Monster Mash: Bears Aim to Deliver Scary Blows in Eastern Conference Finals
Well, well, well. Would you look at that. The Bears, for the second year in a row, will square off
in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals. The opponent? The North Division’s top seed, the
Cleveland Monsters – the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Both of these combatants reached this point in similar fashions. The Bears eliminated Lehigh
Valley and Hartford in four games and three, respectively. Cleveland defeated Belleville and
Syracuse the same way.
The Chocolate and White won all four meetings in the regular season by a combined score of 22-5. They faced all three Monsters goalies during that stretch (Pavel Cajan, Jet Greaves and
Malcolm Subban).
Here’s how the teams stack up against each other:
Regular season
Goals per game: Hershey – 3.18, Cleveland – 3.23
Goals against per game: Hershey – 2.09, Cleveland – 3.31
Penalty minutes: Hershey – 719, Cleveland – 912
Power play %: Hershey – 20.1, Cleveland – 17.9
Penalty kill %: Hershey – 87.7, Cleveland – 80.7
Playoffs
Goals per game: Hershey – 3.71, Cleveland – 3.14
Goals against per game: Hershey – 1.58, Cleveland – 1.86
Penalty minutes: Hershey – 116, Cleveland – 66
Power play %: Hershey – 20.7, Cleveland – 19
Penalty kill %: Hershey – 89.5, Cleveland – 80
Here’s who led the way offensively for both teams:
Regular season
Goals: Hershey – Ethen Frank (29), Cleveland – Trey Fix-Wolansky (26)
Assists: Hershey – Joe Snively (45), Cleveland –Fix-Wolansky (34)
Points: Hershey – Snively (59), Cleveland – Fix-Wolansky (60)
Power play goals: Hershey – Frank (13), Cleveland – Carson Meyer (6)
Shorthanded goals: Hershey – Bogdan Trineyev (3), Cleveland – Roman Ahcan (2)
Shots: Hershey – Pierrick Dube (177), Cleveland – Jake Christiansen (183)
Playoffs
Goals: Hershey – Frank/Ivan Miroshnichenko (5), Cleveland – Josh Dunne (3)
Assists: Hershey – Chase Priskie/Snively (6), Cleveland – Marcus Bjork/David Jiricek (4)
Points: Hershey – Hendrix Lapierre (8), Cleveland – Justin Pearson (6) Power play goals: Hershey – Frank/Alex Limoges (2), Cleveland – Dunne/Jiricek/Stefan
Matteau/Jakub Zboril (1)
Shorthanded goals: Hershey – Jimmy Huntington (1), Cleveland – Pearson (1)
Shots: Hershey – Dube (24), Cleveland – Dunne (21)
In short, this series is expected to be tight and will most likely be decided by the finest of
margins.
Cleveland is a much different team than prior and will serve as a great test as the Bears look to
repeat the roar. Two of Cleveland’s top four scorers (Bjork and Jiricek)
have NHL experience and are providing another gear of offense. Greaves has backstopped the
Ohio foes in six out of seven games, winning five of those and boasting a 1.39 goals-against
average and a .951 save percentage.
Hershey, crowned the AHL’s best regular season team, remain steady and consistent in their
performances to date. In fact, the last two playoff campaigns showcased the same results through
seven games: win, win, loss, win, win, win, win. Hunter Shepard has played all seven games, and
he’s been everything fans expect.
In the words of Al Davis, just win baby! The Bears have done that quite a bit so far, and we hope
to see that trend continue. The Chocolate and White will look to impose their will on the
Monsters starting Thursday, May 30, at Giant Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
For those who are going to see the locals in action, don’t be shy and say hi! If you see me
around, I’d love to know your answer to the following question:
During your years of fandom, which Bears player – current or past – had the hardest and
best shot in your opinion?
Me personally, seeing Miro sling the puck at an NHL-caliber level at 20-years-old is a thing of
beauty.
