

The Bears extended their lead during the second period with a goal from Christian Hanson. Hanson showed some patience by holding the puck on his stick despite being right in front of goal. Frazee fell to make the save and Hanson fired it after Frazee was down.

The third period was pretty quiet but the Bears put the final nail in the coffin with a late power play goal from Boyd Kane. It was his first of the season. The Devils just couldn’t keep up tonight. Bears win 4-1. That’s the way to start a weekend.

Tonight’s Notes:

As suspected last game, Kyle Greentree is listed as week-to-week due to an arm injury. Fan reports on Twitter ranged from “hearing a crack” to “seeing his arm hanging in a funny way” and would lead us to believe it will be a while before we see Greentree in the line-up again.
It’s worth noting that even with two major guys injured, the Bears still dressed a pretty intimidating line-up. We have so many talented players that guys like Jacob Micflikier and Christian Hanson were on the third line tonight. That’s no dig at the guys, that’s just proof of how much offensive power the Bears have this season.
Due to injuries to Greentree and Potulny, the Bears called up Maxime Lacroix and Garrett Mitchell from South Carolina. However, both were healthy scratches for tonight’s game.
Danny Richmond dropped the gloves with Matthew Corrente. After the first period was over, a scrum broke out with several players. Richmond and Corrente separated from the crowd but the fight was over quickly.
Of course, Andrew Carroll fought someone too. He took on Darcy Zajac for his fourth fight of the season. The fight lasted a pretty long time until the guys were too tired to continue. They gave each other a tap for the draw.
Hershey’s special teams are something else. The power play is a huge threat and the penalty kill unit is very capable of shutting down opponents. Tonight they were two for three on the power play and stopped all three Albany power plays.

Lines and Pairings:

Bourque – Aucoin – Mink
Kane – Sjogren – Ford
Hanson – Eakin – Micflikier
Rechlicz – Carroll – Bouchard

McNeill – Collins
Brouillette – Orlov
Wellar – Richmond

Three stars of the game:

1. Braden Holtby (HER)
2. Cody Eakin (HER)
3. Steve Zalewski (ALB)