Bears Feeling Good After Two Wins to Start 2016

After being down four goals with 35 minutes left on Saturday, the Hershey Bears have rattled off ten goals and two wins. The Bears current line-up looks a lot different than it did a few weeks ago. Centerman Chandler Stephenson is still injured with an upperbody injury, Zach Sill is still called up to Washington and currently suspended. Aaron Ness and Ryan Stanton are working Washington’s blue line as Brooks Orpik and John Carlson are both on injured reserve. Despite all of that, the Bears are staying strong, taking games a weekend at a time.

This upcoming set of games will mark the halfway point of the season for the Bears. After three-and-a-half months of play, head coach Troy Mann is happy with this young team’s progress. “I think that we’re probably ahead of the curve in terms of how much youth we have in. We’ve had some significant pieces out of the line-up on a consistent basis whether because it’s of Washington’s injuries or our injures. I look at today’s [Wednesday] practice and we had six guys [out]; three call-ups, a guy out with the flu, and two pretty good injuries. We’re right where we need to be, but certainly we’d love to make a push in the second half.”

On Friday, the Bears announced they recalled defenseman Joey Leach from South Carolina. If you were to use deductive reasoning from Wednesday’s practice, the call-up looks like it is for Mike Moore, who was missing from Bears practice Wednesday when Mann said they were missing a player due to the flu.

Later on Friday, Barry Trotz said after practice in Madison Square Garden, the Bears could lose another forward if Marcus Johansson is suspended for his hit to the head of Thomas Hickey on Thursday. Trotz said the two players they were looking at recalling are Paul Carey or Chris Bourque if Johansson does get suspended.

Even if the Bears roster is depleted even more, there was at least one good sign Wednesday as Jakub Vrana returned to the ice, using a puck for the first time since major wrist surgery in early November. Mann said Vrana was heading to the doctor Wednesday afternoon. “Hopefully he get a little bit of approval we he can wrap it up where maybe he’s a few games away. He hasn’t really been approved for any kind of contact, but at least he’s doing the first 20 minutes [of practice], he’s getting out with [Ryan Murphy] early for the skills session. Just to have him on the ice in full gear is progression.”

Hershey currently sits seven points behind Wilkes-Barre with the Penguins having two games in hand. Hershey kicks off the weekend with a game in Rochester Friday and Syracuse Saturday, before returning home Sunday to take on Utica.

Below, check out photos from Wednesday’s practice.

Dan Ellis and Jakub Vrana smile as they watch Troy Mann diagram a drill.