Mount up, boys!

Earlier this evening David de Kastrozza and Maxime Lacroix attended a charity event to raise money for the Four Diamonds Foundation.  Also in attendance was former Bear and AHL Hall of Famer Mitch Lamoureux.  The boys were on a team of celebrities who played donkey basketball against the Palmyra School District staff.

The evening started out with 4 teams of students playing against each other in two different games.  The rules weren’t too complicated.  The game was seven minutes long.  To shoot or block you had to be on your donkey.  When passing at least one person had to be on their donkey.  Seems simple enough, right?  In theory, yes.  Some of the donkeys proved to be a little more willing to play along than others.

Then it was time for the celebrity vs. faculty game.  As they were being introduced, the announcer said that neither de Kastrozza nor Lacroix knew that they would be riding donkeys.  They thought they were coming to play a charity basketball game.  I’m thinking that they might have had a couple comments for Lamoureux when they arrived and found out.  When it came time to play, de Kastrozza didn’t seem to have any issues getting on his mount.  Conversely, I’m not sure that Lacroix ever was able to make it on his.  Baskets were hard to come by all night as you can imagine.  The Palmyra faculty had the shot of the night.  They sunk a shot from well outside the three point line.  Remember you had to be ON the donkey to be able to shoot!

In the end, the Palmyra faculty won the game.  Of course the big winner of the night was the Four Diamonds Fund.  The total raised wasn’t known at the time of this writing, but any money raised is going to a good cause.

After the game I was able to catch up to Lacroix and de Kastrozza and ask them about the experience.

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Officiating Called Into Question Again as Bears Lose to the B-Sens 4-3.

Jean Hebert set the tone early with a hooking call on Andre Benoit (BNG) at 1:13 of the first period.  Kyle Greentree got the next two hooking calls but the Bears penalty killers were able to keep the game scoreless.  Shortly after Greentree’s second penalty, the Sens were able to capitalize on a botched play by Todd Ford.  Ford played the puck behind the net, but he was indecisive.  Miscommunication with Sean Collins led to a turnover behind the Bears net.  The puck came out to an undefended Colin Greening in the high slot and  he made Ford pay.  A short time later Dylan Yeo brought the game back to even with a shot through traffic from the point.

The second period saw things start to come apart for the Bears.  Turnovers happened frequently and they left players from the Sens uncovered in scoring positions.  The second period also brought more questionable calls from Hebert.  For most of the period, the Bears PK units were outstanding.  In fact, during the first Steve Pinizzotto penalty, the shorthanded Bears had more chances than the Sens.  In the end, the Sens were able to come up with a PP goal and one other in the period to give them a 3-1 lead headed into the third period.

Nineteen seconds after the start of the third period, the Sens were able to put the puck in the net again.  The goal, however, was waived off due to goaltender interference.  Derek Smith essentially jumped on top of Ford.  The officiating trend continued with seven more penalties called in the period.  This, of course, brought out the colorful chants from the Giant Center crowd.  In the end a road weary, injury depleted Bears team was unable to overcome all the adversity and lost to the Sens.

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2011 All-Star Classic Game Recap

Thanks, Tux! Photo by Brian Mills

All Star games tend to remind me more of a Sunday morning pick-up game.  This one was no different.  I’m sure there were fans in the stands expecting to see the sort of hockey that we are accustom to here in Hershey, but anyone who has been around hockey for more than a couple years knew that wasn’t going to be the case.  All Star games are typically high scoring affairs with little defense.  This was the case this evening as well.

Hometown favorite and Eastern Conference All Star Andrew Gordon opened up the scoring just 16 seconds into the game.  By the way, that is a record for the quickest goal in an AHL All Star Game.  The West answered back with four goals of their own, but the East ended up tying the game up before the end of the First.

The second period was a little bit of a snore fest.  Half speed skating was the name of the game.  The East outscored the West 4-2 in the second bringing the game total to 8-6 in favor of the East.

Shortly into the third period controversy erupted.  Gordon scored again, but the tally was initially given to the West on the score board.  Former Bear and Captain of the East had some word with the officiating crew and all was put right in the world of scoring.  There was also a quick whistle at one point that cost the West a goal.  Oh, David Banfield! You silly ref, you!  When the third period came to an end, the East ended up on top by a score of 11-8.  Andrew Gordon had 2 points (2G) as did Brian Fahey (2A).  Braden Holtby remained sidelined for the game due to a minor left knee injury.

Bobby Butler of the Binghamton Senator was named MVP of the game.  He had one goal and three assists.

No stars of the game were named, however that won’t stop me from naming mine.

#3 Star of the game goes to Andrew Gordon for setting a record for the quickest goal in an AHL All Star game.

#2 Star of the game goes to Bobby Butler.  Hey, the kid was the MVP.  How can I argue with that?

And finally…..

#1 Star of the game goes to David Banfield.  Yes, Referee Banfield.  He managed to call a game without his arm in the air for half the time.  That counts for something!

Last, but not least enjoy some pictures from the game.

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Highlights from the 2011 AHL All-Star Skills Competition

Photo by Brian Mills

The 2011 AHL All-Star Classic was the news of the day in Hershey.  A large crowd gathered to witness the best players in the AHL show off their skills in an assortment of events.  Unlike recent years, the format this year is an East versus West match up.  One player from the Western All Stars received a loud round of applause.  That player was former Bear, Alexandre Giroux.  Of course current Bears Brian Fahey, Andrew Gordon and Braden Holtby also received large show of support.

The First event was the “Sher-Wood Puck Control Relay.”  The East took two out of three heats to get an early lead.  Up next was the “Reebok Fastest Skater.”  The RBC Future Stars gave the West a point, while the East got points for the fastest individual and fastest team average.  The “RBC Rapid Fire” competition was next on the agenda.  The goalies from the East came up big.  Martin Jones and John Curry had to split duties because Holtby sat out the events with a sore knee.  The East got another point thanks to fabulous goal tending.  The East picked up two more points in the “Reebok Hardest Shot.”  The East had the highest team average and Fahey led all contestants with a shot of 96.9 mph.  In the “Reese’s Accuracy Shooting” the East yet again prevailed gaining two more points.  The “Reese’s Pass and Score” also belonged to the East when they won 4-2.  The last event was the “Panasonic Breakaway Relay.”  Again, the goaltending from the East was the dominant factor.  The offence from the East also produced 4 goals.  After all events were done, the East outscored the West by a score of 19-7

For a full score sheet from the competition, check out the results on the AHL’s official website. After the jump, make sure to check out our extensive photos from the day.

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Bears add another win by beating the Checkers 1-0

Sheldon Souray scores the only goal of the game. (Photo credit: Kyle Mace)

It seemed like the Bears played a man down for most of the game. Despite that, they were able to prevail. A late power play goal from Sheldon Souray lifted the Bears over the Checkers.

The first period was a little slow. Each team registered only 5 shots on goal for the entire period.  Both teams were missing some passes and seemed to be playing not to lose rather than to win.  This makes sense since they both needed points from the game.

The second period started the same way that the first ended.  At the begining of the period Braden Holtby had to come up big.  Charlotte picked up the puck behind the Bears net.  Holtby had to make a save stretching from post to post.  He then came up with another big save on the rebound.  The reminder of the period saw a few more chances (and a few more penalties) than the first, but the result was the same.  At the end of two periods it was locked at 0-0.

The third period started out with a high sticking double minor on Keith Aucoin at 1:24.  This was followed by a Sheldon Souray cross checking penalty at 2:49.  The Checkers had a full two minutes of 5 on 3 power play.  The Bears penalty killers came up HUGE!  They killed off both penalties and turned the momentum squarely in their favor.  At 9:50 in the third period, the Checkers took a penalty giving the Bears their first full two minutes of power play time in the game.  Unlike the 20-30 second power plays that they had before, they made this one count.  Aucoin sent the puck across the point to a waiting Souray.  Souray fired away and found the back of the net.  That was the only goal of the game, and the Bears held on to that lead to get another win.

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