Hershey Bears vs. Portland Pirates: Series Preview
As the Hershey Bears prepare for their 66th appearance in the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Chocolate and White will face the Portland Pirates for the first time since the 2006 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals.
The Bears won their second consecutive division while Portland finished fourth in the Atlantic. Both teams went 2-2 in this season’s match-up, each winning their two respective home games against the other team in October and November.
Here at Chocolate Hockey, our entire staff of hundreds one person will break down how the two teams match-up, along with a prediction. Let’s jump aboard the preview train.
Forward:
Looking at the stats, Hershey has a slight advantage here. With the league MVP and leading scorer Chris Bourque on their side, along with three other 40+ point getters in Travis Boyd, Riley Barber, and Nathan Walker. But Portland has more skaters with at least 20 points with 17, including Rob Schremp, Portland’s leading scorer (21-21-42). Compare that to Hershey’s 15 active 20 point scores (16 if you include Ryan Bourque who had 24 of his 29 points with Hartford), this forward match-up seems a bit more even. The youth in Hershey’s lineup could hurt this team a bit as experience is always nice in the playoffs, but the Bears take this category.
Advantage: Hershey
Defense:
This could go either way. Portland comes into the series with a 37 point scorer defensemen in Cameron Gaunce, and 22-year-old Mackenzie Weegar‘s 24 points is nothing to sneeze at either. While Hershey’s blue line doesn’t exactly put up the same kind of numbers (Madison Bowey – 29 points, Aaron Ness – 27 points, Christian Djoos – 22 points), Chocolate Town’s department of defense still matches up pretty well against Portland.
Advantage: Even
Goalies:
The two netminders facing off in this series will more than likely be Dan Ellis vs. Mike McKenna. Ellis, 25-12-5 has been solid the second half of the season for the Chocolate and White, going 17-7-2 since the calendar flipped to 2016. But since April 1, Ellis is only 1-3-1 with a 3.45 GAA. McKenna on the other hand was elected to the AHL All-Star Game this season, posting a 2.45 GAA and a .921 SV% in 57 appearances. McKenna brings in a 33-17-5 regular season record to the playoff series, going 21-10-4 since the beginning of January.
Advantage: Portland
Power play:
While the Pirates have the third worst power play in the league, converting only 14.5% of the time, the Bears haven’t been much better lately. Hershey sits 18th in the league with a 16.5% conversion on the man advantage, going only 2-for-15 in the last four games. Hershey will need to step up and use the man advantage to their advantage, especially with one of the most deadly power play scores in the league quarterbacking the power play.
Advantage: Hershey
Penalty kill:
Looking at Hershey’s PK, the Bears had a pretty fair season, sitting 17th in the league with an 82.8% penalty kill rate. But then you look at Portland. 85.7% and sixth best in the league, allowing only 40 power play goals all year. The Pirates are also a bit more discipline than the Chocolate and White, with 46 less PK attempts than the Bears.
Advantage: Portland
Prediction: Hershey in 4
Despite the fact these two teams match-up pretty evenly, there’s still a reason Hershey won the division and Portland didn’t: the Bears find ways to win. Don’t be surprised if Hershey loses a game up in Maine they shouldn’t lose, but I fully expect the Bears to beat the Pirates. Troy Mann and Co. have built a really good team that could do something special this season. And if they find a way past Portland, the path to championship number 12 gets a bit clearer.
With all of the opinion stuff out of the way, let’s get to all of the information you need to follow along with this series.
Hershey Social Media:
Twitter: @TheHersheyBears
Our Twitter: @ChocHockey
Our Facebook: Chocolate Hockey
Our Instagram: @ChocolateHockey
My Twitter: @Kyle_Mace
Portland Social Media:
Twitter: @PortlandPirates
Facebook: Portland Pirates
Beat: @Chris_MHJ
Series Hashtag: #HERvsPOR
We will have stories throughout the entire series on the site, along with game updates on our Twitter, and goodies on our Instagram, and Facebook pages. I will also have insights and opinions on my Twitter account all series long.