Ford leads Bears to 2-1 SO Victory Against Monarchs

The Hershey Bears traveled to Manchester to play the Monarchs for a rare mid-week game. Coincidentally, the goalie match-up was the exact same as when the teams played in Hershey back on Halloween. Todd Ford had his first start and win of the season and Jeff Zatkoff was pulled after allowing four goals on five shots.

I can only think of one word to describe this game: calm. Not too many penalties, not too many goals, not too many scrums. Last time the two teams met, Hershey blew Manchester out of the water with an 8-3 win. This time it was much closer.

By the start of the third period, the teams were even at 1-1. Hershey scored first. Keith Aucoin, falling down, passed to Boyd Kane. Kane’s shot rebounded to Patrick McNeill who slid it past Zatkoff. The second period saw the Monarchs tie it up on a rebound shot of their own.

The third period saw no end result and so we pushed on to overtime.

It got a little scary when Bud Holloway, who had already scored once, had a shot in between the face-off circles when he was hooked by Kane. But the Bears killed that off and it came down to the shootout.

Through four rounds, neither team was able to score and it was looking like we might have another extended shootout. But Kane, back against the wall, came up big and scored in the bottom of the fifth round. Bears win, 2-1!

Tonight’s Notes:

• Yesterday, it was announced that Jay Beagle was returned to Hershey after a long stint with the Capitals. While we’re happy to have him back, he must be disappointed.
• Thanks to Tim Leone for this stat: Aucoin now has a twelve-game point streak going. In the twelve games, he has two goals and sixteen assists.
• The Bears are now 2-3 in the shootout. Ford is pretty good at this shootout thing.
• Bears were a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. Probably didn’t hurt that our already outstanding penalty kill got one of the best penalty killers back in Beagle.

Lines and Pairings:

Kane – Aucoin – Bouchard
Greentree – Willsie – Pinizzotto
de Kastrozza – Beagle – Rome
Kugryshev – Bruess – Blight

Souray – Miskovic
Wellar – Fahey
McNeill – Collins

Actual three stars of the game:

1. Boyd Kane (HER)
2. Bud Holloway (MCH)
3. Patrick McNeill (HER)

Sweetest Hockey On Earth’s three stars of the game:

1. Kane: game-winning goal and assist
2. Ford: stopped 28 of 29 shots
3. McNeill: first goal of the game