Bears Recap: 1/20-1/27
Well, Bears fans, winter is here to stay, much like that cousin who turns a short visit into a month-long stay. That is Winter 2026 in Pennsylvania.
The Bears were scheduled to play three games in three days, but a big snowstorm cut the weekend short by a game. On Friday, January 23rd, the Bears hosted the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Wilkes-Barre has seen most of its NHL talent get traded in the past few weeks, and this could be the time for Hershey to get their second win of the season on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Ilya Protas would start the game with an early power play goal to score his 16th of the season, as expected from the Bears ' All-Star Selection. However, the Pens would answer with two goals as Owen Pickering would laser a shot from the blue line to tie the game, and then Ville Koivunen, fresh from a Pittsburgh recall, would give Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the lead, 2-1.
Much like the first period, Hershey would get an early shorthanded goal from Grant Cruikshank for his season goal of the season and 3rd shorthanded goal of the season, tying him for the AHL lead. Just six minutes later, Andrew Cristall would clean up a loose puck in front of Sergei Murshov to give Hershey the lead, 3-2 on his eighth of the season.
Hershey would try to hold the 3-2 lead through most of the third period, but the Pens would tie it late with an Avery Hayes goal with the goaltender pulled to send the game overtime. Neither team would score, and we would head to a shootout, where Ville Koivunen scored the only goal to give WBS the shootout victory.
Photo Credit: The Hershey Bears
This was Hershey’s sixth straight game requiring extra time and ninth straight game with standings point. Hershey would look to continue that streak as they traveled to the corner of Seventh and Hamilton in Allentown to take on the Phantoms. The night started with a bang: two fights broke out in the first 5 minutes, with Justin Nachbaur and Roman Schmidt fighting a few seconds after the faceoff. Not to be outdone, Dalton Smith and Sawyer Boulton fought a few seconds later, with Boulton getting a bloody cut on his face.
Protas would once again kick off the scoring as he received a backdoor feed from Bogdan Trineyev to get his 17th goal of the season to make it 1-0. The Bears would add to their lead as David Gucciardi would get a four-on-four goal to make it 2-0 after the first period.
The second period would blow up in the Bears' faces as they surrender three straight goals to the Phantoms in 3:20. Zayde Wisdom would score on a breakaway for his sixth of the season, then Karsen Dorwat on a 2 on1 breakaway for his 8th, and then Tucker Roberston all alone in the slot to give the Phantoms the lead, 3-2.
Bears Head Coach Derek King would use his timeout to calm things down, and it seemed to work, but Hershey seemed to be taken aback by the Phantoms ' goal-scoring outburst. However, deep in the third period, much like Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Friday night, Hershey would tie the game again with the goaltender pulled, as Brett Leason put home a rebound to tie it, 3-3.
For the seventh straight game, the Bears would go to overtime, and it would not go in the Bears' favor. Tucker Robertson would get around a Bears forward and snipe a puck past Garin Bjurklund to give the Phantoms an overtime win. It was Robertson’s seventh goal of the season and the Phantoms second win of the season over the Bears, with both coming at the PPL Center, and Hershey would get another standings point.
It is hard to believe a team with a 10-game point streak would be 4-0-4-2 in that span and not gain ground in the Atlantic Division. The Bears sit fifth in the Atlantic, just a point behind the Phantoms for fourth as the All-Star Break looms overhead, as the team travels to upstate New York to take on the Rochester Americans twice and then the Utica Comets.
Stay safe and warm out there, Bears nation.
- Rich Blosser/Olde City Sports Network
- Photo Credit/The Hershey Bears
