Bears Start Holiday Break with 5-2 Victory against SYR

Your #4 Star of the night, Joel Rechlicz and Santa. All photos by Kyle Mace.

Tonight, against the Syracuse Crunch, the Bears hosted their social media promotion night, a nifty gimmick for those involved in the internet side of sports fandom. Luckily, the players gave us plenty to tweet about.

Known for their strong starts, the Bears were buzzing right away. Matt Ford continued his point streak when he scored on the first shot of the game. Unfortunately, a Syracuse 5-on-3 power play killed some of the momentum, especially when Patrick Maroon scored on Dany Sabourin. Sabourin made a great initial save but Maroon was there for the rebound. Tie game.

Keeping up with the trend, Cody Eakin scored on the first shot of the second period, just 21 seconds in. It was his fourth AHL goal of the year, his first since his call-up to Washington. Things seemed a little scary when Hershey had a four minute penalty kill, but it ended up being just what the Bears needed.

To start, Patrick McNeill scored a short-handed goal. After a Crunch player lost an edge, the Bears had a 3-on-1 short-handed play to lead to the goal. The Bears then killed the rest of the penalty and immediately followed it with a goal from Kyle Greentree. His second goal of the season was a perfect “Welcome Back” gift for Greentree!

That goal meant an early end for Iiro Tarkki’s game and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers took over the goaltending duties. Suddenly, the Bears had a 4-1 lead going into the final period.

The Crunch got a goal back when a Maxime Macenauer shot flew back Sabourin. But the Bears regained their three-goal lead with a power play strike from Julien Brouillette, who banked it off Deslauriers’ back and into the net. The Bears focused on playing a conservative defensive style of play for the rest of the game. It worked and the Bears won, 5-2!

No rest…except for during the holidays.  From the Sweetest Hockey on Earth family to yours, Happy Holidays!

Tonight’s Notes:

• Kyle Greentree returned from injury to play his first game since October 15th. It was only his second home game, fifth overall.
• With Greentree back, all of Hershey’s scratches (Flemming, Lacroix, King, Mink, Miskovic, Pope) were healthy. It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to say that.
• Point streak watch: With a goal tonight, Matt Ford has points in four straight games. He also has fourteen points (6 goals, 8 assists) so far this month.)
• I mentioned above that the double minor on Aucoin was the changing point of the game. The penalty kill played a big role in the game (as it frequently does). Syracuse’s only goal came on a 5-on-3 power play. Hershey killed the other five power plays.
• What a game for Dany Sabourin! I think this was easily one of his best games so far. He stopped 38 of 39 shots, including several jaw-dropping saves.
• Interesting stat from Scott Stuccio: With a game-winning goal tonight, Patrick McNeill is the 14th Bear to score a game-winner this season.
• As a part of social media night, the fans chose a “Fan 4th Star” via Twitter votes. No real surprise, but the honors went to fan-favorite, Joel Rechlicz.

Video Highlights:

Lines and Pairings:

Greentree – Aucoin – Bourque
Micflikier – Potulny – Ford
Kane – Eakin – Hanson
Mitchell – Carroll – Rechlicz

McNeill – Collins
Richmond – Brouillette
Wellar – Kundratek

Three stars of the game:

1. Dany Sabourin (HER)
2. Matt Ford (HER)
3. Patrick McNeill (HER)
4. Joel Rechlicz (HER) [chosen by the fans on Twitter for social media night]

More Photos from Tonight’s Game:

The players celebrate Matt Ford’s goal.

Patrick McNeill tallies what ended up being the game-winning goal.

There were lots of smiles from the Bears tonight.

Greentree didn’t need long to knock off the rust from injury.

Welcome back, Greentree!

Solid win for the boys tonight!