HERSHEY, PA – Emerson Etem scores his first of two goals for Norfolk in their 5-1 win over the Hershey Bears (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
It’s one of the most awaited games each season by the fans, and Saturday night it finally arrived. The Hershey Bears took on the Norfolk Admirals in the annual Teddy Bear Toss Night. Emerson Etem tallied two goals for Norfolk in a 5-1 win over Hershey.
HERSHEY, PA – Garrett Mitchell scores his second goal of the game (Tim Stough – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
A night after being ruffed up in Syracuse, New York, the Hershey Bears returned home looking to snap a three-game win-less streak against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Ryan Potulny, returning from injury played his first game at Giant Center since the home opener on October 20. Potulny failed to tally a point in front of his home town crowd, but the Bears beat the Penguins for the third consecutive game, 4-1.
HERSHEY, PA – Dany Sabourin works out during training camp (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
Entering into Friday, the Binghamton Senators carried in a 2-0 season record. Although it is only week two, the B-Sens find themselves in a position they haven’t been in often the past three seasons, despite winning Calder in 2011: Top of the East Division Standings. Dany Sabourin and the Hershey Bears entered the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena for the first time this season, looking to spoil the party.
With the Hershey Bears season coming to a close, most Bears fans will be putting all of their focus on the NHL playoffs. One of those teams left in the NHL playoffs are the Washington Capitals, the Bears affiliate. Monday night the Capitals will face off against the New York Rangers in game two of their series, but you could see some recalls before that. Those recalls are called “Black Aces,” named after holding the “Dead Man’s Hand” (two black aces) in a game of poker. So who could some of those “Black Aces” be?
Robert Bortuzzo jumps into the celebration pile after the Penguin’s second goal (All photos by Kyle Mace)
After a rough start to the series, the Hershey Bears came back and won back to back game to send the series back to Wilkes-Barre. After a good first period, the Bears gave up two goals in seven seconds to the Baby Pens to drop the series in five game, losing by a score of 2-1.
Bears Graham Mink (left) and Zach Miskovic (right) celebrate with Cameron Schilling after Schilling’s goal during Friday’s game (Photo by Kyle Mace)
There was a confidence among the Hershey Bears that we hadn’t seen in quite a while, on Friday night. It was a resolve to show their fans and themselves that this team wasn’t about to let the season end, as easily as it looked to be ending after the first two games of the series. The Bears beat the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins on Friday night 4-1 to even the best of five series at two games each.
Ryan Potulny (left) celebrates his GWOTG with teammates Graham Mink (center) and Boyd Kane (Photo by Kyle Mace)
The Hershey Bears came into tonight’s game one loss from elimination and having their 2012 Calder Cup hopes come to a crashing ending. A loss would also be the first time in 46 years the Bears have been swept in a three game, first round series with the last happening in 1966. But after tonight’s game, we will have to wait until year 47 to see if that happens.
The Bears came out to a quick start, scoring 2 goals, but having Wilkes-Barre go toe-to-toe with them and tie it up ever time Hershey would take the lead, but when you go to overtime, you cannot come back and tie it up. And that is exactly what happened tonight. After 60 minutes of play, all Hershey would need is another 2:57 to cut Wilkes-Barre’s two game lead in half and stay alive in the Calder Cup playoffs, after a 4-3 win over the Baby Pens.
Tuesday night at the Harrisburg Senators game, Bears players Julien Brouillette, Andrew Carroll, Tomas Kundratek, and Garrett Mitchell participated in a dizzy bat race. If you have never seen a dizzy bat race, it is where you set a bat on the ground, spin around it 10 times, and then run to a finish line.
Many guys were at the Senators game, including Chris Bourque, who threw out the first pitch to teammate Boyd Kane.
Photos from the guy’s Twitter’s below the jump
The penultimate game of the regular season: Hershey Bears on the road versus Manchester Monarchs.
There were four goals to talk about during the first period; unfortunately only one of them belonged to the Bears. Richard Clune started off the night by deflecting the puck off of his foot. Ryan Potulny tied it up with yet another power play goal from him. He’s pretty good at those. But Monarchs scored two more times on Daren Machesney. A shorthanded goal and a five-hole goal made it 3-1 Monarchs after twenty minutes.
The former Captain and current Captain take a ceremonial face-off before the game.
So, this is it. We’re down to the final weekend of the regular season. First up: the Portland Pirates and the familiar faces of Ashton Rome and the Mayor of Chocolatetown, Dean Arsene. Here we go: Kyle Greentree started off the scoring with a shorthanded tally halfway through the first period. But the Pirates tied it up by the end of twenty minutes by scoring on a heavily screened Daren Machesney.