The Bears took the ice Sunday afternoon in a rematch against the Hartford Wolf Pack to finish off their last three in three weekend of the season.

We saw a couple of lineup changes for the Bears from the night prior. The most expected one was in net- Clay Stevenson returned to starting in the crease. On the back end, Perrott, Ness and Gucciardi came out for Hunt, Priskie and, making his AHL debut, Ryan Chesley. Grant Cruickshank and Brennan Saulnier also returned to the lineup for Roe and Dalton Smith.

Chesley’s debut marks the second in as many nights for the Bears- David Gucciardi made his last night and you can read about it in Luke Brown’s article here.

A win for the Bears would mean they would sweep both three in three weekends the team played this year- they won all three during their road three games in three nights in late October.

A win and a loss from the Charlotte Checkers tonight would mean the Bears magic number for winning the Atlantic Division would be down to four points.

The Wolf Pack started Callum Tung in net- I saw Tung play last weekend as he nearly backstopped UConn to the Frozen Four in Allentown. The jump from college to professional play is a big one though, and I hoped to see the Bears test Tung early.

First Period

The Bears did not test Tung early. In fact, neither team really tested the other for the first 12-13 minutes of the game, as the Bears and the Wolf Pack combined for a total of 2 shots through the first 11:30 minutes of the game.

The Wolf Pack would be the team to find their footing though. They would outshoot the Bears 5-1 through the remainder of the first and it would pay off. With 1:49 left in the period, Brandon Brisson took advantage of a Bears neutral zone turnover and was able to walk in and rip one past Stevenson to make it 1-0 Hartford.

The Bears would be looking to regain their footing heading into the second.

Second Period

The second period didn’t produce much. The score stayed the same and there were multiple stretches during the period where not much action occurred. Such is what happens when one team is playing on a back to back and the other is playing their third game in three nights.

The strongest highlights came from the goalies- Clay Stevenson made a couple of excellent saves on a Wolf Pack push halfway through the second, including two without his stick, that drew an ovation from the home crowd.

Callum Tung was finally tested then late in the second, as the Bears had their best stretch of offensive zone time. Tung made a couple of solid saves and was helped by his teammates, who had some key blocked shots as the Bears were clearly frustrated headed into the third.

Third Period

The Bears would finally come alive in the third. Once again, it was with the help of a debutant. Ryan Chesley would get his chance from the point and ripped a seeing eye wrister past Tung to tie the game at one.

Then only a couple minutes later, an excellent forecheck from the Bears second line saw Ivan Miroshnichenko finish off a wrap around move to beat Tung again and make it 2-1 Hershey.

The Bears, as Todd Nelson said postgame, used up what was left in the tank to finish off the Wolf Pack and get the 2-1 win. It was another excellent performance from Clay Stevenson in goal, the Bears defense held firm and the guys completed the three in three weekend at 3-0.

Playoff positioning wise, the Bears magic number for clinching the Atlantic went from 14 to 6 after the successful weekend. The Bears victory tonight also solidified the Atlantic Division playoff spots. The Bears win eliminated the Wolf Pack and clinched playoff spots for the Springfield Thunderbirds and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, who will both all but certainly play in the three game play in round.

Now nine points up on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (though the Baby Penguins do have a game in hand now), a win in regulation over the Penguins next Friday in Wilkes-Barre will clinch a top two finish for the Bears and a first round bye.

Post Game Quotables

“Liked it a lot. You know, both of these kids come in and score their first goal. But he was good tonight. We had him out there for the final 30 seconds of the game. I had so much confidence in what he gave us throughout the game. He moved the puck well, skates extremely well, very mobile and he played a really good game.” – Head Coach Todd Nelson on Ryan Chesley’s debut game tonight.

“Just excitement. It was a lot of fun and the guys made it easy for me out there.” – Ryan Chesley on his reaction after scoring his first professional goal tonight.