Well, that was a fun weekend wasn’t it Bears Nation? Your Hershey Bears just went three for three on this weekend’s road trip, taking two from the Providence Bruins and one from the Springfield Thunderbirds. Here’s a little recap of each big win this weekend by the Chocolate and White.
Friday: Bears 2-Bruins 1
The Bears came into Friday night a little sloppy, with Providence capitalizing on the Bears slow start to take a 1-0 lead early in the first period, scoring just under 4 minutes into the game.
But that is all Hunter Shepard would allow. Shep played what is so far his best game of the season in my eyes (yes, better than the shutout against Chicago which was another display of goaltending excellence), by saving 38 of the 39 shots that came his way.
The Bears did just enough in the second offensively to get him the win, with an early period Ethen Frank tally and then a wonderful backhand finish from Henrik Rybinski for his first of the season gave the Bears a lead that Shepard would not let go of. The Bears kicked off their weekend with a big win.
Saturday: Bears 6-Thunderbirds 2
The Bears would make some lineup changes going into Saturday night, with the reintroduction of Garrett Roe, Ryan Hofer, Jake Massie (in for Hardy Häman Aktell who is nursing a lower-body injury), a AHL debut for Alex Suzdalev and Mitch Gibson taking the start with Clay Stevenson nursing a upper-body injury.
Hershey did not help Gibson early, as Springfield pounced for two goals in the first 7 minutes of period one. However, Gibson settled in and a Alex Limoges goal gave the Bears momentum heading into the second.
In that second period, it was the Chase Priskie period. As the Bears defense shut down Springfield, who only had 12 shots combined in the second and third periods after having 16 in the first, Priskie provided the offense from the backend. He scored twice, both on the power play and the Bears took the lead going into the third.
In the third, it was goals from the newly minted Captain Aaron Ness, Limoges second of the night and Riley Sutter’s first of the year gave the Bears a 6-2 lead they never gave up. The Limoges goal in particular was the dagger, with Limo extending the lead to three with just under 10 minutes to go in the game.
This gave the Bears win number two of the weekend as they showed their offensive potential on Saturday night.
Sunday: Bears 2-Bruins 1
No, this is not just a copy and paste of Friday. Although it was about as close as it could be. The Bears played better as a whole this game compared to Friday’s, with a couple more debuts with Zac Funk making his professional hockey debut and Dmitry Osipov making his first appearance of the season.
It would be Providence striking first early this game as well though, with Vinni Lettieri striking just over five minutes into the first period. The Bears were not happy with the goal, as it looked like Spencer Smallman’s stick was not on the ice for the proceeding face-off, which would go against the rules. I agree with the Bears, but sadly it is not a reviewable call and Providence took the 1-0 lead into the second.
But the Bears would turn it on again. Backstopped by another solid Hunter Shepard performance, Hershey’s pressure finally broke through, with Ivan Miroshnichenko scoring his sixth of the season to tie the game up at one.
And it would only take 28 seconds into the third period for the Bears to take the lead, with Ethen Frank once again capitalizing early in a period to put the Bears up 2-1. Frank took advantage of a weird bounce off the stanchion and made no mistake as the puck fell right on his stick.
Hunter Shepard then held the fort against a late Providence push and the Bears officially took every game of their first three-in-three on the road this season. Hershey returns to action this Wednesday against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
The Chocolate Roar 
[…] The Bears took this ice tonight for their first midweek home game of the season, as they welcomed Lehigh Valley for the first of then matchups this year. Hershey came into the night looking to win their fifth straight, after sweeping last weekends three games in three nights stretch, which you can read about here. […]
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