Hershey Bears Recap- Week of 12/23
Happy Holidays!
The Hershey Bears wrapped up their holiday home stand, and let's see how they did. Check out the Grit and Bear It Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
On Saturday, December 20th, the Bears wrapped up their nine game homestead by welcoming the Bridgeport Islanders to town. Hershey has not seen the Islanders since their 3-1 win in Bridgeport back on October 29th.
Hershey would get on the board first as Cam Allen shot a puck off the pad of goaltender Henrik Tikkanen to Grant Cruikshank for his 4th of the season. Bridgeport would get three power plays in a row, but would fail to capitalize, and it would be 1-0 Hershey after the first period.
The Bears would extend their lead in the second period as Graeme Clarke ended his scoring drought as he cleared up a rebound to make it 2-0. It was his first goal since November 29 and his second goal since almost Halloween. Later in the second, Andrew Cristall would get on the board as he collected a sneaky pass from Ilya Protas to make it 3-0 and his fourth of the season. The goal would continue Cristall's hot start to his rookie season at almost a point-per-game pace.
Photo Credit: Leah Hollenbach/Olde City Sports Network
However, Ilya Protas would create a highlight goal as he chipped a puck past the Bridgeport defense, muscled his way between two defenders, and crashed the net and scored. The goal was ruled a goal and reviewed for confirmation, which confirmed the goal as the puck slid under Tikkanen and over the goal line before contact was made on the goaltender. It was Protas’s team leading, 12th goal, as he is fourth in rookie points in the AHL.
Bridgeport would break up the shutout as Joey Larson would pot his first goal of the season to end goalie Mitch Gibson’s shutout streak at 114 minutes. But the Bears would win in the end with a score of 4-1 to get a win on the final game of the homestand.
On Sunday, December 21st, the Bears would hit the road for the first time in 3 weeks to take on the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins for the first time in the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Wilkes-Barre received even more NHL help this past week as defenseman Matt Dumba was sent down to WBS after waived by Pittsburgh. He brings over 700 games of NHL experience to an already loaded baby Pens team.
It would take a while before either team scored, as it seems goalies Clay Stevenson and Sergei Murashov were determined to put on a goalie duel. At first, it seemed like it would be one as neither team scored in the first period, but Zach Gallant would sneak a puck past Stevenson seven minutes into the second period to make it 1-0 Pens. It was his first goal of the season; one Stevenson would want back, and Wilkes-Barre would add another goal from their recent send-down from Pittsburgh, Dumba. Dumba ripped one past Stevenson to make it 2-0 early in the third, and that seemed like it would be more than enough for WBS as Murashov seemed unbreakable in the end.
Andrew Cristall would bank a puck off a WBS defender and get his 5th of the season with just 6 minutes to go, making things interesting. WBS was too powerful, as Owen Pickering scored an empty-net power-play goal to seal the game, 3-1. The season series is now 2-1-0-0, and the two teams will meet again this coming Saturday, December 27th. Hershey would be back at home the following Sunday against the Charlotte Checkers, and then visit Allentown to take on the Phantoms in a rare Wednesday afternoon tilt.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us in Bears Nation.
Richard Blosser/Olde City Sports Network
Photo Credit: Christina Cherkis/Olde City Sports Network
