Hershey Bears to Sell “Love for Lokomotiv,” Auction Breast Cancer Bracelets

Keith Aucoin with is beads for his bracelet (Photo via @CristinaMink on Twitter)

The Hershey Bears wives continue their support of breast cancer awareness, and “Love for Lokomotiv” with three different bracelets. The sale of the bracelets will support breast cancer awareness and the foundation for the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team who died in the tragic plane crash the past summer. The rubber bracelets will be on sale during Sunday night’s Bears game and the bracelets made by the players will be auctioned off in a silent auction with bids starting at $25.

If you are unable to make it to the game, please check out Love for Lokomotiv’s website to get your own bracelet. Below the jump includes photos from Kim Bourque (Chris) and Cristina Mink (Graham) that they took through out this past week of the boys making their bracelets and the rubber ones they will be selling.

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Bears Allow Falcons Comeback, Lose 4-3 (OT)


Andrew Joudrey (seen here during Springfield’s preseason) faced his former team tonight.

The Bears began another 3-in-3 tonight, once again on the road. They started the weekend with a game against the Springfield Falcons, the new team of former captain, Andrew Joudrey.

The first period moved along quickly as the teams battled away. The Bears were playing well and had several big scoring opportunities. One of those opportunities came when Cody Eakin was robbed with a glove save about halfway through the period. But the first goal of the game wasn’t far off. Boyd Kane wrestled the puck away in the neutral zone and got it to Eakin. Eakin set up Jacob Micflikier on a 2-on-1 opportunity and the Bears took the first lead of the game!

Shortly after that, Garrett Mitchell earned his first career AHL goal and it was a nice one! The Bears were playing with an extra man due to a delayed penalty call against the Falcons. Mitchell was near the net and backhanded a rebound past goaltender Danny Taylor.

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Bears rebound and down Crunch 7-0

Photo by Kyle Mace.

A night after taking a beating from the Pens, the Bears looked to turn things around. And the looked to do it with Dany Sabourin in the net. Sabourin hasn’t played a game in over a week since he’s been riding the pine in Washington with Michal Neuvirth hurt. Sabourin’s first couple touches looked like he had a little rust. After that there was no doubt that he was fully in the game.

In the first half of the opening period, the Bears had some trouble making it cleanly through the neutral zone. This was causing poor entries into the offensive zone and little time spent there. It looked a little like it was going to be another night like last night. As the period wore on, things started to get better. The crunch still had the shot advantage, however Dmitry Orlov was the one that opened up the scoring. From that point forward the momentum started to turn in the Bears favor. They increased the pressure in the Crunch zone and with 3.1 seconds left to go in the first period Jacob Micflikier upped the lead to 2-0.

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Bears Start Weekend with 4-1 Win against Albany

Tonight began the first three games in three days of the season for the Bears. Stage one: take on the Albany Devils on the road.

For the first time this season, the Bears gave up the first goal of the game. Steve Zalewski scored on a breakaway. Patrick Wellar tried to catch up to him but couldn’t make it in time. Braden Holtby tried his best to stand Zalewski up but the shot went high and into the net.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for the Bears to counter with a goal of their own. Keith Aucoin took an Albany turnover and set up Matt Ford, who was all alone in front of the goal. Tie game.

If the Bears can continue to dominate on the man advantage, opponents should be afraid. It’s no secret that Chris Bourque has the magic touch for the power play. Tonight, he put a shot on goal during Hershey’s first power play. That shot took a funny bounce off of Cody Eakin and Jeff Frazee had no chance of stopping it. 2-1 after twenty minutes.

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Chocolate Fix 10/19/2011

Chris Bourque’s season has started off big. Photo by Kyle Mace.

Last week we pondered warm up music.  For those of you unable to make the home opener, here is what was played:

  • “Interlude” by Jay-Z
  • “We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)” by Rihanna
  • “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” by Coldplay
  • “Levels” by Avicii
  • “Rebellion” by Arcade Fire

The Old Barn is back with another edition [OBHS]

  • Part 1 – Coverage of the home opener and Chris Bourque’s season thus far.
  • Part 2 – NHL news around the league and of course a bunch of Caps talk.
  • Part 3 – This was supposed to be a segment with Graham Mink, but he never called. Lots of fill instead.

The AHL recognizes Keith Aucoin’s 500th assist. [AHL]

Out of curiosity I did some math. For his career Aucoin has averaged .70 assists per game. In the last 5 seasons that average is .83 per game including playoffs.  If you look at just his time in Hershey, he is an even 1.0 assist per game including playoffs.

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Norfolk Spoils Hershey’s Home Opener, 6-5 (OT)


Michel Ouellet scores in overtime to defeat the Bears. Photo by Kyle Mace.

Despite the fact that the Bears had already played three games before tonight, there was a lot of energy and excitement in Giant Center. For once, the Bears were not raising a banner before their home opener but they did celebrate the 10th anniversary of Giant Center. The Bears were wearing commemorative jerseys tonight, honoring Giant Center and the three Calder Cups they’ve won since playing there. It was time to show off the new Bears slogan in front of the Hershey faithful.

The Bears celebrate an early lead.

To start the game, the Admirals did exactly what they didn’t want to do: they went to the penalty box. After having a great night against the Norfolk penalty kill unit last night, the Bears continue to score during the man advantage. Keith Aucoin had a sharp angle shot towards the crease and Graham Mink did what he does best. The puck deflected past Jaroslav Janus and Hershey took the early lead.

But, much like last night, the Admirals responded and tied the game up a few minutes later. They got Braden Holtby moving and Radko Gudas was able to score on the rebound. Then the Admirals gained their first lead of the weekend before the end of the first period when several players crashed the net. Christian Hanson fell on his own goaltender and Gudas scored again with the loose puck. With less than a minute left in the first period, the Bears made up for it by scoring on a Sean Collins shot from the point.

For the second night in a row, the game was tied 2-2 after one period.

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Offense Rules: Bears beat Admirals 7-5


Seen here last season, Keith Aucoin and Mike Angelidis face off. Photo by John Wright.

It was a battle of the undefeated teams tonight and someone had to go home with a loss. The Bears and the Admirals always have interesting games when they play each other and tonight was no exception. This could take a while to recap, so let’s get to the goals.

Just about four minutes in, Chris Bourque was hit up high with a stick. He exacted revenge by scoring during the ensuing power play with a big shot from the point. A teammate provided the screen and Dustin Tokarski couldn’t do much to stop it. About halfway through the period, Brett Flemming earned his first AHL goal with a shot that was very similar to Bourque’s. Once again, there was a lot of bodies in front of Tokarski and a powerful shot sailed right past him.

The first half of the period was all Hershey but the second half was all Norfolk. J.T. Wyman was right in front of Dany Sabourin and flipped the puck past him during a delayed penalty call against the Bears. Soon after, Boyd Kane went to the box for tripping and the Admirals tied the game up with a power play goal. Tyler Johnson easily made his way through the Hershey defense and scored with no one between him and Sabourin.

Four goals after one period but we were just getting started.

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Bears Spoil B-Sens Banner Raising Night, Win 3-2

Christian Hanson, pictured here at training camp, scored his first goal as a Bear tonight. (Photo by Kyle Mace)

It has been three straight years the Bears have played on a banner raising (and dropping) night for the Calder Cup champions in the AHL, but this is the first in those three years that it has not been their own. With the return of Chris Bourque and Graham Mink, and the additions of Christian Hanson and Ryan Potulny, the Bears look to win a Cup this season, and they showed that them meant business as they beat the Senators, 3-2.

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Let the games begin!


Photo via Hershey Bears Facebook Page

There is a fall chill in the Central PA air.  It’s now October.  The Bears have had training camp and the preseason games are over.  Now comes the anticipation as we await the start of the regular season.  For the team it starts tomorrow, but we won’t see them until October 15th.  Currently, there is a large RV show that has taken over the parking lots of the Giant Center and Hersheypark.  This happens every year and it yet another signal of hockey’s impending return.

The final cuts have been made, and the opening roster is set. But this is the AHL.  The roster won’t be the same for long.  When the Caps lose a player to injury, he is temporarily gone.  Those positions are filled in from the Bears.  As an AHL fan, we know that our guys are different.  Instead of being temporarily gone, they are temporarily here.  There are no long term contracts. We hope for the best for them and that their dreams of making it to the NHL come true.  I kind of equate it to parenting.  We want the best for our boys, but while they are under our roof we demand the best from them.  This is Hershey.  When you look up the rafters in Giant Center you will see the names of the greats and 11 Calder Cup banners.  Division and Conference championship banners are not hung.  The Reese’s advertising in section 211 says it all.  “It’s all about the cup!”.  This is Hershey and you will be held to a higher standard.  With that in mind, let’s take a look at who we will be seeing in Hershey to start the season.

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