It’s been a strong road trip for the Bears so far. Momentum from the victory over the Phantoms has carried into this stretch with the 3-1 win Wednesday over Bridgeport and the 3-2 overtime win against Springfield last night.
The Bears face their toughest test tonight though in the form of the still undefeated, with a 7-0 record, Providence Bruins. The Bruins bring in one of the leagues best offenses and a dynamic goalie tandem of Michael Dipietro and rookie netminder Simon Zajicek to the game tonight.
Hershey would also be without Spencer Smallman. Smallman was called up to Washington as cover after Pierre-Luc Dubois was hurt in the Capitals game last night. Luckily, Dubois has been designated as only day-to-day and Hershey should see Smallman in theory soon.
The Bears made four changes from yesterdays win over the Thunderbirds. Alex Suzdalev and Luke Toporowski came in for the called up Smallman and Eriks Mateiko. It’s great to see Toporowski healthy again. It’s not so great that Mateiko replaces him on the injured list with an upper body ailment. We hope to see Mateiko back soon.
On the back end, David Gucciardi returns to the lineup, replacing Cam Allen. Garin Bjorklund then got the start in net, replacing Clay Stevenson, who stopped 26 of 28 shots last night in the win.
Postgame Takeaways
- The Bears came out flying in the first. It looked like they surprised the Bruins with how energetic they were in the first coming off the game last night.
- It paid off for Hershey too. The Bears power play connected for the fifth straight game, as Ryan Chesley blasted one past Zajicek to make it 1-0 Bears.
- Chesley has looked excellent since Derek King gave him the night off against Lehigh Valley on Oct. 25. He’s scored twice in the last three games and has looked solid next to Aaron Ness.
- The second period was a lot of back and forth, with only one Providence penalty account for a big stoppage.
- You have to give the Bears skating a whole lot of credit this game. They outshot Providence in both the first and second, and only got outshot by two in the third. Coming off a game the night prior, that was a great effort by this young Bears team.
- Garin Bjorklund continues to impress to start the season. He stopped all 25 shots that came his way tonight, for his first career AHL shutout.
- Bjorklund has gotten the win for the Bears in three of their five victories on the season so far. His .931 save percentage in his four starts is fifth among AHL rookie goalies at the time of writing this.
- The Bears penalty kill was nails again tonight. Providence came into the night converting on over 30% of their power play chances on the season and Hershey shut them down by making the Bruins go 0/3 on the man advantage. That’s 14 straight successful kills now for Hershey.
- A great game by Matt Strome tonight. He blocked multiple shots, broke up multiple scoring chances, was excellent on special teams and got the empty netter that sealed the deal.
- Hershey’s win provides Providence their first loss of the year. You love to do that.
- Louie Belpedio provided assists on both goals tonight. Those are his first points since an assist on opening night.
- Calle Rosen’s point streak came to an end tonight, but Henrik Rybinski now has points in three straight after getting credited with an assist on the Strome empty netter. Rybinski has seven points in eight games played, tying him for the team lead with Rosen.
- The Bears are hot ladies and gentlemen. It’s fun to watch this young group come together over the last two weeks. Hershey returns to action and returns home this Friday against Toronto. We’ll see you there.
Now Watch This Goal
Only two to choose from tonight. It was an awesome long distance empty net effort from Matt Strome, but Ryan Chesley’s snipe from the point is the choice tonight.
The Chocolate Roar 