By: Joshua Gearhart

On a night that featured a Halloween and hockey crossover at Giant Center, the Hershey Bears fell to the Syracuse Crunch 3-2 in overtime. Prior to the game, spooky characters from Hersheypark Dark Nights were invited to meet the team captains at center ice for a ceremonial puck drop. 

In similar fashion to Saturday’s matchup, Hershey’s offense came to life early in the second period, as Bogdan Trineyev tucked his first goal of the season while shorthanded. It wouldn’t take long for Giant Center to erupt again, as three offseason signings picked up their first points as Bears. Graeme Clarke redirected Calle Rosen’s shot from the point at 4:38, with Sheldon Rempal earning the secondary assist.

“Obviously you want to get off to a good start, and it’s nice to get one early,” Clarke said. “I just went to the net and it hit my stick, so you’ll take those. It was nice to get one for our line. Leading up to that point, we were in the offensive zone creating opportunities. Protas and Rempal are really easy to play alongside, they’re offensive-minded guys, and I think we had a solid game overall together.”

Graeme Clarke addresses the media after the game

Even though Hershey produced more shots and jumped out to an early lead, the failed breakaway chances and struggling power play proved to be the difference maker for the Chocolate and White.

“We just have to be more patient,” coach Derek King said. “It’s tough to practice power-play and breakaway opportunities, but we rang one off the post and had some other chances. They’re just not going in right now.”

Over the past two games, the Hershey Bears have gone 0-for-8 on power-play opportunities. Regardless of the outcome tonight, coach King was pleased with the improvement he saw from his squad.

“I definitely saw improvement tonight,” coach King said. “We had a little talk with them about the turnovers and just bad puck decisions, and I thought we did a much better job. You’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to turn the puck over, but we managed that puck really well in the neutral zone and it showed because we had a lot of chances.”

Tonight’s Takeaways:

• The Bears have proven to be a strong second period team. In the past two games, they came out of the intermission with aggression and speed, which have led to early leads. Ethen Frank scored in under five minutes on Saturday, and Bogdan Trineyev struck at 3:23 of the second period tonight. 

• The power play needs to be a major focus this week at practice. This unit struggles to gain the offensive zone and register any quality scoring changes. You know adjustments need to be made when your first goal comes while shorthanded. 

• Coming away with a point was a huge morale booster for this team. Obviously the two points would’ve been the preferred outcome, but Syracuse is a really solid team. In fact, Syracuse has had the Bears’ number recently, considering the Crunch have won the last four meetings.

• The Bears showed significant improvement when it came to being disciplined. Looking back on Saturday, the Bears took nine penalties which led to three goals for Syracuse. To note, Syracuse’s power-play goals came during a major penalty, and each goal scored during a major counted as an additional power-play opportunity. Tonight was a very different story, as the Bears only committed three penalties, and the penalty killing unit was able to eliminate any chances the Crunch had on the power play.

Looking Ahead:

The Hershey Bears host the Springfield Thunderbirds on Oct. 18. All fans in attendance will receive Pink the Rink light-up wristbands, courtesy of Penn State Health. Click here to purchase tickets.