Garin Bjorklund and David Gucciardi are two new faces in Hershey, but they both helped Hershey to its 3-2 overtime win over Hartford on Saturday night.
Bjorklund made his second appearance in net with the Bears this season, debuting in Bridgeport on March 26. Last night, he played all 61:01 of regulation and short-lived overtime, and saved 23 shots, allowed 2 goals to bump his goals against average to 1.97 after two outings.
Casey Fitzgerald and Dylan Roobroeck snuck goals past Bjorklund in the first and third periods. “Garin played well in his first game on the road and he followed up with a nice effort tonight,” said Todd Nelson. “Looks very confident in there, very composed.”
It was the debut for David Gucciardi, and an eventful one at that. With 2:23 remaining in period one, Gucciardi scored and put Hershey ahead, 2-1. Vincent Iorio had the takeaway, giving Hershey a breakaway with the puck in Matt Strome’s stick, who dished it over to Gucciardi for the wrister at the net, and his first professional goal.
“He goes out there, his first game, fit right in, scores a big goal for us, he was strong in the corners,” said Nelson. “He’s a pretty mobile guy and he made some great break breakout passes, so a very good first game for him.”
“The first few shifts there were definitely some nerves, never played in this league,” said Gucciardi. “So I think that’s natural and I felt like I settled in pretty nicely, got comfortable, the guys were helping me if I did make a mistake they were telling me what I did, how to do it better and yeah, there’s a ton of leaders on the team, guys who have been through it and have played a long time in the AHL or pro hockey, so I’m lucky for them and they were helping me kind of throughout the game.”
The Chocolate Roar 