It was the 2010 World Juniors Championship when former Hershey Bears‘ defensemen John Carlson stunned the Canadian Nation with an overtime game-winning goal in the gold medal game. Five months later, Carlson helped the Bears to their 11th Calder Cup before riding off to the National Hockey League.
HERSHEY, PA – Harri Pesonen scores the game winning goal for Albany during their 3-2 win over Hershey (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
On December 29, 1973, the Hershey Bears set a franchise record with 63 shots in a single game en route to an 11-2 win. Thirty nine years later, it was quite the opposite story when the Bears took on the Albany Devils at Giant Center. Rather than an 11-2 blowout, Albany battled their way to a 3-2 win in Hershey.
Photo courtesy Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Facebook page
Many are familiar with the popular song lyrics, “Anything you can do I can do better”. Thursday Braden Holtby was given an off day leading to Dany Sabourin’s first start in 20 days. A night after Holtby posted a 33 save shutout against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Sabourin answered with a stellar performance of his own. He stopped 26 of 27 shots en route to a 4-1 victory over the Pens.
HERSHEY, PA – Jeff Taffe and Jon DiSalvatore are joined by Ryan Potulny after Taffe’s empty netter goal in Hershey’s 2-0 win over Wilkes-Barre (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
The weather outside was frightful, but the Giant Center ice was delightful for the the Hershey Bears’ Braden Holtby. He recorded his fourth shutout of the season in a 2-0 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
HERSHEY, PA – Matt Calvert scores the only goal of the game in Hershey’s 1-0 loss (Tim Stough – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
Days after leap frogging the Penguins in the East Division standings, the Hershey Bears looked for a statement win against the 15-6-5 Springfield Falcons. Matt Calvert scored shorthanded in the opening period, and it proved to be the games’ only goal in a 1-0 Falcons win.
HERSHEY, PA – Ryan Potulny scores to give Hershey a 2-0 lead in their win over Norfolk (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
December 19 marks such an important day for hockey fans not only across Central PA, but across the nation. December 19 marked the 76th birthday of Hershey Park Arena, as well as the anniversary of the birth of the National Hockey League. On December 19, 1917, four teams played the first ever NHL games. But on December 19, 2012, seven members were inducted into the new Hershey Bears Hall of Fame prior to a 4-0 shutout win over the Norfolk Admirals.
Jon Matsumoto scores the game winning shootout goal on Braden Holtby (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
Although the Hershey Bears have won four games in the month of December, all the victories have been coming on the road. Saturday night, Hershey returned to Giant Center with plans of home cooking against the Worcester Sharks. In the first shootout this season at Giant Center, the Bears again fell short in front of their home crowd of 10,075, by a 4-3 margin.
Photo via the St. John’s IceCaps
Wednesday evening the Hershey Bears completed a two day sweep at Mile One Centre over the AHL affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets. Ten different Bears inked the score sheet, and Braden Holtby earned his 12th career shutout in a Hershey uniform leading to a 4-0 victory.
Despite scoring the game winning goal, Tomas Kundratek is left out of the three stars during Hershey’s 2-1 win over St. John’s (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth, October, 2012)
After Tuesday’s close win over the St. John’s IceCaps, the Hershey Bears have now won six of their last eight games. Braden Holtby was once again on top of his game, stopping 32 of 33 St. John’s shots. Tomas Kundratek recorded the game-winning goal on the power play just 40 seconds into the third period, to give Hershey a 2-1 lead.
Stan Galiev on ESPN’s Top Ten Plays (Photo via @Strohmie13)
Recently the Hershey Bears received a minor glimpse of what it is like to play under a rather large spotlight. The AHL Showcase was televised on a large platform, including Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic. But being televised on local cable sports network may seem like baby steps compared to what Stanislav Galiev accomplished last Friday.