Lake Erie celebrates their 5-4 win over Hershey Saturday night (All photos by Kyle Mace)
How do you start a recap after a game like this? After 76 penalty minutes, 9 goals, many mini line brawls, and a goal that you could argue should not have counted, the Lake Erie Monsters came out on top, 5-4, over the Hershey Bears.
After the Bears shootout win in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Braden Holtby had a little celebrating to do. Holtby blocked Nick Petersen shot and gave a little "what now" and pump as he skated back to the bench to greet his teammates. Simon…
Holtby gets the win tonight in Wilkes-Barre. Photo by Anthony Fabrikant/AFC Media.
The Bears broke their losing skid just in time to face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on the road. With a nice day off to feast, it was back to business for Hershey tonight.
Ryan Potulny, in just his second game back from injury, scored on the power play to give the Bears the first lead. Julien Brouillette started the play by crashing through the defense and getting a shot on goal. Potulny closed in on the rebound to pot his first goal of the season. This goal was followed by two fights and you knew it would be another crazy night.
Tenacity and determination lifted the Bears past Providence. Photo by Kyle Mace.
With each game, the Bears’ losing streak gets more and more disheartening. Tonight was a chance to turn things around and play a full game against the Providence Bruins.
The Bears tend to have strong starts and tonight was no exception. Just 18 seconds after puck drop, the first line combined for the first goal of the night. Chris Bourque scored his tenth goal of the season from the right face-off circle past Anton Khudobin.
The Bruins tied it up halfway through the period. David Warsofsky beat Dany Sabourin, who appeared pretty frustrated with letting that one in. The Bears answered with a goal of their own. Brett Flemming scored with a quick goal off the face-off.
Dmitry Orlov during warm-ups. Photo by Mitchell Layton/NHLI via Getty Images. Almost three weeks after Cody Eakin made his NHL debut, Dmitry Orlov donned the Washington Capitals jersey for his first career NHL game. Fresh off of
Tim Sestito scores on Braden Holtby in the Bears 6-5 loss. (All photos by Kyle Mace)
The Hershey Bears lost their fourth straight game on Saturday night. Sort of. In the hockey world of losses, there are also overtime losses and shootout losses. Those losses aren’t as bad as a regulation loss. Saturday night’s 6-5 shootout loss to the Albany Devils gave Hershey a point in the tight AHL Eastern division. It was Hershey’s fourth straight defeat, but only one of those losses was a regulation loss.
Boyd Kane (seen here last season) scored against Syracuse. Photo by Lauren Long / The Post-Standard.
It is the start of a new weekend and a chance for the Bears to begin turning their luck around. After losing three of the last four games, the Bears were looking for a strong game from start to finish. Playing on the road, the Bears got that strong start against the Syracuse Crunch.
It only took 24 seconds to get started. Boyd Kane scored on the first shot of the game against Iiro Tarkki. A few minutes later, the Crunch scored on the power play to tie it up. Then, Jacob Micflikier earned a goal when he and his linemates continued to poke at a loose puck in the goal crease.
Simon Despres celebrates his game winning OT goal (All Photos by Kyle Mace. Click to enlarge.)
The fourth installment of the the 12 part I-81 rivalry for the 2011-12 season was in Chocolate town Friday. The Bears were looking to tie up the season series at two apiece. But for the Chocolate and White, that didn’t happen. Going back and forth all night long, Hershey got the early edge, but they couldn’t hold on and lose 5-4 in overtime.
Dany Sabourin, pictured here duing training camp, allowed 2 goals on 30 shots in Hershey’s 2-0 loss Saturday night
Sometimes the best player on the ice isn’t on the winning team. On Saturday night, Hershey Bears goaltender Dany Sabourin came up with a big effort in a small town. Sabourin made 28 saves in a 2-0 loss to the Adirondack Phantoms in Glens Falls, New York.
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.