Betting on Bears: Hershey Tops Albany 3-2 on Boardwalk

HERSHEY, PA – Philipp Grubauer warms up prior to a Bears game earlier this season. He stopped four of five Albany shootout attempts in a 3-2 Hershey win on the Boardwalk (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)

Every year, thousands of American football fans lose a pocket full of money after making foolish bets on the Super Bowl. Then of course you have that one jerk, who watches three games a season, makes and outrageous bet and picks Seattle to win by a 35 point spread and pockets several figures of cash that night. Only in America.

It’s a question mark whether there are AHL fans who bet on regular season matches, but if that were the case, the Hershey Bears have proven to be a safe bet thus far in 2014. Following a 3-2 shootout win Friday night against the Albany Devils, the Bears improved to a fantastic 14-4-1-0 record in the new year.

The neutral arena on the Atlantic City Boardwalk is no irregular venue for Head Coach Mike Haviland. He coached the now defunct Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies of the ECHL from 2000-2004. During the summer of ’03, he won the franchise’s lone Kelly Cup.

Philipp Grubauer defended the Bears’ net and opposed Albany’s Scott Wedgewood. Devils’ newly signed, 40-year-old goaltender Johan Hedberg watched from the bench.

Grubauer appeared to be a bit rebound happy in the early stages, leading to an early 1-0 Devils lead. On Albany’s second of an eventual three power plays on the night, Reid Boucher cashed in on his 12th goal of the season. The goal, 8:12 into the contest came via Boucher crashing the net hard off a Tim Sestito shot.

Hershey appeared to be going into the first intermission at a 1-0 deficit, until Matt Watkins tallied with 11.6 seconds left in the stanza. On an offensive rush, Dane Byers slipped a brilliant pass to Watkins for a slam dunk into the net.

Rather than down 1-0 after 20 minutes, the game was tied at a goal apiece.

Steffan Matteau gave the Devils their second lead of the night with 4:26 left in the second period. Hershey trailed 2-1 entering the third period, but it set the stage for a Michael Latta clutch goal with 10:37 remaining in regulation.

For the second consecutive game, 60 minutes was not enough to decide an outcome for Hershey, and the second straight meeting between the Bears and Devils went to a skills competition.

Ryan Stoa and Casey Wellman both scored in the opening two rounds of the shootout, and a poke check save by Grubauer in the top of round five sealed a 3-2 Bears victory.

A 6-2 loss for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins pulled the Bears within a lone point of the Penguins in the standings.