Bears shut out Senators 4-0 on Teddy Bear Toss night


Maxime Lacroix’s goal triggers the attack of flying stuffed animals. Photo by Kyle M.

Tonight was annual Teddy Bear Toss. After the first Hershey goal, fans were instructed to throw their teddy bears onto the ice where they would then be collected and donated to Children’s Miracle Network. The Bears were playing like a team possessed for the beginning of the first period. No one wants to get shut out on Teddy Bear Toss night.

I guess technically the credit for unleashing the waterfall of teddy bears will go to Maxime Lacroix. A closer look may show that it bounced off of a Binghamton Senators player and past Robin Lehner. May I just say, fantastic job with the teddy bears, Hershey fans. It was announced that 7,199 teddy bears were thrown and they are all going to a good home.

But, back to the game! Francois Bouchard scored the first goal actually last touched by a Bear to put the team up 2-0 by the end of the first period.

Steve Pinizzotto had a spectacular pass for Jay Beagle to score a shorthanded goal. Credit to John Walton for this stat: the Bears have scored three shorthanded goals to date. The first goal was Keith Aucoin‘s and the other two belong to Beagle. Money.

At the end of the period, Pinizzotto would drop the gloves against Andre Benoit. Benoit may have started the fight but I don’t think he was ready for the impact of Pinizzotto’s fists. However, the highlight fight would probably go to Lawrence Nycholat taking on Bobby Butler in the third period. Strange pairing but Nycholat gets the win and the knockout punch. The joy of the fight was downgraded by the sight of Nycholat going down the tunnel. He never returned to the game. Get well soon!

To wrap up the game, Ashton Rome made it 4-0 Hershey after beating Lehner low. That would be the final goal of the game as Braden Holtby pitched a 26-save shutout. That’s two Saturdays in a row that Holtby has shut out the opposing team. And so, Hershey earns a perfect record for the weekend as they chalk up their 13th and 14th wins of the season. Woo!

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Pinizzotto and the Bears outlast Albany Devils, 3-2


Dany Sabourin rushes to make a save against the Albany Devils. Photo by the Albany Devils.

It was a quiet first period. In fact, it was a fairly quiet game against the Albany Devils.

The first goal of the game came exactly five minutes into the second period. Thankfully, Jay Beagle was able to counter with a goal just 31 seconds later, with an assist by Maxime Lacroix. The assist was Lacroix’s first AHL point of the season.

Trading back-and-forth goals, the Devils scored on the power play to regain their lead. But wait! How comfortable is Dmitri Kugryshev looking these days? He scored his second goal of the season to tie the game at two a piece before the end of the second period.

The hero of the night? Steve Pinizzotto. Showing the clutch guy he can be, he capitalized on an Albany turnover and scored the game-winning goal, unassisted, to give Hershey their first lead of the night. Thankfully, they only needed the lead once to maintain it and won 3-2.

So it may not have been the most exciting game but a win is a win. And wins are what Hershey needs.

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Andrew Gordon talks about social media, his favorite Holtbyism, & playing dryer hockey with Crosby

Andrew Gordon

On November 20th, I went up to Hershey to celebrate my 26th Birthday in style, hoping to break my own personal curse and finally see a Bears victory in person (0-4). Despite Andrew Gordon’s heroic two goals and Semyon Varlamov in net, the Bears couldn’t garner enough offensive power to overcome the dreaded Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Undeterred, after the game, I caught up with the current AHL goals (15) and points (30) leader for an exclusive one-on-one interview to ask for his thoughts on a wide range of topics. This includes life in the AHL, the Bears new Captain, goalies, Holtbyisms, and his experience playing dryer hockey with one Sidney Crosby.

In the weeks to come – if my first-ever video interview with an athlete does not result in me being kicked out of the Bears locker room forever – we’ll continue to do these Q/A’s. So make sure to check out for more profiles on your favorite Hershey players and let us know what you think in the comments below. Okay! Let’s do this.

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Worcester takes Thanksgiving Eve 3-2 victory


Brian Willsie has to be held back after Alex Stalock leaves the crease to give him a good shove after the whistle. Photo by Kyle M.

We were all hoping to cut into our turkeys tomorrow and be thankful for a Bears victory to start the holiday. Unfortunately, we’ll just have to be thankful that it’s only the beginning of the season.

The first period started off a little awkward. The Worcester Sharks opened scoring with a rebound goal that beat Dany Sabourin. Just over a minute later, Tommy Wingels scored Worcester’s second goal on a breakaway that left Zach Miskovic and Sheldon Souray in the dust on the blue line. By the end of period, Hershey seemed to finally develop a sense of control and tempo that unfortunately did not foreshadow a comeback, but instead a good attempt at a comeback.

The second period continued the offensive flow that the Bears found in the first period. Mathieu Perreault broke the shutout to put Hershey on the board. Unfortunately, Worcester counted with another goal to make it 3-1 by the end of the second period.

Starting the third period on the power play, the Bears needed to use this man advantage. Souray had a huge missile of a shot (though when doesn’t he?) that Jay Beagle was able to convert on to bring Hershey back within a one goal difference. Even with a couple of power plays in the third, Hershey couldn’t convert to tie the game. Sharks take this one 3-2.

Hershey outshot Worcester for most, if not all, of the game. The final shot count was 21-43 in favor of Hershey. Those shots tell the story of Hershey’s fierce attempt at evening the score and also the story of goaltender Alex Stalock’s skills.

We’ll wrap this recap up on a positive note: To all our American readers, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. To those of you who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving…Happy Fourth Thursday of November.

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Senators record rare win against Bears, 4-2

Before the game, Andrew Gordon called it:

When the Binghamton Senators scored the first two goals of the game, it was the first time the Senators held a lead against the Bears this season. Boyd Kane got his seventh goal of the season to cut Binghamton’s lead in half. Andrew Joudrey tied the game at two goals a piece with a goal late in the second period. It all came down to the third period.

Unfortunately, it was Binghamton that was ready to finish the game. Try as he might, Jay Beagle just could not get a goal. He had a lot of good chances but none were going his way. Hershey had a good push in the waning minutes of the game, but Barry Brust stood strong and even got the secondary assist on the empty net goal to make it 4-2 Senators over Bears.

Yes, Brust put on a much better performance than on Sunday. He stopped 42 shots tonight, giving himself a .954 save percentage. That’s a pretty good way to make up for a .771 save percentage from the last game.

So, close…but no cigar. The Bears need to rest up because they’ve got a big game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tomorrow. What better way to redeem themselves? Oh, and please send a ‘Get Well Soon’ card to our many injured players.

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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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Gordo’s 2 goals leads Bears past Phantoms 4-2


Andrew Gordon pots one of his two goals against Adirondack. (Photo by Kyle Mace)

Do you think Andrew Gordon wants a spot on an NHL roster? The man now has points in seven straight games and leads the team with eight goals. Two of those goals came tonight against the Adirondack Phantoms.

The Phantoms got an early lead, scoring two goals in the first ten minutes of the game. Hershey, like only a top-tier team can, was able to ride out the storm and responded with four unanswered goals. I think they’re doing just fine without Jay Beagle, Mathieu Perreault, and Dany Sabourin in the line-up.

Despite the final score, the game was a lot closer than you would think. It was a pretty evenly matched game, a point emphasized by the sudden lack of penalties in the third period. In the end, the Bears were able to wear down Brian Stewart, the rookie goaltender for the Phantoms, and the rest of the defense.

It was another hard-hitting game (I know that must be hard to believe). Zach Miskovic, Patrick Wellar, and Steve Pinizzotto took it upon themselves to teach the Phantoms players that if you’re not keeping your head up, you’ll be going down. I suspect there will be some Adirondack players with ice bags strapped to them after tonight. I can’t emphasize enough how fun it is to watch these kind of games.

I’m going to wrap up this gamer because I want to go buy tickets to every Hershey/Adirondack game this season.

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Hershey is Binghamton’s Worst Nightmare, 7-1


The Bouchard-Perreault-Willsie line combined for a total of nine points.

Wow…where to even begin?? To say that Hershey dominated this game would be an understatement. Offense was the name of this game. Nine different Hershey players finished the game with at least a +2 rating. It was probably a good sign when the first goal of the night came just over two minutes into the game and a mere 12 seconds into the first power play of the night. Then the goals just came rolling in. Chances are, if you blinked, you missed a goal.

…unless it was the third period. Then you problably blinked and missed someone getting their face punched in. Joel Rechlicz, Sheldon Souray, and Patrick Wellar did a pretty good job of punishing people tonight. The three of them combined for a total of 28 penalty minutes.

It’s already been established that the Greentree-Aucoin-Gordon line works well together. But I’m more interested in seeing what the Bouchard-Willsie-Perreault line cab di. It’s probable that Brian Willsie would like to see it more too. His suitcase might be a little harder to pack up after the game when he tries to fit in those four points he got tonight.

I think the Senators are still shaking their heads after tonight. Hershey’s job tonight is to enjoy the moment, but also remember that tomorrow that they must defend the cup in front of their home crowd. The guys from last year’s squad are likely to be dreaming of their new bling tonight.

See what did I tell you?

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