Hershey records first ever win in Charlotte, 5-2


Brian Willsie defends against Nicolas Blanchard. Photo by Checkers SmugMug

In a rare Tuesday night game, the Bears had to make up for their poor showing against the Charlotte Checkers on Sunday. And they looked pretty good, even without Keith Aucoin, Mathieu Perreault, and Lawrence Nycholat. Bumped up to the first line, Marcus Johansson did a solid job filling in at center. He was making good plays and logging a lot of playing time. No points but, at the end of the night, he had one shot on goal and a +1 rating.

For Dany Sabourin, it was a shot at redemption. I’m thinking Todd Ford is nursing a minor injury or the coaches really want to try and boost Sabourin’s confidence. Either way, he was able to make the big saves when the team needed him to and rack up those statistics we want to see. He stopped 37 out of 39 shots, giving him a scintillating .949 save percentage. Not-so-coincidentally, his defense was helping to clear the crease and block shots. The team worked together for a full 60 minute effort and the score certainly showed it. On the other end of the ice, the Bears chased starting goaltender, Justin Pogge, out of the crease after he let in two goals on three shots. Mike Murphy finished the game.

I think Kyle Greentree might love playing in Charlotte. He has scored two goals in both games against Charlotte. He came into town with three goals and left with seven. Tonight, he scored the second and fourth game on the night.

Francois Bouchard opened scoring just under 6 minutes into the game. Patrick Wellar potted the game-winning goal during the second period and the Bears led 3-0. A few minutes later, things got a little scary as Charlotte scored two goals and made it a close game. Thankfully Hershey remained composed and regained an insurance goal before Boyd Kane added on an empty net goal to secure the win.

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Checkers twist up Bears, 4-2


Bryan Rodney and Boyd Kane take a ceremonial face-off before the first game between these two clubs. Photo by Checkers SmugMug

The Hershey Bears played their very first game against the Charlotte Checkers, a new team this year after the Albany River Rats were relocated. For the Bears, it was a game to forget.

Dany Sabourin continues to be a main focus of the season but not for good reasons. He had one good showing in Syracuse but has put up very mediocre numbers otherwise. He is a talented goaltender but he has not been himself this season. It’s not much of a stretch to wonder if he will be released from his contract if he can’t get back on track. I think you can see that his team is having difficulty being confident in Sabourin. He made some stellar saves in the third period after puttin up abysmal numbers during the second period. I brought up this discussion on Twitter and would like to hear some more answers: Would you rather have Sabourin or Daren Machesney?

Keith Aucoin played tonight after hurting his knee in the game against Manchester. He played for about half the game until he fell on his knee again. He stayed on the bench at first but then took that fateful walk down the tunnel and never returned. Unfortunately, this means the end of his point streak, which had reached ten games. Get well soon!

The power play was able to click late in the game to save Hershey from complete embarrassment. Both goals went to Kyle Greentree, his fourth and fifth goals of the season. Brian Fahey had a pretty good night, with primary assists on both goals. He also had some excellent plays to help out Sabourin.

Marcus Johansson had a pretty quiet night. No points or penalties and only two shots on goals. Hershey probably could have used him to step up with the absence of Aucoin.

And so Hershey loses the first ever meeting between these two teams with a score of 4-2. Rematch is set for Tuesday night.

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Hershey falls short, lose 3-2 to Penguins


Joe Vitale scores one of his two goals on Dany Sabourin as the Baby Pens win 3-2 over the Bears. (Photo credit: AFC Media)

I mean, at least we didn’t get shut out!

It would be easy to pin the Bears loss tonight on WBS Penguins goalie Brad Thiessen who finished the game with 30 scintillating saves. However, he ended up being only the third star of the game.

Hershey just didn’t seem to have any chemistry tonight. There were a handful of inspired moments from individual players, but nothing that really made you think this team is full of Calder Cup champions. It definitely did not help that the Bears were missing Jay Beagle and Mathieu Perreault. They were mysteriously absent from the line-up. With the recent influx of injuries in Washington, it definitely had people talking. After the game, Tim Leone reported that Mark French has confirmed they have been recalled.

After this kind of loss, you would probably think that the shots were heavily favored towards the Penguins, right? So wrong. Hershey outshot them the entire night. And the final shot count? Hershey 32, Penguins 15. Ouch.

We now must take a long, leery look at Dany Sabourin, who in two games, has only a .806 save percentage. That’s not the number you want to see from a veteran goaltender. He definitely can not be faulted for all the goals against over the past two games, but he can definitely be better. I can’t help but wonder if personal things are affecting him, especially after he missed practice in Washington and in Hershey because of “family matters.” I just know that he can play better than he has been.

Now, It’s okay to be frustrated, Hershey fans. But let’s not panic yet.

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