Opening night. Two of the best words in sports. Tonight, the Bears kicked off season 88 as a franchise as they took on the Syracuse Crunch. It also kicked off a new era in Hershey. Derek King takes the reins from Todd Nelson behind the bench and a whole new crop of talent populates the roster. Many of the fan favorites from the Nelson era, and a few from before that, have left. No Mike Vecchione, no Mike Sgarbossa, no Alex Limoges, no Hunter Shepard, no Pierrick Dube. I could go on.
But a whole new crop of talent takes the ice this season. A talented group of prospects, headed by 2023 Capitals second round pick Andrew Cristall, will be key this year. Hershey hasn’t been this rookie filled since the 2015-16 season, and Bear Nation is already affectionately calling this group of rookies the “Baby Bears”.
That’s not to say there isn’t a new, talented group of more experienced players joining this years team as well. Sheldon Rempal has a couple years of proven success at this level and returns to the AHL with Hershey after a year in the KHL, where he was one of the best goal scorers in Russia.
On the back end, where Hershey has a batch of young talents taking spots this season, a foe turns into a friend. Louie Belpedio comes over from rivals Lehigh Valley to bring some of the physicality and snarl to the Bears defense group that was missing last year after Dylan McIlrath stayed up in Washington full time last year.
Pregame Moments
The Lines
Hershey played a true blend of experience and youth tonight. In terms of major prospects, the debuts all came on the forward group. Andrew Cristall, Ilya Protas and Eriks Mateiko all played their first game in the chocolate and white tonight. On defense Ryan Chesley and David Gucciardi were the two prospects playing tonight, while Cam Allen and Leon Muggli were scratched. Spencer Smallman also missed out on tonight with a upper body injury. Nicky Leivermann was the only other Bear on the injured list, with a lower body injury.
Tonight’s Takeaways
- The first period was a battle of two teams testing each other out. This was by far the most event period of the game. Both goalies stood tall and each team killed off penalties. The second line really impressed this period- We liked a lot of what we saw out of the Miroshnichenko-Protas-Rempal line tonight.
- Ethen Frank scored two in under five minutes to start the second period to give Hershey a 2-0 lead. Unsurprisingly, Frank looked like Hershey’s best player on the ice tonight.
- Penalties let the Bears down in the end. Three of Syracuse’s five goals came on the power play, including both in the second. Hershey ended up with six penalties on the night, with the five-on-three they dealt with in the second being the death blow.
- After Syracuse scored with two seconds left on the five-on-three, they dominated the rest of the game. The Bears were outmatched physically throughout the third period, and only put up two shots on goal in the final frame.
- Clay Stevenson faced 38 shots tonight. Those are the most he’s faced as a Bear ever in his career. He was not the issue and looked like a true number one.
- The chemistry will take time. There were some positives, but also a lot of missed passes and overagressiveness from many of the young players in the lineup. The growth will come.
- Andrew Cristall had two secondary assists on both Ethen Frank goals, but it was Ilya Protas who impressed me the most of the three youngsters who made their debuts in the forward group tonight. Points will come for Aliaksei’s younger brother, especially with Rempal and Miroshnichenko on his wings.
The Chocolate Roar 