Bears Go West with Opportunism After Game 2 Victory

It was a must-win game for the Bears in game two, and the locals were able to do just that by a 5-2 victory over Coachella Valley to split the home set as the series shifts to California.

Head coach Todd Nelson said that while he’s happy with the win, he believes his troops are a bit lucky to tie the series the way they did.

“Let’s all be honest here. I think we got away with one tonight. Let’s call a spade a shovel here,” said Nelson. “If (Hunter Shepard) doesn’t play that game extremely well, we don’t win. We were opportunistic with our chances. (Coachella Valley) elevated their game, and we got worse – maybe because they elevated their game…That’s two games in a row now in the second period
where we are getting hemmed into our own zone because we can’t make plays.”

Per the Bears broadcast, Hershey averaged the fewest shots on goal in the AHL with 26 per game. However, they’ve mustered above-average output for the majority of the postseason.

Out of 16 games, the Bears have been held to 26 or fewer shots on goal just four times. This
happened in consecutive instances for the second time – where the first pair of such contests came at games two and three against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

However, this is the only time where the Bears split their home set before heading on the road.

Credit needs to go to two places: the Chocolate and White’s ability to find ways to win in different ways and Coachella Valley for their defensive tactics, transition game and tenacity to limit shots against.

“We had three or four times where we had good scoring opportunities and we whiff on the puck,” said Nelson. “We’re talking goal scorers, like Hendrix Lapierre and Ethen Frank. Like come on, we’ve got to bear down in those situations. (Coachella Valley) is doing a good job, but we have to bear down and get our shots through.”

Coming into this series, the Bears had registered an 11.8% shooting percentage through 14 games – averaging 29 shots on goal per contest. Through the first two games of the Calder Cup Finals, Hershey is converting at a 20% clip while aggregating 20 shots on goal.

Through the six and a half minutes of Nelson’s postgame availability, the message was simple
from the bench boss: they need to be a lot better in front of Shepard moving forward.

Coachella Valley’s barn is hostile, and the team knows it. They won once there out of four tries last season, but that win earned the Bears their 12th Calder Cup Championship.

When asked by outstanding AHL reporter Patrick Williams about what to expect, Nelson said “It’s a tough place to play, and they play very well at home. I don’t think they’ve lost a game at home yet in the playoffs. We know what we’re getting ourselves into. I do know that our team will be better because it couldn’t get any worse than it did tonight.”

Grab your coffee or drink of choice to stay awake this week. Game three is on Tuesday night at 10 p.m. eastern time.

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