Boyd Kane Leads Bears to 4-3 Win Over Devils

Joel Rechlicz has another impressive fight against LeBlond. Photo by Kyle Mace

We said earlier that the organization was one goalie injury away from having a serious problem on our hands. In front of a sold out crowd tonight against the Albany Devils, Jared DeMichiel showed that don’t need to completely panic. He was a little shaky at first and gave up a goal when he couldn’t get control of the puck. But after that, he settled down and stood up for some great saves, including a jaw-dropping one on Darcy Zajac in the third period. By the end, he stopped 27 of 30 shots.

After allowing the Devils the early lead, Boyd Kane countered with a goal of his own, bouncing the puck past Mike McKenna. Later on the 5-on-3 power play, the Bears took their first lead of the night on a goal from Francois Bouchard.

Steve Pinizzotto scored to start the second period, also on the power play. The Devils didn’t respond until the waning moments of the second period but they still stood a goal behind.

Kane scored again in the third period. His second goal would prove to be the game-winner as the Devils scored with 18.4 seconds left. Can we talk about Boyd Kane for a second? We all know that Kane is a clutch player, but as of late he has really stepped his game up even more. He’s been racking up the points and some confidence.

The story of the night for many people was the AHL debut of Dmitri Orlov. I think all around, people were impressed. Troy Mann did a great job coaching Orlov. He was doing a great job of keeping up with his teammates and definitely didn’t look like he was new to the team. He even recorded his first AHL point tonight with a secondary assist on Pinizzotto’s power play goal. He was on ice for both of Hershey’s power play goals and none of Albany’s goals. He also finished the game with three shots on goal. I think it’s safe to say that Hershey fans are happy to add this Russian to the team.

The other story of the night is Joel Rechlicz. I said it on Twitter during the game but I need to repeat it: it’s absolutely mind-blowing how long Rechlicz can fight before he tires out. I’ve never seen a player consistently have fights that last over a minute all while throwing some great punches. Tonight, he was speared in the ribs by Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond (yes, him again) and they fought, of cour se. All while using only his left arm, Rechlicz took down Leblond and was even yelling at him for more. What a champ.

And that wraps up yet another exciting game against the Devils. Bears win 4-3. Goalie carousel be damned.

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Three Goals in One Minute Push Monsters to Victory


An unhappy Todd Ford takes his spot on the bench after getting pulled.

The Bears were in control of this game for approximately five minutes before the Lake Erie Monsters took over.

It started with a strange penalty against Maxime Lacroix (my personal favorite penalty: “closing hand on puck”). The Bears were running their usual penalty kill when the Monsters got through them and scored the first goal. And then a second goal 18 seconds later. And then a third goal 22 seconds after that. Three goals before Hershey had time to even get one shot on goal.

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to predict that Todd Ford was pulled after allowing three goals on seven shots. It was up to Jared DeMichel, who had just arrived in town after being called up this morning. During the shootout last night, Braden Holtby tweaked something. He finished that game but is now listed as week-to-week. It’s like we’ve gone back in time.

The first period was completely bleak. Boyd Kane, in the clutch way that only Kane can, refused to go down without a fight and scored on former bear, Jason Bacashihua.

During the second period, the Bears were able to mostly hold the Monsters back, but unfortunately Lake Erie did find the score sheet once again. The game might as well have been only two periods long. The third was the epitome of quiet. No scoring, no penalties, no fun. Some flashes of offense, a hit or two, but really nothing to write home about. We really only needed the first period to decide this one. Bears lose 4-1.

It was good showing for DeMichiel though. He was ready to step up for a game that he wasn’t meant to play. Without him, the Bears may not have been able to close the floodgates and keep Lake Erie from running away with this game.

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Despite Getting Outshot, Bears beat Marlies 3-2 (SO)

In a rare Wednesday night game, the Bears traveled to Canada to play the Toronto Marlies. Hershey had the overwhelming obstacle of defeating Jonas Gustavsson who is with the Marlies on a conditioning stint. He is definitely an NHL-caliber goaltender and did very well in his first two conditioning games. To beat him, you need to shoot often.

…which is the opposite of what the Bears did at first. However, Hershey did manage to get one past Gustavsson thanks to Andrew Joudrey who was playing in his first game since being out with an upper body injury. Welcome back, Captain! However, the Marlies, not exactly known for their power play skills, tied it up while Patrick McNeill (not O’Neill, as the Ricoh Coliseum guy announced) was in the box. Continuing their onslaught of shots, it was only a matter of time before they found the back of the net again right off an late period offensive zone face-off. By the end of the first period, the Marlies were out-shooting them 15 to 5.

I imagine there were some strong words delivered by the coaches during the first intermission because they Bears came out aggressive for the second period. Braden Holtby continued to be a rock in net, holding back the Marlies from obtaining an even bigger lead. Late in the period, the Bears got their first power play which then turned into a 5-on-3. Boyd Kane had a shot on goal that rebounded back out. A Marlie attempted to interrupt the pass but ended up deflected it right to Kyle Greentree who shot it back door.

It was a tie game doing into a big third period. Penalties were exchanged and the Marlies regained some power, outshooting the Bears by a wide margin once again. But there was no change in the score and so the teams traveled on to overtime. Despite beginning and ending overtime on the power play, the Bears were unable to convert and a shootout was needed to end this game.

When it come down to the shootout, Holtby showed them who was boss. He stopped all five Toronto shooters. Steve Pinizzotto, who had a great game in his home town with friends and family watching, was the only Hershey skater to beat Gustavsson. It was all Hershey needed, however. Bears win 3-2 (SO).

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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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Early Lead Helps Rochester Take Down Hershey, 3-2

You can’t win ’em all. Although, when you’re playing the struggling Rochester Americans, you tend to think you can win it.

It looked like it was going to be really bad at first. By the end of the first period, the Bears were already down 2-0. Rochester scored once on the power play and once even strength to make it look like a rough night for Hershey. It didn’t help when the Amerks scored in the beginning of the next period on a rebound shot past Todd Ford.

At the end of this recap, you’ll find the lines and pairings, as usual. However, those lines didn’t last very long. By the end of the second period, the coaches were already doing some shuffling in order to combat the Amerks early lead.

With the Amerks up 3 goals to none and Boyd Kane going to the penalty box for two minutes, things started looking grim. Thankfully, the Bears refused to give us and started putting some pressure on Rochester, even while down a man. Zach Miskovic unleashed a big shot that Johann Kroll tipped along the way and the Bears ended Tyler Plante’s shutout with a short-handed goal. That is Kroll’s first goal and point of the season.

Things really got exciting when Jay Beagle brought the Bears within one goal of tying it. He approached the goal at an angle that was rapidly getting tighter and tighter. He had such a quick backhand shot that it was hard to tell he even shot at all until you saw the slow motion replay. Plante was just as fooled and suddenly it was 3-2 Rochester.

It was like the Bears got a second wind. They start skating faster and harder and Rochester responded by matching their pace. The two teams battled it out for the rest of the period but Hershey couldn’t complete the comeback. They came very close but had their shots blocked. They even hit iron a couple of times. Amerks win 3-2.

The Bears will be at home for the remainder of the weekend. Make sure you come out and cheer the team back to its winning ways.

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Bears Hold Off Bruins, DeMichiel gets 4-3 Win

First thing’s first: huge congratulations to Jared DeMichiel for earning his first AHL start and win tonight as the Bears battled the Providence Bruins! DeMichiel was fantastic, having to face a lot of shots early and then continuously seeing more shots than his opponent on the other side, Nolan Schaefer, did. By the end, DeMichiel stopped 28 of 31 shots!

But the Bears gave DeMichiel an early lead to work with. Boyd Kane, continuing his recent point streak, led the offensive attack and scored the first goal of the night. A couple of minutes later, Kyle Greentree reached the twenty goal mark and beat Schaefer.

A very scary moment came midway through the first period. At first it seemed harmless enough when Trevor Bruess and Antoine Roussel dropped the gloves. They both threw some punches and fell to the ice. And then Bruess did not get back up. Very quickly, trainer Dan Stuck ran to his side and the medical staff of the Providence arena came to help.

It was hard to tell what was hurt but Bruess did not move a lot. Eventually, they stabilized him on a stretcher and took him off the ice. The only good news was that Bruess did manage to give the crowd a little wave as they rolled him off. John Walton announced that the news is that Bruess has a “fairly significant lower body injury.” We wish all the best to Trevor and hope that he can be back on the ice soon.

Once the game started up again, the Bruins finally managed to get a puck past DeMichiel. Maxime Sauve was left all by himself right in front of the goal and he went low and cut Hershey’s lead in half.

During the second period, Kane regained the two-goal lead on his second goal of the night. The goal came from an absolutely perfect passing sequence from Keith Aucoin to Francois Bouchard to Kane. Just beautiful. The Bruins fought back to get the game within one goal again. I’m willing to bet no one had Brian McGrattan down as their guess for the goal scorer.

At the very end of the period, the Bears were on the penalty kill and Providence worked their way up ice for one last attempt for time ran out. In the neutral zone, the Bears fought for the puck and Aucoin got away with it with no Bruin to fight him. He sped down the ice and sniped it right past Schaefer to give the Bears a 4-2 lead.

There was only one scoring change in the third period when the Bruins scored on the power play. Things got interesting in the last two minutes when Providence pulled their goaltender and Greentree was whistled for a delay of game. Thankfully, the Bears and DeMichiel stopped any last shots and the Bears won 4-3!

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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!

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Bears Come Out On Top, Beating Moose 5-1


The Bears celebrate a solid win against their rivals from the North. Photo by Kyle Mace

There wasn’t a whole lot of offense for the entire first period between the Hershey Bears and the Manitoba Moose. In fact, it took just under 13 minutes for the Moose to even register their first shot on goal. Maybe the teams were feeling a bit lethargic after a seven-round shootout the night before. Even the stands were a little quieter than usual due to the empty seats for those preparing for that big football game tonight.

Hershey got their first power play of the night right at the start of the second period. Brian Willsie had a beautiful wrister from the face-off circle during the man advantage to finally get a number up on that scoreboard. The Bears had just killed off a Joel Rechlicz penalty when a shot from Bill Sweatt beat Todd Ford. Tie game after two periods.

I have to wonder what was said in the Hershey locker room during the second intermission. In previous games against Manitoba, the Moose were able to keep up with any offense the Bears threw at them. But this time the Bears kicked it up for the third period.

Boyd Kane led the effort with a goal from the bottom of the face-off circle. Props to Ashton Rome for that perfect pass from the behind the goal to set Kane up. A few minutes later, Zach Miskovic had a blast from the point that eluded goaltender Tyler Weiman. Miskovic now has a career high in goals for the season and it’s just over the halfway mark!

The real dagger for Manitoba occurred when Hershey scored two goals in twenty seconds. Kyle Greentree had the first goal with a nice shot short side of the power play. The second game from Rome when he banged home a rebound off of Sean Collins‘ shot.

Ford wasn’t pressured too much and received a lot of help from the Hershey defenders. They were blocking shots all over the place and ensuring that the Moose never got the chance to get back into the game. Bears win 5-1.

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Bears Top Devils 5-3 in Atlantic City Showdown

Okay, first off: nobody panic. Just because Braden Holtby and Dany Sabourin are out with knee injuries does not mean we need to panic (more on that to come).

Tonight’s game against the Albany Devils was already circled on our calendars. Instead of being played in Albany, the game took place in Atlantic City at Boardwalk Hall, home of the now-defunct Boardwalk Bullies. But with the added obstacle of being backstopped by two ECHL goalies, this game got a whole lot more interesting.

The Bears stumbled a bit right out the gate when Albany took the early lead. However, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond was called for a roughing penalty late in the period and Andrew Gordon made him pay. He tied it up right off the draw for the ensuing power play. Tie game after one.

Continuing to exchange back-and-forth goals, the Devils regained their lead when they scored on a rebound shot. Thankfully, Hershey’s power play was there to tie it up once again, this time with a shot from Francois Bouchard. It would be Brian Willsie‘s 20th goal of the season that gave the Bears their first lead of the game going into the final period.

Just like the first period, the Devils got the early goal in third. But Willsie didn’t take too kindly to this and countered with his second goal of the night on the (you guessed it) power play! Able to hold down their lead, the Bears wrapped it up with an empty net goal courtesy of Boyd Kane. Bears win 5-3.

Todd Ford wasn’t called on to make too many saves but he was pretty solid, especially against some monster shots, including a breakaway attempt. Thanks in part to him, the Bears extend their winning streak to seven straight games. Like I said, don’t panic.

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Bears Extend Winning Streak With 3-2 Victory in Bingo

Giving Dany Sabourin a well-deserved rest, Braden Holtby led the Bears onto the ice against the Binghamton Senators tonight.

Boyd Kane scored the first goal of the game. He sniped the shot up high and gave Hershey the early lead. Before the end of the period, the Senators tied it up on the power play when Bobby Butler slammed home the rebound.

In the second period, the teams exchanged goals again. Bingo got their first lead of the game when they got the puck close up on the goal crease and beat Holtby. Hershey countered with a power play goal of their own. Brian Willsie gets all the credit on this one as he danced through the defense and placed a perfect backhand shot.

It looked like there was a game-changing penalty when Jim O’Brien of Binghamton was questionably penalized for a hit on Tyler Sloan. O’Brien recieved an elbowing major as well as a game misconduct. But the Senators came up big and killed off the penalty.

Just when it seemed as if not scoring on that power play was going to be their biggest regret, the Bears upped their offense and got moving. Kyle Greentree got the puck right between the face-off circles and scored five-hole on Mike Brodeur with about two and half minutes left in the game.

The Senators couldn’t muster up enough to tie the game again and the Bears won 3-2. They have now won five games in a row, their longest streak of the season!

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