Hershey Comes Back From Four Down to Beat Binghamton

Chris Bourque scores in overtime to give Hershey a 6-5 win over Binghamton. (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)

Just one day after Kevin Hart took over Giant Center, the Hershey Bears looked to light a fire in their heart to kick off the 2016 half of the season.

Heading into the final game of a seven game home stand, the Bears had a three-game losing streak looming over their head after tough losses to Lehigh Valley, Syracuse, and Binghamton. That Binghamton team was back in Hershey to take on the Bears Saturday night.

After twenty minutes of play, the Senators took a 2-1 lead into the locker room. When the second period resumed, Hershey had the majority of a power play to see if they could tie the match up. After that attempt on the man advantage was unsuccessful, the Senators’ Ryan Penny broke out of the box, helping spark a 3-on-1 odd-man rush, leading to a Travis Ewanyk goal. Only 38-seconds later Buddy Robinson would find the back of the net giving Binghamton a 4-1 lead and causing the replacement of Justin Peters with Dan Ellis.

Ryan Dzingel would then sneak one past Ellis with less than five minutes remaining in the second period, extending Binghamton’s lead to four. It was only 90-seconds later when the comeback began.

Nathan Walker would net his second of the game, making it 5-2 Binghamton. Then Chris Bourque would send a beautiful pass to Travis Boyd, who sent the puck roaring into the back of the net with only 23.4 left in the second, making it only a two goal lead for the Senators heading into the third.

Garrett Mitchell ties the game in the third period.

12 minutes into the final period of regulation, Madison Bowey would throw the puck towards the front of the net, where Sean Collins would tip it home to make it 5-4 game.

When with 1:12 left to play, Garrett Mitchell would send a pass to Walker at the blue line, who tapped it right back to Mitchell for a one-on-one chance with Binghamton’s Chris Driedger. Mitchell would win the battle and force the game to overtime tied at 5-5.

Seven is a lucky number, and the seventh overtime game in Giant Center proved to be luck for the Bears. Midway through the extra period of play, Bowey would throw the puck down ice for a streaking Bourque. “I didn’t really even think I was going to get to it,” Bourque said after the game. He in fact would get to the puck, toe dragging Driedger out of his crease and send the puck into the back of the net.

Bourque has scored a lot of goals during his time as a Hershey Bear, but this one helped put this team back on track and finish off one of the best comebacks in team history. “That’s a huge character win,” the 29-year-old said. “Being down 5-1 at one point in the game and coming back shows the resiliency. To cap off the game with the overtime winner was real exciting. Definitely something I’ll remember for sure.”

“To be honest with you, when they made it 5-1,” Troy Mann said, “I was like ‘Jeez, this game could be over. But there was no quit. The one thing I do like about our team is that we’re very resilient and there’s no quit.”

“It’s obviously a great sign that we could come back,” said Bourque. “We don’t want to be down by four goals at any point in any game. To be able to come back against a good team – they’ve won four in a row – to get a win in that scenario that’s huge for this team.”

For the number one star Nathan Walker, having his family in town to see two goals and a comeback win was a special event for the Aussie. “Not every day they’re going to be here for a game. I’m just glad we could get the win for them.”

Pre-game news also broke that Chandler Stephenson would be out day-to-day with an upper body injury, leaving Hershey with two true centers as Zach Sill is still up in Washington. That lack of the men up front left a position open for Walker, who has been slowly moving to the center position this season. “It’s better for myself and the coaching staff if they know there’s another center in the line-up that they can go to.”

“He’s very confident,” Mann said. “His ice time is excellent; he’s become a very good PK guy and energy player. The ability to play center allow more flexibility within the line-up. He’s a little bit off in the d-zone coverage, but it’s understandable – he hasn’t played center in six or seven weeks. It’s very, very difficult to make a winger a center; it’s much easier to make a centerman a winger. Hats off to the kid for becoming a center.”

Hershey boarded the bus to head to Bridgeport right after the game as they take on the Sound Tigers at 5pm Sunday in Connecticut.