Hershey Splits Series in St. John’s, get First Win of the Season

Connor Carrick looks on at a shot during Friday night’s game in which Hershey would lose to St. John’s, 5-1 (Photo via St. John’s IceCaps flickr page)

It took the Hershey Bears four games and 1,828 miles to find themselves and find their first win of the season. After a third straight loss on Friday night, Hershey looked like the team Bears fans were expecting to see on Saturday. The Bears scored four unanswered goals and Philipp Grubauer made 30 saves in route to a 4-0 win over the St. John’s IceCaps.

The Bears got goals from Peter LeBlanc, Derek Whitmore, Dmitry Orlov and Casey Wellman, scoring those goals on just 25 shots. Whitmore’s goal even had the IceCaps play by play announcer stunned with a blistering shot that beat Eddie Pasquale. Orlov added three assists to his goal to earn the number one star of the game.

The victory was in contrast to Friday night’s loss that saw Hershey give up five straight goals, after Jeff Taffe had given the Bears a 1-0 advantage. Hershey only could manage 25 shots on Friday. The 25 on Saturday were clearly much more effective.

Former Hershey Bears star Andrew Gordon, playing against his former team, did not register a point in the IceCaps win on Friday.

The trip to Newfoundland was the Bears longest trip of the season and probably came at a good time, giving the Bears a chance to bond as a team.

The Bears have now picked up three of a potential eight standings points over the first four games. Wilkes-Barre Scranton is setting the early Eastern division pace at 5-0.

Hershey will play back to back home games at Giant Center, Saturday at 7pm against Hartford and Sunday at 5pm against Norfolk.