Huge Comeback Win, Big Test for Perfection 3/3

Good morning BEARS fans!

A little extra hot tea is on my breakfast menu today, after sleeping with the heat on too high – but mostly after watching a 2-1 third-period deficit, with 2:40 left to play, turn into a 3-2 regulation victory over the Norfolk Admirals last night in front of 10,502 at the GC.

I have to say, that was the best response I have seen from the team and its fans.  Only a small number of people decided that it might be best to beat the traffic out of the lot, or head home to take care of needed late chores.  I saw a few return from the hallways after Ryan Stoa’s incredible, near-impossible tying goal with 2:33 left on the clock.

Then I saw everybody standing when Ryan Potulny provided the heroics with 45.1 seconds on the clock.

Then I couldn’t see the players celebrating because of the bedlam in the stands… which is okay by me, believe me!

It was indeed a nice way to finish a tough night behind the microphone.  I’ll be the first to admit mistakes…and it felt like I was just going to put out a whole bunch in the opening period alone.  First, I had guessed – after watching two scoreboard-version replays (can’t WAIT until we can upgrade ours at the GC) – that Josh Brittain’s goal was not going to be awarded 3:20 into the game when referee Nic Leduc headed to the scorer’s table to take a look.  WRONG.  Brittain’s stuff attempt from behind the right post had just the right angle to allow a millimeter of white paint to appear between the puck and goal line, right before Kevin Marshall tucked it out the other side.  It was almost a great save.  No one could see the puck cross without a look at the overhead camera.  Good goal.

I then immediately thought Dan Sexton (#23) was getting credit for it.  A lapse of five seconds, my focus on where the puck was, and the fact that I saw a “3″ on the jersey took my memory completely away from the fact that Brittain (#13) was the one who grabbed Sexton’s short pass and scored.

Awful start for the radio guy.  But I digress.

The next goal was easy to follow.  Garrett Mitchell lifted a backhander over Igor Bobkov just 1:53 into the second period to tie the game.  The whole thing wouldn’t have happened had Stoa not tipped a puck around defenseman Jordan Hendry to spring Mitchell and Peter LeBlanc two-on-one.  That’s called making the shot count, as the BEARS were in the midst of another shot struggle after being outshot 10-6 in the first period.

The Admirals re-claimed their lead early in the third, on a goal that was not without controversy.  Looking at the replay of this goal, we see Brittain chip a shot on Philipp Grubauer from the right side, and then players just start rolling toward his crease.  One was Garrett Mitchell, who plowed into Grubauer and rendered him unable to make a save on Troy Bodie’s follow-up chance.  Originally (again) I guessed incorrectly that there might be some kind of interference – but it couldn’t have been, since it was a BEARS player that toppled over Grubauer.

However…Mitchell only plows Grubauer after Brittain shoved him.  And he shoved him immediately after delivering an elbow to the face of Julien Brouillette.  Watch in regular time and then watch the close-up replay at 2:09 of this video.  Hardly a “clean” way to drive to the net.  We were all irate of course, but for the wrong reason.  That elbow was very subtle to those from far away.

Karma eventually comes into play, however.  With time ticking down and the BEARS down by one, Stoa scores a goal that anyone else who was standing there throwing the puck underhand-style couldn’t do.  Watch the video at the 2:37 mark.  His face after the celebration says it all.

Many in the crowd had the same face after watching Potulny get the job done inside the final minute.  A classic, clean way to hunt down a loose puck and flip it home.

A big win against a very good opponent who has been playing good hockey with an edge.

Now comes the biggest task of the weekend.  The BEARS face the AHL leaders at 5:00 today.  The Syracuse Crunch are owners of the top offense in the league, having scored 192 goals.  However, the Crunch have only scored one goal in each of their last two games, both at home.  The team lost 3-1 to the surging Albany Devils on Friday, then dropped an overtime decision 2-1 to the Rochester Americans last night – after taking a late penalty to award the Amerks a power play.

This team is NOT coming to Chocolatetown happy nor satisfied.  Look for a desperate drive in the Syracuse lineup and look for heavy pressure – and speed.  Syracuse has it all.  The BEARS will need their best to beat the best.  If they do, it’s a 6-point weekend – and it’s the first time all year that the team has a chance to win three in a row at home.

Game notes, complete with other tidbits, are here.

Puck drops at 5:00.  See you here.

GO BEARS!!!!

-Stucc

Recapping a Big Win; Admirals at BEARS 3/2

Good morning everyone!

Opportunistic.

That is the word of the day, and was the word to best describe how the BEARS snagged a huge two points from their arch rivals last night in northeastern PA.

Seven shots, three goals.  One tally led to another, and then another, and then penalty trouble for the hosts, and then another goal.  The sequence of events left the Mohegan Sun Arena crowd (except the many HERSHEY faithful) stunned and angry.  The crowd cheered when goaltender Brad Thiessen was replaced by Jeff Zatkoff.

But, in his defense – it wasn’t his fault.

The BEARS were playing like a team possessed.  First, Boyd Kane scored on a highlight-reel backhander from the side of Thiessen’s crease just two seconds after the expiration of a HERSHEY power play.  Jeff Taffe also scored on a backhand – but his came off of a give-and-go with Jon DiSalvatore – passing that ultimately moved the defense enough and pulled Thiessen side-to-side too much.  Then came Ryan Potulny’s accurate shot off of the right goal post off a Casey Wellman feed.  Video replay was consulted to be sure the puck crossed the plane, and the goal was correctly allowed.

Enter Zatkoff, enter the Penguins.

Tom Kostopoulous forced a puck over home for a power-play marker, keeping defenseman Kevin Marshall from helping Dany Sabourin make another split-second save on the goal line.  3-1 BEARS with one period complete.

The game was all Penguins from there.

The BEARS would be outshot, officially anyway, 16-2 in the middle stanza.  Unofficially, the BEARS were gypped of three shots on goal.  Anyone who watches the entire archive video will see it.  But it didn’t matter.  The Penguins were the faster and more tenacious team.  Joey Mormina takes a slap shot through traffic that drops in off of the crossbar at 7:37, and the Penguins deficit was cut to one.

The BEARS were opportunistic in the first period.  The Penguins, after Mormina’s goal, were not. 

Sabourin stole the show from there, ending the night with 32 saves – his best coming on a stop of Jayson Megna’s rebound chance of a Bobby Farnham shot late in the third – to preserve the win.  Sabourin also showed some guts in throwing his blocker hand out to protect himself, as well as the pucks that he had covered, as the Penguins were taking every chance they had to crash the net and stir up emotions.  Steve Oleksy dropped Kostopoulos with some hard rights in a net-front scrap with 16.5 seconds left.  The entire scrum that followed was apparently started by the hosts, because the ensuing faceoff came out to neutral ice, allowing the BEARS to kill the remaining time against six attackers.

Sabourin won his first start since February 5 at Lake Erie to improve to 8-8-3.  And, in my opinion, was completely overlooked for one of the game’s stars.

The BEARS won the season series – with one game left to play – moving up to a mark of 7-2-2-0 against the Penguins.  The win also moved the BEARS to within one point of the Penguins for third place in the East Division and 6th place in the Eastern Conference, with the BEARS holding one game in hand.

Now it’s back home.  The Norfolk Admirals are here.  And this team means business, having won seven of their last 10 games.  The team also turned a 2-0 deficit into a 6-2 victory last night, at home, against the Charlotte Checkers.  Peter Holland, who scored against the BEARS on February 10, had a hat trick in the game.  Remember what happened on February 10, by the way?  The BEARS were down 3-0 and two men, with less than two minutes to play in the second period.  That was all wiped out on a Barry Almeida goal and two strikes from Ryan Potulny.  Then came the shootout – and the comeback fell short by a point.

Expect to see Philipp Grubauer back between the pipes for the BEARS tonight.  Potulny is on a three-game goal streak, and has six goals in his last eight games.  Wellman’s assist gives him points in six straight (3-6-9).  The BEARS offense has now put up 31 goals in the past 10 games (3.1 goals/game).  Boyd Kane is one goal shy of 100 for his HERSHEY career, and four points shy of 500 in his AHL tenure.

And there are only eight games left to play at GIANT Center in the regular season, beginning with tonight.

Hope to see you here.  Visit this link for tonight’s game notes.

GO BEARS!!

-Stucc

Big Weekend Begins Big Month: BEARS at Penguins

Hello BEARS fans!

It is hard to believe that it’s time to look back at the month of February, but here we are, readying for the home stretch of the AHL season.

For the BEARS, finishing the month with just two regulation losses would have been great.  However, the down side is the loss of four points in games that went beyond regulation.  The final tally for the month, in 11 games, was 5-2-1-3.

Points-wise, December was the best of the 2012-13 campaign for the Chocolate and White (15).  February was a close second (14).  But looking at the Eastern Conference standings, and recalling a really interesting and sensible mention about a “.550 win percentage playoff benchmark” by Patriot-News writer Tim Leone, the BEARS still need points – and this weekend would be a huge start.

Courtesy JustSports Photography

Let’s begin with tonight’s matchup.  After this one is over, the BEARS and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will have played 32 times since the October 2011 pre-season.  (No wonder fans comment about being tired of seeing the same team over and over again!)  But, for the love of the game, this rivalry is the best in the league and just cannot be topped.  The game will feature one team that hasn’t played since Sunday (BEARS) and the other fresh off of a loss to the Norfolk Admirals on Wednesday.  One team has scored 16 goals in their last five games (BEARS) and the other, seven.  One team is 6-2-2-0 in the season series (BEARS).

Who would appear to have the advantage?

It should be the visitors.

Perhaps the most glaring statistic to back this up is the fact that the Penguins – owners of a very respectible 15-11-2-1 record on home ice – have only scored a total of four goals in their last four games at Mohegan Sun Arena.  It’s a good thing that head coach John Hynes’ club plays a stifling defense, because the team has needed to win a bunch of low-scoring games (much like during the Adam Oates co-coaching era here in HERSHEY earlier in the season).

If your guess is that tonight ends up a one-goal contest, so is mine – with battles all night long like in the picture above.  But I have a feeling the offense of both clubs just might get their chances.

On the BEARS goaltending front, Brandon Anderson remains with the club.  Philipp Grubauer has returned from his Capitals NHL debut.  Dany Sabourin never went anywhere, and is fine since taking a puck off of the forehead while backing up on Saturday at GIANT Center. 

Three goaltenders are currently on the BEARS roster.  With Reading still in sunny Florida trying to bounce back from a 1-0 loss to the Orlando Solar Bears in their Saturday rematch; with the distance/cost/turnaround/burden of travel that would loom for Anderson; and with the fact that Reading signed Orlando native Curt Peterson to back up Riley Gill, it made no sense to send him back to the Royals just yet.

Puck drop is at 7:05PM and pre-game hits the air at 6:25PM.  Game notes are available here.

The team returns home for a matchup with the surging Admirals on Saturday and the league-leading and always-tough Syracuse Crunch on Sunday.

GO BEARS!!!

-Stucc

Another Three Points; Goalie Anyone??

Philipp Grubauer makes a blocker save, one of his 40 in his first AHL shutout on Saturday, 2/23 against Adirondack. Photo courtesy JustSports Photography.

Following a third consecutive weekend of picking up half of the available points (three out of six) – one in which the offense has finally heated up – the defensive side of things could look a bit different for the BEARS, when it comes time for the team’s three games this weekend.

Following the news that the Capitals recalled the second player in as many days from Chocolatetown – this time, goaltender Philipp Grubauer – nothing but questions have been coming up from fans of the BEARS and Reading Royals.

Let’s rewind a bit and follow the sequence of events that only a lockout-shortened NHL season can cause among an organization’s goaltenders.

1) Sergey Kostenko is recalled by HERSHEY last Friday.  This led to an outpouring of tweets from fans who asked about the condition of Grubauer and Dany Sabourin.  Both were fine.  It turned out that the Russian-born netminder was recalled only to be loaned to the Ontario Reign.  He’s done well there – posting a 2-1-0 record – but as of the time of this writing, I can’t even fathom a guess as to why a Capitals draft selection is playing for another ECHL team right now.  No clue.

(Within this transaction and away from the goaltender discussion was the third reassignment of the month for forward T.J. Syner.  Reading has been short on forwards lately and Syner has played his best with the black and purple.)

2) Grubauer makes 40 saves en route to his first AHL shutout on Saturday over the Adirondack Phantoms.  But it is Dany Sabourin that is injured when a puck - that was cleared by the Phantoms from their defensive zone – whizzed past defenseman Steve Oleksy and forward Casey Wellman, over the head of assistant coach Troy Mann and right off of the forehead of Sabourin who was sitting on the bench in backup role.  ‘Beaker’ Stuck flew over to Sabou to apply a towel and then get him to the locker room to be stitched up.  Worries of a furthered head injury are always immediate after seeing something like that, but Sabourin returned to practice on Tuesday of this week with no ill effects.

3) Brandon Anderson is recalled from Reading to back up Grubauer in Atlantic City on Sunday.  Not too many fans heard what happened to Sabourin during Saturday night’s game, so again, there was speculation. 

4) More questions arose when Frederic Cassivi came out of retirement to tend goal for the Reading Royals on Sunday.  No Anderson in Reading meant no experienced goaltender for the Royals.  Check the official game sheet if you still don’t believe it…and the official release.  And these pictures, all courtesy of the Reading Royals:

 

SO thrilled for this great guy…especially after his busy weekend as one of the Alumni goaltenders during Outdoor Classic weekend.

5) Grubauer earns his first NHL recall today.  The number one star of the game on Saturday has now gone from the ECHL to the AHL to the NHL in eight weeks, due to an illness to goaltender Michal Neuvirth.  Look for him in the red, white and blue tonight backing up Braden Holtby against the Philadelphia Flyers.  No moments make me more proud than watching a player, whom I had a chance to call one of his “firsts”, make it to the NHL.

Sabourin, by the way, is fine.  He practiced solidly for the past two days at HERSHEYPARK Arena.  Grubauer’s return – as well as another Brandon Anderson recall – will obviously depend on how quickly Michal Neuvirth recovers from illness.  In the meantime, Cassivi was tabbed to help out at practice once again today, because even if the BEARS wanted Anderson here, he and the Royals are in sunny Florida for the week.

And with all of this going on, here I sit – having only been called by men’s league captains at Klick Lewis Arena and Twin Ponds.  I guess that’s where this over-the-hill has-been is destined.  I also wonder how we could possibly work on getting an AHL team in the Sunshine State….

Post-Game: Senators 5, BEARS 4 (SO)

I’ll start with the question that I’ve asked numerous times before:

Are you sick of the shootout yet?

I also commented – more than twice during last night’s TV broadcast of the BEARS’ 5-4 setback to the Binghamton Senators – that I STILL would despise the shootout if the good guys were 12-0 in them this season.  But I’ll stop there before I take up the entire allotted megabytes that I have for this blog.

Ignoring the shootout, the BEARS played roughly 47 minutes of excellent hockey in the first three periods.  The first two were excellent.  The BEARS forced turnover after turnover and looked to be in command of a Senators team that had not won on home ice since January 26.  Goaltender Nathan Lawson, getting the start after Robin Lehner’s recall to Ottawa earlier in the day, kept his team in the game with several key saves early on.  But it would be another giveaway that ultimately would lead to the BEARS striking first.  After the Sens gave the puck away high in their own end, Steve Oleksy and Patrick McNeill combined to work a good chance from the left circle.  McNeill’s shot was challenged and stopped by Lawson, but Jeff Taffe – who I feel had his best game of the season, and not just because he hit the score sheet – swooped in, grabbed the rebound and scored on a wraparound.

The BEARS again appeared to be in control.  Until the ever-popular cliche “hockey is a game of bad bounces” came into play in the period’s final minute.  Darren Kramer of the Senators would fire a shot toward the left faceoff circle – about 10 feet off target, unless he was doing this on purpose.  His shot hit a BEARS defenseman in the pants, deflected to the right, off of Taffe who was stationed in front, and in behind Dany Sabourin.  That’s enough to rattle anybody.  Things happen quickly on the smaller ice surface at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, but nothing happened more quickly, it seemed, than Binghamton’s tying goal.

If that wasn’t bad enough, on an entry into the BEARS zone just over a half minute later, veteran defenseman Brett Lebda got a shot off from the left circle.  Sabourin had to thrust out his right pad through traffic to get the puck.  But the rebound went right to the low slot, where Wacey Hamilton (great hockey name) chipped it home.

Reminiscent of the lucky-goaltending story of Hamilton Bulldogs’ backstop Robert Mayer just one week earlier, here was a period that the visitors SHOULD have led at least 2-1 or 3-1.  Instead, first intermission comes with the team down 2-1.

Make it 3-1 just 2:40 into the second, after the BEARS continued a parade to the penalty box.  Stephane Da Costa, reassigned from Ottawa earlier in the day, turned and sent what turned out to be a perfect wrist-shot-pass to Cole Schneider, who redirected the puck past Sabourin.

The BEARS penalty kill would be tested 10 times during the game, but Schneider’s goal would be the only man-advantage strike.  A 9-for-10 penalty kill should be enough confidence to turn things around.  The BEARS stopped the bleeding and although unable to score in the second period, were down by only two going into the third.

The BEARS, entering the game 0-16-0-1 when trailing after two, put forth a superb effort in the third – except for a span of about 25 seconds.  And they would do it facing backup netminder Marc Cheverie, summoned from Elmira hours earlier.  (Still have no clue as to why Lawson left, but if it is due to injury, the Senators organization is going to have a huge issue.)  After Peter LeBlanc scored his first goal in a HERSHEY sweater against Cheverie, which was a beauty as you will see on AHL Live’s free highlights, the BEARS were handed a power play and a chance to tie the game.

But going on the power play against Binghamton doesn’t bother the Senators one bit.  With a league-leading 14 shorthanded goals scored this season, the hosts would make it 15 on a giveaway at the offensive blue line by HERSHEY.  Jean-Gabriel Pageau – who tallied the last shorthanded goal allowed by the BEARS – had Dustin Gazley with him on a two-on-one.  The two played catch until Gazley finally finished the job by beating Sabourin from in close.  4-2 Senators.

The one thing that has changed about the BEARS in recent weeks is their ability to battle back late in games.  The team would shake off that shorty and score off of the ensuing faceoff.  Upon entry into the Binghamton end, McNeill set up Taffe for a blast from the slot that cleanly eluded Cheverie over the glove.

Count down another 4 1/2 minutes, and the BEARS nailed the equalizer on a nice rebound cash-in by Jon DiSalvatore.  His goal put him in sole possession of the BEARS’ lead in lamp-lighters (14) and power-play goals (eight).  It capped off a bittersweet few days for DiSalvatore, who left the team for two days to attend his grandmother’s funeral earlier in the week.

Overtime wasn’t kind to the BEARS, but it was where Sabourin played his best goaltending of the game.  Outshot 9-2, the BEARS would get to the shootout thanks in large part by two huge saves on Lebda in the final two seconds.

It’s no secret that the shootout hasn’t been kind to the BEARS.  In their ninth one of the campaign, Da Costa and Louie Caporusso beat Sabourin, while Cheverie turned aside three of four (Garrett Stafford lost control of his opportunity and didn’t get a shot on net).

And that’s the story.  The saving grace is that, for standings purposes later in the season, regulation-vs.-shootout wins is a big positioner.  We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks.

The BEARS now get set to entertain an Adirondack Phantoms team that couldn’t hold a 1-0 third-period lead inside a packed Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  The Penguins’ win pushed the rivals one point ahead of the BEARS in the East Division, but the loss by the Connecticut Whale on Wednesday actually helped the BEARS into seventh place in the conference.

Of course, Connecticut and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton meet up tonight in northeastern Pennsylvania.  Standings are tight, and they will continue to be.  The BEARS need to start a string of wins of at least four, in my opinion, to give them enough breathing room and take that next step toward locking down a playoff spot.  It’s two Northeast Division games now on tap.

GIANT Center is sold out tonight, including standing room, so it should be a fun welcome home for the team.

GO BEARS!!!

-Stucc

Starting Another 3-in-3: BEARS at Senators

Hello from the bus ride to Binghamton!

To begin, I would like to welcome a temporary new member to the BEARS Radio Network team.  The play-by-play voice of the York Revolution, Darrell Henry, will make his AHL debut tonight behind the BEARS mic.  With my good buddy Randy ‘Rock’ Johnson still in the midst of a very big (positive!) change at his other job and being unavailable tonight, Darrell jumps in.  His resume includes York Revolution baseball, York College hoops, and CPIHL hockey.  Give him a nice welcome – he’s @RevsPBP on Twitter – and I’m glad to have him on board!

Darrell is with us today because Gregg Mace and I have the call of our second televised game on ABC-27′s RTV channel tonight.  We’ll go on at 7:00 straight up, then puck drop is at 7:05 PM.  Check out Sweetest Hockey on Earth’s site for information on a fun-filled viewing party at the Warwick in Hummelstown, that begins tonight at 6:30!  Head out for food, raffle prizes, silent auction, great food – and maybe even meet a BEARS player or two who aren’t on our trip today…

http://www.sweetesthockeyonearth.com/2013/02/19/shoe-view-2-hershey-bears-viewing-party/

In two consecutive weekends, the HERSHEY BEARS collected three out of a possible six points.  Looking back at last weekend, should there have been more?  Absolutely.  The game at Hamilton on Friday should easily have been a 4-1 or 5-1 game in favor of the good guys.  I have never seen (other than looking back at men’s league games that I played) a goaltender get as lucky as Robert Mayer did in the Bulldogs net.  Go here and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  Search for the game in the “free highlights” tab on the right side of the screen.  My good buddy Derek Wills, play-by-play voice of the Bulldogs, even comments on Mayer having what I described as an “adventure” in his net.

With that game out of the way, the BEARS and Toronto Marlies then played a tight 2-1 contest, unfortunately one in which HERSHEY came up short.  Casey Wellman had a nice day in the lineup, striking for his first BEARS goal, while Dany Sabourin made 20 saves against a fast, tenacious Marlies squad.

With 30 one-goal games already in the books for the BEARS, the team headed to Rochester to try to take care of the Amerks in the clubs’ 446th all-time meeting.  This one went much better.  I likened it to the game the BEARS played against the Springfield Falcons back in the first weekend of November.  The team won 3-2 in a shootout, and faced a very quick, deadly Falcons squad but matched their every move.  Ryan Potulny scored shorthanded to put a dent in the momentum generated by three consecutive Amerks power plays – one which ranked fifth in the AHL coming into the game.

Boyd Kane and Garrett Mitchell had nice afternoons as well, with each scoring third-period goals to put the game out of reach.

But as the BEARS and Binghamton Senators get set to do battle tonight in the Southern Tier, I single out three players who had a really positive impact on the weekend, two of whom will play tonight.

#3 – Ryan Stoa.  The left winger, who missed two months due to injury earlier in the season, had a breakout weekend.  He scored two power play goals on Friday, then netted the game-winner on Sunday.  Stoa was at the net front for all three of those tallies – somewhere he will need to be tonight.  Of his eight goals scored, one big goal came against Binghamton in the last meeting between the teams.  It was a goal that eluded Robin Lehner through a screen – a goal-scorer’s goal that clipped the post on its way in.  It had to be a perfect shot.  His presence will be required in-close on the Sens’ expected starter Nathan Lawson.

#2 – Peter LeBlanc.  The versatile forward has contributed, in some way, in all eight games since his joining HERSHEY on January 31.  His contributions were first noticed on a line with fellow newcomer Wellman and veteran center Potulny.  But, he has recently seen time with Stoa and Mitchell – and set up both of them for goals this weekend.  LeBlanc had four assists in the team’s last three games and has six overall with the BEARS.

#1 – Philipp Grubauer.  Yes, he was lucky too on Sunday, but not to the extent Mayer was on Friday for Hamilton.  The Amerks hit two goal posts on their first two power play chances in Sunday’s first period.  A 2-0 Amerks lead would definitely have changed things.  But the one thing I love about Grubauer is his poise.  NOTHING rattles this kid.  Nothing.  I would be turning around and tapping the posts in gestures of thanks had I been beaten on power play shots like Rochester took.  But, after all, many wins require at least one good bounce.  For the BEARS, they didn’t have too many.  They didn’t have many scoring chances.  But they buried the chances they did get – and simultaneously got the netminding of Grubauer that we are all starting to appreciate.  Sunday was his best game by far.

Dany Sabourin will go in net for the BEARS tonight.  That is the only anticipated change from Sunday’s lineup – at least as of this morning.  That means seven defensemen and 11 forwards will go against the Sens, who kept their streak alive of not losing three consecutive games overall.

The Sens HAVE lost three straight on home ice, however – and ironically, their last win at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena was on January 26 – against HERHSEY.

Game notes are all set here.

GO BEARS!!!

-Stucc

Post-Game: Bulldogs 3, BEARS 2 (SO)

Being placed on fourth-line duty often doesn’t sit well with some players.  Minutes become tight, and are counted down faster than international calling card minutes that you bought because you don’t have a U.S. cell phone turned on in Canada.

But Ryan Stoa made the best of his spot on fourth line wing on Friday night.  He, along with Matt Pope and Mattias Sjogren (who played his first game since 1/13 vs. Connecticut) earned some significant minutes in the game’s early going.  Stoa then got some power play time on the second unit, and made the most of his chances.  The Minnesota native scored two first-period power play markers to pace the BEARS offense in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs.  Hamilton native Peter LeBlanc and former Bulldogs blueliner Garrett Stafford both set up the twin tallies by Stoa.

In my humble opinion – take it for what it’s worth, if you weren’t watching the game – this was, and should have been, a 4-1 or 5-1 HERSHEY victory.  You’ll eventually see the highlights in the AHL Live archives of an adventurous game, to say the least, for Bulldogs backstop Robert Mayer.  Coming off of back-to-back wins, and with newcomer Dustin Tokarski not ready to be inserted for his Hamilton debut, Bulldogs coach Sylvain Lefebvre opted to run with Mayer.  For the first 45 minutes of this game, Mayer fought the puck, gave up rebounds, turned the puck over three times that gave the BEARS scoring chances, and had the post hit behind him three times – twice while nonchalantly waving at long shots.

Giving credit where it is due, however, Mayer made what I felt was the save of the night in the second period, when he turned aside a wide-open Ryan Potulny with a lunging blocker save.  He stopped 11 other shots sent by the BEARS in a second-period barrage, stopped the five shots the BEARS fired in overtime, and forced Garrett Mitchell to lose control of the puck in the deciding fifth round of the shootout.

I said three times in the game that the 2-1 lead wasn’t going to be enough to pick up two points.  You had to have gotten that feeling if you tuned in tonight.  Mayer was getting lucky – and the BEARS were doing everything but scoring.

Terry Koharski, who officiated the first meeting between the two teams on December 8, did a great job of letting the boys play in a game that became more physical as it went on.  But, as it turned out, despite only having a combined five power plays in the contest, special teams was again key.  The BEARS (Stoa, anyway) capitalized on both of their chances against the league’s best home penatly-killing unit.  Hamilton had allowed just six power play goals all season at Copps Coliseum.  The top home unit, which is also the league’s worst on the road (check out theahl.com if you don’t believe me on that one), had a completely negative turn of fortune tonight.  But Louis Leblanc’s goal at 6:30 of the third also came on a power play, and allowed the Bulldogs to get to the shootout and win the game.

I thought Garrett Stafford and Cameron Schilling were excellent on defense together tonight – possibly Stafford’s best game of the season – something he deserves for the tough times he’s had lately, especially on home ice. 

A few numbers to ponder:

2: The number of shots goaltender Philipp Grubauer took off the face mask on Friday.  Not only did Evan Barlow catch him at morning skate accidentally, but so did one of the Bulldogs in the first period tonight.  The number is also, roughly, Grubauer’s goals-against average (2.01) after nine appearances, and the number of back-to-back games with a BEARS player scoring two goals.

3:  The number of LeBlanc’s on the roster tonight (HERSHEY’s Peter, Hamilton forward Louis, Hamilton head trainer Luc).

3 1/2:  The number of buses of Booster Club members who made the trip to cheer on the BEARS.

12: The number of games in between points for Garrett Stafford.  His last point, before tonight’s two, came on December 15 vs. Worcester.

29: The number of one-goal games played by the BEARS this season – 2nd in the AHL only to Houston’s 30.

35: The number of tickets taken up by Peter LeBlanc’s family and friends.

53: The percentage of BEARS games that have gone beyond regulation since the New Year (nine out of 17 total).  Four of the past five games have required more than 60 minutes.

58 1/2: The number of months since the BEARS last defeated Hamilton in the regular season (Chris Bourque scored four goals in the BEARS’ 5-2 win at GIANT Center on March 29, 2008).

Game recap is here.  With faceoff at 3:00 PM Saturday against the Toronto Marlies, there is no morning skate nor meeting.  I will have the preview posted upon our arrival at 1:00 PM.

GO BEARS!!!

-Stucc

Wrapping Up with the North Division: BEARS at Bulldogs

Good morning from the other side of Border Control!

A few transaction notes to pass along this morning from Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, where the BEARS will soon be arriving for morning skate in preparation for their final meeting of the season against the Bulldogs.

First, forward Matt Pope was summoned from the Reading Royals earlier this week.  In case you haven’t seen the ECHL transactions list since the NHL lockout ended, check it out.  It will explain why you have been seeing “bubble players” traveling an awful lot lately.  Rough guess is that there are 12-13 such transactions per day.

Forward T.J. Syner has also been returned to Reading as of this morning.

The main reason for that?  The BEARS now have an abundance of forwards thanks to two returning from the injury list.  Evan Barlow and Mattias Sjogren both made the trip to Canada and both are expected to play at some point this weekend.  Barlow has been out since suffering a lower-body injury in a game at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on January 11, while Sjogren suffered an upper-body injury on January 13 against Connecticut.

As for tonight’s matchup, no one is taking the Hamilton Bulldogs as the last team in the AHL.  The club defeated their division-rival Toronto Marlies recently, they defeated the AHL-best Texas Stars and they defeated the BEARS in their only meeting of the season on December 8. 

One area where the Bulldogs will look different is in goal.  Cedrick Desjardins (who we saw at the restaurant at which we ate dinner last night) was dealt to Tampa Bay in exchange for 2012 Calder Cup winner Dustin Tokarski yesterday.  The two are simply swapping AHL cities.

The BEARS take their 12-6-0-1 road record across the border, looking to pile up the points on a stretch that will see six of the next seven played away from the GC confines.

Air time tonight is 6:50 PM, puck drops from Copps at 7:30.  Game notes are coming shortly.

GO BEARS!!

-Stucc

Post-Game: BEARS 4, Senators 3

Danick Paquette’s debut in a HERSHEY sweater has been long since touted, never made definitive, but long-awaited by BEARS faithful.

His presence on the ice in Saturday night’s game against the Binghmaton Senators was the very influence of life that the BEARS needed.  The team picked up a big spark of energy that led to back-to-back goals, en route to a 4-3 victory in front of 10,368 at GIANT Center.

No matter who Binghamton has dressed in their previous 44 games this season, and no matter the game situation, the Sens have been a dangerous team and one that would either hold a lead once they got it, or come back from one that was held by their opponent.  Two-goal deficit, one-goal deficit, one-goal lead – Binghamton always had the answer.  Again last night – despite missing top guns such as Jakob Silfverberg, Mika Zibanejad, Stephane Da Costa, Patrick Wiercioch and Andre Benoit due to NHL recall – the team gave the BEARS all they could handle to maintain a lead.

The BEARS took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 on first-period goals by Boyd Kane (PP) and Cameron Schilling.  The 2-1 lead is what I, along with many others, feel should have been 3-0.  After going 1/1 on the power play, the BEARS earned their second chance of the period.  An ill-fated maneuver with the puck by defenseman Garrett Stafford caused a turnover, which was forced by Corey Cowick.  Rookie Jean-Gabriel Pageau went off to the races to score the Sens’ league-leading 12th shorthanded goal of the campaign when he beat Philipp Grubauer with a backhander.  I don’t like to single anybody out at all when something goes awry.  But fans, how many times have we seen that high-risk pass attempt across the offensive blue line get picked off and turned into a scoring chance against, if not a goal – by any player?  It gets old.  And it got old for coach Mark French, who replaced Stafford with Patrick McNeill on the very next power play, and for all of the rest of the eight total.

Holding their 2-1 lead early in the second, the BEARS had to kill off a Binghamton carry-over power play, and did a great job in doing so.  But the Sens had the momentum going, and turned it into a tying goal when Derek Grant handcuffed Grubauer with another backhander after taking a cross-ice pass from David Dziurzynski.

The game-changing moment came shortly afterward.  Paquette is on the ice, finishes a big hit on defenseman Mark Borowiecki, and then was challenged to a scrap by Binghamton tough guy Darren Kramer.  The lengthy fight that ensued put a charge into GIANT Center that has not been heard or felt since Joel Rechlicz did his dances here the past two seasons.  Watch it among the highlights here.  It’ll start your day nicely.

It took all of 16 seconds for the BEARS to respond.  Jeff Taffe deflected a Julien Brouillette point shot off of the goal post, but the carom went off of Sens netminder Robin Lehner and into the net.  Then, almost exactly 10 minutes later, defenseman Eric Gryba was victimized for a BEARS goal for the second time this season (remember this one?).  This time, Jon DiSalvatore spotted Gryba (who, to his credit, led the AHL with a plus-25 rating entering yesterday’s game) trying to block a pass while at the top of the crease.  DiSalvatore fired the puck right at him, and the pass deflected into the net – never touching Lehner.  It would be a big insurance marker as Brett Lebda struck with 1:48 left in the period to cut the BEARS lead to 4-3.

HERSHEY outshot Binghamton 11-4 in the final period, due in large part to the three power play chances awarded the hosts.  French, in his post-game presser, alluded to the fact that his team forced Binghamton to use their sticks to try to slow the team down.  I agree – and that might be the first time this season that the BEARS did that for most of the game.

Grubauer earned his fourth win of the season, Lehner suffered just his eighth setback, and the BEARS scored four goals for the first time since a 5-0 rout of the Connecticut Whale on January 13.  The power play has scored in three consecutive games, with a total of three power play goals against the 2nd- and 3rd-ranked penalty killing units in the AHL (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Binghamton respectively).  The penalty kill has been out more frequently than coach French would like, but is now 12 for its last 12 in the past two games to climb to 7th in the AHL.

Oh… and the BEARS have now gone 20 consecutive games without allowing more than three goals.

Another win on Sunday against Norfolk would bring that home record one game shy of the .500 mark.  The Admirals arrived at 5:50 am after playing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton twice in Hampton Roads.  You figure out who SHOULD have the advantage – but it is a game that cannot be taken lightly.

GO BEARS!!!

-Stucc

 

Crunch Time for Home Points; Senators at BEARS 2/9; Finding Nemo

Good morning all!

Coming off of a 3-2 shootout victory over the Lake Erie Monsters on Tuesday, the BEARS are back home to battle the Binghamton Senators tonight at 7:00 PM.  HERSHEY is in the middle of a stretch of four out of five games on home ice.  After this weekend, six of the next seven will be played on the road.

Except, things went backwards for the BEARS during the first half of the season.

Home ice advantage hasn’t come – yet.  The BEARS are in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference and still have plenty for which to play.  Win tonight, and it’s a character hit to the conference-leading Senators (who, to their credit, have played remarkably well under Luke Richardson’s guidance and without several of their top offensive players).  Win tomorrow, and it’s just another day at the office (the Norfolk Admirals are in last place in the division and 14th out of 15 in the conference – it SHOULD be a win).  That would equal a four-point weekend and a much better-looking home record, which now stands at 10-13-3-1.

I, for one, would like to see tonight’s game decided in the BEARS’ favor - and in regulation.  Four of the last six games have gone beyond 60 minutes (and Dany Sabourin started all four).  The good news?  No matter what happens, you earn a point in such games.

Defensively – as we have said all along – this team has what it takes to win.  The goaltending has more than proven itself.  The club is on a run of 19 consecutive games in which it allowed three goals or less.  Trouble is, in many of those games, there has not been goal support for Sabourin or Philipp Grubauer.  I still firmly believe that it will come in due time. 

My pick for tonight, in a matchup of defense #2 (Binghamton) and defense #4 (HERSHEY) is a two-goal game – this one going to the BEARS by a 4-2 count.  It’s high time that the BEARS score more than three for the first time in a month (1/13 vs. Connecticut).

Before I close, I want to address those who like to throw gibes at me for my past career of being a meteorologist.  I’ll say three things before wrapping up:

1) I have NO idea why “they” are now naming nor’easters.  NO CLUE.  Nor do I care for it.  The Weather Channel and all of the national newscasts have completely commercialized their broadcasts and I HATE IT, being a student of the actual science that goes into forecasting.  So if you haven’t found Nemo yet, just turn on your TV.

2) I spend little to no time perusing forecast models anymore, so I unfortunately can’t help you with travel forecasts out of the central Pennsylvania area.

3) Yes, I really am a meteorologist.  I’ll post a picture of my degree one day. 

Sorry for the rant.  Game notes are all set here for tonight’s contest. 

And… GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Stucc