SHOE’s Voting Guide for the 2011 AHL All-Star Classic

Hi, I’m Brian. First, let me start by saying I am thrilled to be part of the Sweetest Hockey On Earth team! I will be bringing you coverage of the back-to-back Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears from a local (and rink-side) perspective. Please take a moment to go to the About Us page to read more about me.

As for the 2011 AHL All-Star game, the Captains for this season’s game have already been named.  Heading up the Eastern Conference will be Mark Wotton and from the West it will be Alexandre Giroux.  They both are not only veterans of the league, but between the two of them, they have been named to several All-Star teams.  More interesting to you Hershey fans, is that both of these team captains are former Calder-Cup winning Bears players!

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Holtby Blocks Norfolk in 2-0 Hershey Victory


Kyle Greentree sneaks the puck past Dustin Tokarski to give Hershey the lead. Photo by Kyle.

It’s very curious to me that when the two best offensive teams in the league play each other, the game ends up being a low-scoring event. The Norfolk Admirals are the league leaders in goal scoring but only managed to score one goal the first time they played Hershey this season.

Ironically, that was the last time Braden Holtby let in a goal. Tonight was his fourth shutout of the season. Thanks to Tim Leone for help with this stat: Holtby has now played 173 minutes and 37 seconds without letting in a goal, including two complete shutouts. While Dany Sabourin may be struggling to find his groove, Holtby is holding down the fort.

Despite winning both games against the Admirals, the Bears themselves have not been able to score as much as usual either. Kyle Greentree scored the eventual game-winner during the first period. The Bears were on the power play and Greentree shot the puck towards the goal. I think Dustin Tokarski was more concerned with Andrew Gordon‘s placement on the doorstep than with Greentree’s shot, which then hit Tokarski and deflected in.

Zach Miskovic added a little insurance during the second period. Keith Aucoin had an absolutely beautiful cross-ice pass to Miskovic who then one-timed it into the net. John Walton noted that the goal was Miskovic’s fifth of the season, but his third in the past week. It’s good to see him finding a style that works for him and feeling comfortable joining the offense. As proven in the past week, he can be quite the offensive threat.

I found it interesting that the Norfolk Admirals opted not to pull Tokarski until there was under half a minute left in the game. Interesting strategy for a team that was down two goals and about to get shut out.

Nevertheless, Hershey gains another valuable two points and downs Norfolk 2-0.

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“Pittsburgh Hangover” Crunch beat Bears 4-2


The Crunch celebrate a goal against Dany Sabourin. Photo by Kyle M.

Fresh off their statement win against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in Pittsburgh, the Bears traveled back to Hershey to take on a struggling Syracuse Crunch team.

It seemed like a lot of Syracuse’s goals and scoring chances came when there was a turnover by a Hershey defenseman. The Crunch did a good job of keeping the pressure up and making Hershey pay for mistakes like that. They got their first goal when John Mitchell beat out Johann Kroll and took the puck from him right in front of the goal. Trevor Smith was left alone and converted on a bounce from the back wall to give Syracuse another goal.

Kyle Greentree scored Hershey’s first goal of the night when Syracuse was already up 2-0. He had a nice shot on the power play to cut the lead in half. Unfortunately, Syracuse repaid the favor the next period by scoring on a power play of their own. Add on another Syracuse goal towards the end of second period and suddenly Hershey was down 4-1.

Dany Sabourin has an iffy record in front of the home crowd. It’s nights like this that it’s almost become expected of him when he starts in Hershey. After Syracuse scored their fourth goal, he was pulled. Braden Holtby was able to shut the door the rest of the way.

Keith Aucoin gave the Bears a bigger chance at a comeback when he scored in the third period. His deflection of a Sean Collins shot was able to elude the Syracause goaltender. Sadly, it wouldn’t be enough to power the comeback. Mark French even opted to play with four forwards and one defenseman in the final few minutes of the game, hoping for some last minute offensive magic.

Overall, the Bears threw 47 shots at Timo Pielmeier. Read that again: 47 shots. And only two went in. It should come as no surprise when I tell you that Pielmeier was awarded the number one star of the game.

Call it a hot goalie, call it fatigue, whatever you’d like but the four-game winning streak had to end there. The Bears wrap up 2010 with a loss. The start of the new year means it is time a strong second half to push Hershey to playoffs and help defend the championship. Happy New Year!

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Bears Finally Defeat Penguins with 1-0 Shutout Win

The Bears were looking for their first win against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and boy, did they get a big one.

When this game started, I’m sure everyone involved was anticipating an exciting, action-packed game. After all, the game was being played at Consol Energy Center, where the Pittsburgh Penguins normally play.They sort of got that. I’ll be honest, I thought the first two periods were kind of boring. There were a couple big hits made and both goalies made some stellar saves. But, overall, it didn’t have all the goals and excitement that people expected to see from these rivals.

The first truly exciting moment came when the Bears were on the power play at the very end of the second period. The puck was shot towards the net and it was deflected past Brad Thiessen. The goal was awarded to Keith Aucoin (who was playing his first game since being sent down from Washington), but it looked like a Penguin may have deflected into his own goal.

The third period was when things started heating up. The Bears had to protect a one-goal lead and the Penguins were running on all cylinders and making some amazing offensive plays. There were many close calls in the third period that had all the Hershey fans holding their breath. The Penguins, desperate to not get shut out on such a large stage, were dangerous. But Hershey stepped up to the challenge, even managing to kill of a few poorly timed penalties.

Braden Holtby was the number one star of the game, stopping all 25 shots that he saw. He was able to make clutch saves and shut out the hated rivals in front of the 13,567 fans inside the Consol Energy Center.The Bears set a nice standard for the Capitals to follow when they step out onto Heinz Field on January 1st. Go get ’em.

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Hershey Shames Binghamton in 6-1 Victory


Joel Rechlicz is all smiles after fighting three Bingo Senators in one night. Photo by Kyle M.

Wow…what is there to say about this game?

Before the game, the Washington Capitals called up Keith Aucoin in time to play against the Montreal Canadiens. I admit that I was one of the ones worried about how Hershey would play tonight against the Binghamton Senators. Top line? We don’t need no stinkin’ top line! Hershey put together one of the best offensive efforts we’ve seen all season. Now if I were to actually go into detail about every Hershey goal, this recap would be five miles long.

Basically, Sean Collins started the game off on the right foot with his first goal of the season. Kyle Greentree then scored twice. Dmitri Kugryshev scored a goal and then had a sweet assist on Nikita Kashirsky’s goal (his first goal as a Bear). Zach Miskovic made sure the Senators didn’t escape the second period and scored with 13 seconds left in the period. Six goals, five different goal scorers, eleven different players with points. Good times had by all.

Oh yeah, and the Senators did manage to score once. Dany Sabourin was a bit out of position and they scored just seconds into a power play while Andrew Joudrey was in the box for interference.

The real story of the night? “The Wrecker,” Joel Rechlicz. I’m not sure how many minutes he played exactly (not many), but everyone will remember him tonight. He got a hat trick alright, a hat trick of fights.

Round 1: vs Francis Lessard. You may remember their last bout as the fight that gave Rechlicz the double black eyes. Lessard seemed hesitant to start throwing the punches and kept skating away when Rechlicz would close in on him. Rechlicz had a huge finish with a lot of rights straight to Lessard’s face. Decision: Rechlicz

Round 2: vs Cody Bass. I’m not completely sure this was a wise decision for Bass, who is much smaller than Rechlicz. He picked the fight though and when you ask, you shall receive the fists of fury. Decision: Rechlicz.

Round 3: vs Tim Spencer. This might have been the closest fight of the night. Another marathon fight with two strong guys. But another big finish pushed Rechlicz to the end. Decision: You guessed it, Rechlicz.

Rechlicz received a game misconduct (automatic after three majors). Lessard wanted a rematch and had to settle for fighting Patrick Wellar. However, that was over quickly and Wellar didn’t even have time to actually drop his gloves.

To sum up: Hershey blows Binghamton out of the water with a 6-1 win. The Bears are now 4-1 against the Senators and have outscored them 27 to 9. And Rechlicz now has three enemies on the Senators team. Good night.

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Hershey Takes Down Offensive-Powered Norfolk, 3-1


Steve Pinizzotto’s empty net goal is icing on the cake in the Bears victory over the Admirals. Photo by Kyle Mace

There’s nothing like a good power play goal to get the game rolling. Hershey did just that when the Norfolk Admirals were whistled for a tripping call. Zach Miskovic was able to tip Patrick McNeill‘s shot past Dustin Tokarski on the power play to give Hershey the first lead of the night. The score stayed the same until the second period when Norfolk’s Chris Durno tied it up.

During the second period, Ashton Rome was jumped by Norfolk’s Vladimir Mihalik. At 6 foot 8, Mihalik has the clear size advantage. They were shoving back and forth beforehand but it wasn’t until Rome had his back turned that Mihalik attacked. Rome wrestled back and they both fell to ice. The crowd expressed its disapproval as both were assessed two minute roughing penalties.

While skating 4-on-4, Brian Willsie got tangled up with an Admiral player. The call could have gone either way, but it’s definitely hard to agree with two minors (tripping and roughing) against Willsie for the play. The Bears then had to play four minutes down a man. However, they rose to the occasion and did a great job keeping Norfolk back. And it remained all tied up after two periods.

And that’s how two high-scoring teams ended up starting the third period with a score of 1-1. Keith Aucoin brought the game back under Hershey’s control with a completely innocent shot. He was at the back wall and lightly tapped the puck to be back in front of the net. It some how caromed off of Tokarski himself and found its way into the net.

Steve Pinizzotto topped it off with an empty net goal and Hershey beat the Norfolk Admirals 3-1. It’s a big two points against a very strong team. It’s a game like this that gives a team a lot of confidence.

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Bears Pummel Checkers With 6-3 Win

Bears pummel Checkers with 6-3 win

This evening the Hershey Bears took on the Charlotte Checkers. If you weren’t at this game or listening to it…you missed out. Oh boy.

The first period seemed innocent enough. Brian Willsie opened scoring on the power play. Kyle Greentree, returning from injury, got the primary assist. A minute later, Greentree himself would pot a goal, his 11th overall, during a 4-on-4. Tim Leone and John Walton have dubbed him the “Checker Killer.” Incredibly fitting as that goal was his 5th goal in 4 games against the Checkers. Charlotte seemed to gather some momentum in the second period. They scored 95 seconds into the period to cut Hershey’s lead in half.

But it was Brian Fahey‘s goal in the middle of period that changed the game. Checkers goaltender Justin Pogge immediately argued the goal, though we’re not sure why exactly. He stormed out of the crease, shoving Trevor Bruess to the ice before arguing with the refs. He was immediately given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty…but he kept arguing. He stormed around the ice, yelling at the ref and pushing the goal over. Talk about a temper tantrum. After getting a misconduct and game misconduct for abuse of officials, he left the ice but not before breaking his stick into two pieces. Kyle has some great photos of the entire sequence below. Be sure to check them out.

With Mike Murphy in net, the Checkers had to regroup. In the final few moments of the second period, Keith Aucoin scored his 200th AHL career goal. This milestone was delayed a little bit due to his knee injury but better late than never. Big congratulations to Coiner! He also scored his 201st goal during the third period on a rebound shot.

Despite getting another two goals in the third period, the Checkers could not overcome Hershey’s lead. Boyd Kane eventually ended the game with a goal in the last minute. The Bears go into the holiday break with a 6-3 victory. Rest up, boys. Happy Holidays!

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Breakaway goals help Phantoms defeat Bears 3-1

Tonight was a big night for the Bears. In the midst of injuries and call-ups, Keith Aucoin returned after missing 16 games due to a knee injury. Additionally, Patrick McNeill made his season debut after having shoulder surgery during the offseason. They were facing the struggling Adirondack Phantoms, who were looking for only their fifth win of the season.

The game started off on the right foot with a power play goal by Brian Willsie. Aucoin got the primary assist and looked to be back in his element.

During the first period, Sheldon Souray chased after a puck with Matt Clackson and fell funny on his leg. He had to be helped off the ice and never returned to the game. Ironically, the last injury Souray had also involved Clackson after he injured his hand in the now infamous fight.

It was during the second period that the wheels started to fall off. After losing Souray in the first period, Dylan Yeo then made the fateful trip down the tunnel. He too never returned to the game.

After getting called for one penalty too many, the Phantoms scored their first goal of the night on the power play. Exactly one and a half minutes later, Phantom Shane Harper capitalized on a blue line turnover and scored his first ever AHL goal on a breakaway. I hate to admit it but it was a really nice goal.

Despite a handful of power plays in the third period, the Bears could not find the back of the net. Adirondack’s Denis Hamel scored his second goal of the night on a breakaway after Dany Sabourin was, once again, left out to dry. It’s worth noting that Hamel’s goal was his 300th career goal, which is pretty impressive. Phantoms take this one 3-1.

And so Hershey finishes their four-game road trip with two wins and two losses. They return home tomorrow to play the Providence Bruins at Giant Center.

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