Bombs Away: Bears Blast Admirals, Tighten East Division Standings
It was a fun game to watch on television, listen in on radio, or even follow on twitter. But most of all, it was an excellent way to end a six-game skid.
The Hershey Bears traveled to Virginia Beach and throttled the Norfolk Admirals by a 3-2 count. It was their first game played of the season at the Norfolk Scope, and it had a homecoming feel for Bears’ Head Coach Mike Haviland. Haviland was an Admirals’ assistant coach last season and the head bench boss for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 campaigns.
Dane Byers scored a third period insurance marker, which later proved to be the game-winner in a 3-2 decision. With out of town help by the Utica Comets, the Bears now stand within one point of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and three points within the division lead.
It was an event-less opening 20 minutes for either side, as the goal post saved David Leggio in the early going off a knuckle-puck shot from outside the slot. Leggio’s counter-partner, John Gibson, a proven prospect in the Anaheim Ducks organization was fantastic with an early breakaway stop on Nicolas Deschamps. Minutes later he followed with a save against Brandon Segal on a quick deflection.
2:25 into the second period, Devante Smith-Pelly broke the scoreless tilt for Norfolk. He entered the Hershey defensive end, undressed Tyson Strachan with a beautiful inside-out move and tallied up-stairs on Leggio.
The Admirals’ lone lead of the night lasted only 1:49 with Michael Latta’s eighth goal of the season. Latta crashed the blue paint and jammed a loose puck past the large Gibson to knot the game 1-1.
Minutes later, the Chocolate and White began dominating puck possession in all three zones of the ice. On a delayed penalty, the Bears were able to pull Leggio and possess the puck and create scoring chances for a full 1:27. Once Gibson finally swallowed a Hershey scoring chance, Steve Eminger served his long-awaited two minute minor for hooking at the 7:55 mark.
Into the power play, with Nate Schmidt quarterbacking the blue line, Casey Wellman blasted a one-timer into the Norfolk cage to give his club their first lead of the night.
Hershey would not surrender their lead unlike the Admirals, and pushed forward to their 30th win of the 2013-14 season. Dane Byers made the game 3-1 with 6:45 left off a transition. The Bears did a phenomenal job all game playing smart, making good decisions on and off the puck, and getting sticks constantly in the Admirals’ shooting and passing lanes. No scoring chance came easy for Norfolk.
“Norfolk is a team that plays a tight checking game, kind of what we needed to have,” said head coach Mike Haviland. “I thought we did an exceptional job all night. We played a complete game. We made some real good decisions, We didn’t give them any odd man rushes except on the power play. We played a real complete hard game.”
Max Friberg tallied a meaningless goal with under six seconds remaining in regulation with the extra attacker on the ice to round out the 3-2 final.
“We got our two points here, but we still have to focus on Saturday,” said Dane Byers after the game. “It’s definitely a huge step. We lost a few in a row there and it’s nice to get on the winning way. It looked like guys had their confidence back. We had a good week of practice and we worked on a lot of things.”
“It was a hard, gritty find a way to win type game,” d-man Nate Schmidt remarked. “The way the whole game happened it was a close tight game the one you need to have when you are in a little bit of a slump. Guys were blocking shots during the game. I thought our guys played really well.”
Both teams return to the ice tomorrow night at 7:15pm.