Back in Allentown I was. The Bears took on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms during their last road regular season game of the year.

This game had a couple of pregame storylines. First, with the Charlotte Checkers falling in their matinee matchup with the Utica Devils, any type of Bears win would clinch Hershey their second straight Atlantic Division crown.

Alex Limoges returned to the lineup, as well as the Bears third debut on defense in a week. Swiss 18 year old and Capitals 2024 second round draft pick Leon Muggli made his Bears debut tonight, paired with Vincent Iorio. Muggli is the first 18 year old to make an appearance for Hershey since Jonas Siegenthaler, who was also a second round pick of the Caps and a left handed shot Swiss defender. Funny how that goes sometimes isn’t it? Ryan Chesley also retuned on the back end, pairing with Aaron Ness.

Clay Stevenson got his second straight start in net, while Cal Petersen took the net for Lehigh Valley.

First Period

The Bears looked like the stronger of the two teams, both having come off a Friday night game, as they dominated the offensive zone time in the first. They looked set to capitalize on that momentum with a power play opportunity that came up with just under 5 minutes left in the period.

But, a interference call on Spencer Smallman 14 seconds into the power play forced four on four (and in this reporters opinion, it was a pretty soft interference call on Smallman from the refs), and the Bears lost that chance.

To make things worse, while not much happened in the 4 on 4 period and the Bears killed off the miniscule amount of time the Phantoms were on the power play, a turnover at his own blue line by Smallman saw the puck get to Phantom Ben Gleason right in the slot and he buried to make it 1-0 Lehigh Valley.

The Bears would get a second power play chance a couple seconds later, but failed to get the puck past Petersen.

Second Period

Hershey would start the second period on the front foot as well, but it would be another turnover at their own blueline, this time by Riley Sutter, that saw the Phantoms take advantage. Rodrigo Abols roofed one past Stevenson, who was left on his own, to double the Phantoms lead to 2-0.

The Bears would continue to have the better opportunities throughout the period, but Petersen would stand tall. A power play chance went by the wayside, but the Bears penalty kill stepped up late to kill a late penalty and keep the score at 2-0 heading into the third.

Third Period

Sadly, the third would not go the same way it did for the Bears Friday night. Just four minutes into the period, a shot from the point would take a significant deflection off of Mike Vecchione in front, leaving Clay Stevenson out of position as the puck went past him to make it 3-0 Phantoms.

The Bears would not lay down and die though. They did continue to put the pressure on the Phantoms and it would pay off in the form of a goal. With just over 13 minutes left in the game, Matt Strome would finish the definition of a gritty goal to get the Bears back in it.

It wouldn’t be enough though. Cal Petersen continued to frustratingly stand tall in net and as the Bears began to press for a second goal, the odd man rushes came fast and furious for Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms would capitalize on two of them in a minute-forty, putting the game at 5-1 and to bed.

Postseason Update

As mentioned earlier in the article, Charlotte lost to Utica last night. A loss from the Checkers tonight would clinch the Atlantic Division for Hershey and give them home ice advantage during the two five game series, if Hershey plays in both. If Charlotte wins, Hershey is still in the drivers seat and would only need a win of any type Wednesday against Syracuse to secure the division.

Laval won last night, putting them four points above Hershey with 3 games to go for each team. Laval’s magic number for the East and for the league is set at 3 points, so they still need a Bears loss of any type combined with a win to take the top seed in the East and the league regular season title on Wednesday. A regulation loss from Laval plus a Bears win Wednesday would mean the regular season title would be in play on Friday and Saturday.

Hershey still is a point ahead of the Colorado Eagles, the top seed in the West. If that holds, if the Bears make it back to the Calder Cup Finals they will have home ice advantage no matter who they play.

Postgame Quotables

“I think we have another gear to be quite honest. The guys understand that too. I’m happy with the results but we can be better.” – Head Coach Todd Nelson on the Bears recent run of good results. Nelson also called the removal of Aaron Ness precautionary in his post game comments.

“Just our turnovers were killing us. We actually played a pretty good game we all though, but they got some good goaltending and we made too many mistakes that ended up in the back of our net. We just gotta clean that up and we’ll be good for Wednesday.” – Matt Strome on what went wrong for the Bears during last night’s game.