HERSHEY, PA – Sharks players celebrate their goal in front of goalie Braden Holtby during Hershey’s 2-1 loss to Worcester (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
A night after a deflating loss to the Senators, the Hershey Bears looked to rebound back against the Worcester Sharks. Three weeks ago, the Sharks handed Hershey their only shootout loss of the 2012-13 season to date. Sunday the Bears looked to overcome a two goal deficit in the third period, but fell to the Sharks, 2-1.
Jon Matsumoto scores the game winning shootout goal on Braden Holtby (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
Although the Hershey Bears have won four games in the month of December, all the victories have been coming on the road. Saturday night, Hershey returned to Giant Center with plans of home cooking against the Worcester Sharks. In the first shootout this season at Giant Center, the Bears again fell short in front of their home crowd of 10,075, by a 4-3 margin.
The last game of the season. Let’s recap this game against the Worchester Sharks so we can all rest up before the start of playoffs on Friday.
In a move that not many people would have seen coming, new signeeBarry Almeida scored the first goal of the game! The former Boston College Eagle and cousin of T.J. Syner only needed two minutes and 57 seconds to score his first professional goal. A few minutes later, the Yanni Gourde of the Sharks tied it up but Andrew Carroll regained Hershey’s lead only twelve seconds later with his first goal of the season.
Welcome to the first ever “Snapshots!” A look back at a week in photos. A new weekly feature we are starting here on Sweetest Hockey. Every Monday afternoon, we will help kill those Monday blues with 15-20 photos taken during pre-game warm-ups and during the game, including photos that did not make the game recap cut. So without further ado, I give you “Snapshots”
The Sharks bite the Bears with this game tying, last minute goal (Photo by Kyle Mace)
After two consecutive one goal victories, the Hershey Bears were on the edge of a third straight win Saturday night at Giant Center. But a penalty and one shootout goal were the difference between one and two points for the Bears against the Worcester Sharks.
Thankfully for Willsie, Stalock wasn’t playing tonight but that didn’t mean that this game would be any easier.
All was well at first. The Bears were putting some good shots on goal and even got the early lead. It was none other than Dmitry Orlov who gave the Bears the lead, scoring his first career AHL goal. It was a hard shot from the face-off circle that goaltender Tyson Sexsmith couldn’t handle. Orlov has been paired with Sheldon Souray for four games now. Between the pure skill, the physicality, and the hard shots, that pairing has to put some fear in the opposing teams. I definitely would not want to be facing down those guys.
However, the Sharks tied it up in the same period. The Sharks were attacking and the Bears couldn’t clear the zone. After a couple of quick shots, Nolan Schaefer tried his best but couldn’t stop the last shot and Worcester scored.
During the second period, the Bears badly outshot the Sharks 16 to 7. Unfortunately, it was the Sharks who came ahead though. The Sharks killed off a Hershey 5-on-3 power play and then scored in the minutes afterwards. It was a bit of a fluky goal as Brandon Mashinter flung the puck towards the goal and it tipped off Schaefer and into the net.
The third period saw the Bears on the wrong side of a 5-on-3. Boyd Kane and Ashton Rome were whistled for penalties and the Worcester didn’t miss the opportunity. With two Bears in the box, the Sharks scored. There was a glimmer of hope later on when Rome dished out a perfect pass to Maxime Lacroix who backhanded it past Sexsmith. It wouldn’t be enough to push the Bears to victory and they lose 3-2.
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.
