Hershey Bears with Quick Turn Around for Game One of Calder Cup Finals

From the time the Hershey Bears stepped off the bus at Giant Center Monday morning at exactly 12:00 am after beating the Toronto Marlies in the Eastern Conference Finals to puck drop of Game One of the 2016 Calder Cup Finals, 67 hours will have passed. That’s the quickest turnaround the Bears have had these playoffs, only a few hours less than a 72 hours turnaround they had against Wilkes-Barre in the second round.

But despite the short turnaround, the Bears are sticking to their game plan against Lake Erie. “Our message tomorrow morning is going to be ‘Play to our identity,'” Bears head coach Troy Mann said Monday morning at Bears practice.

“You’re not going to all the sudden change your structure or system play. We’ll make adjustments on the fly. We’re going to present a package tomorrow to the players that will give them some indication on what [the Monsters] do – especially on special teams and things of that nature.

“Overall you just have to come out and try and dictate the pace and let them make the adjustments to what we’re doing. No team in generally just all the sudden goes out and makes major changes regardless of the opponent, and we’re no different.”

One of the adjustments Lake Erie will need to make is to Hershey’s defense, which has been stellar these playoffs, allowing only 41 goals in 17 games these playoffs. “You can really see the buy-in from everyone,” goaltender Justin Peters said. “That’s ultimately what we’re going to have to keep continuing to do. Guys the last minute of that Toronto game, [the Marlies] weren’t really able to get too many looks, and when they did we had some huge blocks. It’s fun to see the buy-in level as a goalie. It’s fun to play in front of guys like that.”

But the Monsters stats are nothing to sneeze at. A league high in the playoffs in goals per game (3.54) is something Hershey’s going to have to keep an eye on. “Lake Erie has some real good speed,” Mann said. “I’d say they are a little grittier than Toronto. I’d say they are more like Toronto [than Wilkes-Barre] in terms of that speed and skill type of game, but you do mix in a little bit of grit as well.

“They are probably similar to us in terms of how they approach the game. System-wise, it’s a little bit different. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but it’s a bit of an unknown when you haven’t seen a team before”

Despite having eight players in their first or second year professionally, the veteran presence in the locker room for the Bears may give them an edge in a championship round. “You’re four wins away from a championship – something we’ve been striving for all year – and we’re here,” Chris Bourque, who will be participating in his fifth Calder Cup Finals, said. “We’re going to take it one game at a time, shift by shift. Just have to give it your all, put everything on the line.

“Anything can happen and we just have to get it done.”