Photo courtesy of hersheybears.com and JustSports Photography UPDATE (01/26/2011 1:20 PM) Tonight's game against Springfield has been postponed until 7:00 p.m. on Thursday night. Due to the weather conditions today, please make sure that you check the official Hershey Bears…
Dany Sabourin gets some well-deserved congratulations. Photo by Kyle Mace
It took a whole period for the Hershey Bears to wake up in their game against the Adirondack Phantoms. Maybe they were feeling a little lethargic on their third game in three days. On the other side, the Phantoms were looking even more tired due to all their traveling in the past few days.
The Bears made up for the goal-less first period. Francois Bouchard started the Bears off with a beautiful top shelf snipe against Michael Leighton. A few minutes later, Patrick Wellar scored on a shot from the blue line. Andrew Gordon topped off the period with a goal, the whole time fighting off a Phantom who was watching him closely.
Adirondack ended the shutout with a goal on the power play with Tyler Sloan was in the box for interference.
Thankfully, Sheldon Souray, playing his first game back from his most recent lower body injury, made up for it later. Phantom Stefan Legein absorbed the entire blow of Souray’s first bomb of a shot. As he struggled to get up, the puck returned to Souray and this time no one was willing to block it the second time and he found the back of the net. David de Kastrozza, playing only his second AHL game, got the primary assist and his very first AHL point!
Brian Willsie scored on the power play to make the final score 5-1 Hershey.
Dany Sabourin has taken a lot of criticism for his play this season. As such, I feel more than obligated to give credit where credit is due. Not only did he play three games in three days, not only did he win all three games, he played damn good. He even stopped a penalty shot late in the third period. Throughout the weekend, he stopped 78 of 83 shots. I think the decision to play him all three days is a show of support from the coaches. If anyone deserves a lot of rest tomorrow, it’s Sabourin.
These players deserve a lot of credit. Hopefully they will wrap up the homestand with a win against the Springfield Falcons on Wednesday.
Now that 2010 has officially come a close, we here at SHOE thought we would present our Top 11 Hershey Bear moments of the 2010 calandar year. Why eleven? Well… think about it.
This past weekend was a very festive one at Giant Center. Most people already know about the, er, distinctive holiday jerseys they wore during Sunday’s trumping of the Charlotte Checkers. But if you were at the game this weekend, you may have seen another way they got in the Christmas spirit: by decorating ornaments.
It is a tradition involving the wives and girlfriends that dates back to 2003 for Hershey. Out on the concourse, a table displayed the artistic talents (or lack thereof) of our very own Hershey Bears. Each of the players were given a plain glass bulb and free rein to decorate it as they wish. The results involve a lot of sharpie art, glitter, and tinsel. With each player putting a twist on their ornament, you can really see a fun side of the players come out.
In addition to the individual ornaments, the team also signed over a hundred extra ornaments to sell. As for the one-of-a-kind decorations, they were auctioned off to the highest bidder.
After the cut, see pictures and a video of some of these original ornaments and the unique ways the players chose to adorn them.
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!
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.
Patrick Wellar pushes Jacob Micflikier to the ice. Photo by Checkers SmugMug.
After Friday’s game against the Charlotte Checkers, we were happy for the win but still hoping to see some players return to bolster the line-up. Instead, we lost Phil Oreskovic and, more importantly, leading scorer Andrew Gordon. Oreskovic didn’t play after getting injured in the last game. Gordon was called up to Washington before the game and joined the Capitals in New York for their game aginst the Rangers tonight. Returning from his one game suspension, Steve Pinizzotto took over Gordon’s spot on the top line.
The Charlotte Checkers put the Bears in an early hole today. Three quick goals within the first nine minutes made it 3-0 in favor of the Checkers before you could blink. The only shining moment of the first period was Jay Beagle‘s short-handed goal that finally put Hershey on the board. That goal was Beagle’s fourth short-handed goal of the season. I can’t talk about this enough. He now has more short-handed goals than even strength goals.
During the second period, the Bears were able to cut Charlotte’s lead down to one on the power play. Sheldon Souray scored his first ever goal as a Bear on a blistering one-timer. I’m sure you’d expect nothing less from Souray.
Mark French decided to stick with Braden Holtby in goal. After letting in three goals on six shots, Holtby was able to steady himself and shut the door for…almost the rest of the game. It started to really go downhill when the Checkers scored on a 5-on-3 during the third period. They got another goal when Holtby decided to play with the puck outside of his crease with a lot of traffic around him. One of the reasons we love Holtby is his aggressive style and his puck handling. But today he was making a lot of questionable decisions outside of his crease and eventually it caught up with him. He went to play the puck and turned it over to the Checkers who scored on the practically empty net.
That was pretty much the dagger for the Bears. The game did end on a high note though as Lawrence Nycholat scored his fourth goal of season in the final minutes of the game. But Hershey seemed to accept their 5-3 loss to the Charlotte Checkers. Hey, Keith Aucoin, how is your knee feeling?
Braden Holtby pushes Zach Boychuk down after Boychuk gets a little too close. Photo by Kyle M.
While the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals battled two hours away, their farm teams were playing a game of their own.
Sunday is Mathieu Perreault‘s day. Thanks to John Walton’s mention, I looked up Perreault’s stats for every Sunday game he has played in Hershey. He has at least one point in all five Sunday games that he played. In the past three Sunday games, he has at least two points, including the night of his six assists. Tonight was no exception. He scored the only two goals for Hershey that would sadly go to waste.
Thanks to Perreault, the Bears had an early lead against the Charlotte Checkers. The lead would hold until the beginning of the second period when a funny bounce went over Braden Holtby‘s shoulder to tie the game.
After Perreault’s second goal, a controversial penalty shot went down that left people scratching their heads. Replays later showed that it was the result of a questionable hook by Sheldon Souray. It was definitely a penalty, not so much worth a penalty shot. Nevertheless, Jacob Micflikier beat Holtby and tied the game once again. Just a few seconds later, the Checkers then took their first lead of the game with a funny shot. Former Bear, Oskar Osala was credited with the goal that would prove to the game winner.
During the third period, a scrum erupted in front of Holtby. He appeared to take a puck to the wrist but that didn’t stop him from leaving his crease to take down Zach Boychuk. Holtby received a two minute roughing penalty that created an uproar of cheers from the Hershey fans.
It may not have been the greatest idea to leave Holtby in goal. He seemed to have some problems with his hand. He also let in two goals within four minutes of each other. The first goal came right at the end of the Hershey power play and the second goal came on the Charlotte power play.
And so the Charlotte Checkers beat the Hershey Bears 5-2. Here’s hoping Holtby heals quickly. We only just got him back!
Dmitri Kugryshev is all smiles after he scores his first career AHL goal! Photo by Kyle M.
The Adirondack Phantoms came into tonight’s game with just three wins in the season. But, for the first few minutes, they were standing strong against Hershey. The last thing the Bears needed was a loss to the last place team to kill their swagger.
Boyd Kane drew first blood late in the first period. Andrew Gordon later scored on the power play when he deflected a Kyle Greentree shot. Gordon leads the league in goals (with 15) and in points (with 29). After Gordon’s goal, Phantoms goaltender Johan Backlund was helped to the bench with seemingly a lower body injury. Nic Riopel replaced him in goal and there was no looking back.
Big congratulations to Dmitry Kugryshev who scored Hershey’s third goal of the game and his first career AHL goal! It’s been a long time coming for Kugryshev. Every game he seems to be getting more and more playing time and deservedly so. Mark French even tried mixing the lines up a little and playing Kugryshev on the top line with Gordon and Mathieu Perreault. Kugryshev’s confidence was through the roof for the rest of game. He’s a talented guy and is bound to be a serious threat once he fully adjusts to AHL life.
Hershey helped maintain their lead by scoring 32 seconds into the third period. It was Kane’s second goal of the night. Kane just loves playing against the Phantoms. He always seems to love harassing his former team.
The story of the night though is Braden Holtby‘s triumphant return to Hershey. After a fairly long call-up in Washington, he came back and took his rightful spot as the #1 goalie for the Bears. He stopped 28 of 28 shots and some of them were doozies. He seemed as comfortable as ever as Bears defeat Phantoms 4-0.
Hershey remains undefeated since the closed door meeting on Wednesday night. Like I said in the last recap, hopefully this is the start of a better, more consistent season.
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.
