Hershey Splits Series with Adirondack

Julien Brouillette and Peter LeBlanc, both seen here earlier in the season, had goals in Hershey’s win over Adirondack in the Bears first game against the Phamtoms this weekend

Perhaps the Hershey Bears are trying to make a statement to the schedule makers. Three games in 31 hours is very unusual in any league. But when the Bears played Adirondack in Philadelphia, they were going for their seventh straight victory and second in an 18 hour span. In the first game with the Phantoms, the Bears came up with a 5-3 victory Friday night in Glens Falls, beating the Phantoms to keep their winning streak alive.

Tied at one in the second period, the Bears tore off three straight goals, including two in less than a minute with goals from Julien Brouillette and Peter LeBlanc gave Hershey a 4-1 lead. Adirondack cut the lead to 4-3, but Broulliette added an empty net goal to ice the game for the Bears, giving them their sixth straight victory.

Following that battle in New York on Friday night, both Hershey and Adirondack high tailed to the City of Brotherly Love and home of the world’s best cheesesteak.

The hometown Philadelphia crowd supported the Phantoms en route to a 4-1 win over the Bears on Saturday.

The Chocolate and White ultimately lost the game in the opening first period after a slow start led to a 2-0 hole. Tyler Brown and Tye McGinn tallied within the first three shots of the night on Philipp Grubauer.

Matt Watkins cut Adirondack’s lead in half with 2:07 remaining in the opening stanza. A quick backhand shot beat Cal Heeter through his leg pads and into the cage.

That was Hershey’s highest offensive point of the entire night and were held scoreless for the remainder of the game. Grubauer successfully settled into his crease and was lights out second period.

But third period, it was all Phantoms against Hershey. Ben Holmstrom and Jason Akeson added two quick markers in the final frame to extend their lead to three.

The loss for the Bears ended that season-high six game winning streak. They return to Giant Center the today for a Super Bowl Sunday afternoon matinee against the Norfolk Admirals.