Bears Win High-Scoring Showdown Against Tigers


Boyd Kane leads the Hershey Bears to victory! Photos by Kyle Mace

If you were looking for goals, this was the game for you!

Two guys returned to the line-up tonight. The first was Braden Holtby, who held down the crease for the game. The second was Patrick McNeill, fresh off his call-up to Washington but returning without playing a game. He scored the first goal of the game just over one minute in. You think he wants to show the Caps what they’re missing?

Bridgeport briefly tied it up on the power play. Holtby tried to clear the puck up the middle but it was intercepted and he couldn’t recover in time. Thankfully, Steve Pinizzotto was there to give the Bears some breathing room. It was a strange goal. He was hit into the Bridgeport goalie but managed to backhand the puck in without even looking as he was falling. Money.

Soon it became 3-1 Bears as Joel Rechlicz (yes, Joel Rechlicz) scored his first goal of the season. Not only his first goal, but his first ever AHL goal and his first goal since his 2007-2008 IHL season (s/t to Tim Leone for that fact). Right after, Rechlicz dropped the gloves with Brett Gallant. It was a brilliant fight, both guys got in some huge punches and the fight lasted for at least a minute. That’s the kind of fight people will be talking about the next day. Before the end of the period, the Sound Tigers got one goal back.

Come second period, Pinizzotto got his second goal of the night on his own rebound. You give him that shot from between the face-off circles twice and he’s not going to miss twice. Mikko Koskinen was yanked in favor of Joel Martin, a smart move since Koskinen was looking shaky all night. The Sound Tigers responded with a goal (imagine that). But Boyd Kane scored a nice goal to cap off the period. Francois Bouchard had just gotten out of the penalty box when he took the puck right up to the goal. He had a shot but Martin stopped it and Kane got the second shot off.

In the third period, the Sound Tigers responded with another power play goal. But Kane was able to get his second goal of the game to make sure the Sound Tigers couldn’t come back and take over the game. Bears win 6-4.

It might have been a fun game for fans with all the offense, but it was not a good showing for the team. Holtby can be forgiven for knocking off some rust tonight but our defense really needs to step it up and help out our goalies. Maybe Dmitri Orlov will bring some help?

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Bears Bounce Back With 2-1 Win Against Norfolk

Now that’s more like it!

The Bears did not have a lot of time to think about their loss to the Penguins on Sunday because they had to hit the road and take on the Norfolk Admirals tonight.

From the start, the Bears looked much more comfortable than they did on Sunday. They were moving their feet and getting shots in. Most importantly, Todd Ford was solid and confident in the crease. He stopped 29 of 30 shots in a fantastic outing. Good to see him bounce back after getting pulled on Sunday.

It was Sean Collins who gave Hershey the early lead. Dylan Yeo had the first shot of the play but the rebound came out to Collins who buried it past goaltender Mike Smith.

During the second period, the Admirals managed to tie it up. Mike Angelidis was right between the face-off circles when he sniped it in the top left corner past Ford. But with just 18 seconds left in the period, Keith Aucoin countered with a missile of his own. Beautiful goal that ended up being the game-winner. The third period saw no scoring change and the Bears won 2-1.

The best part of this? They did it with only five defensemen instead of the usual six. Josh Godfrey was called up before the game but his flight did not arrive in time to make the line-up. Instead, Joel Rechlicz got a spot as a thirteenth forward. Tonight’s win will serve as a much better game to reflect on during their next few days off. The line-up keeps changing, but the Bears will keep winning.

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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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