The Bears returned to home ice tonight, looking to bounce back from Friday’s 5-2 loss to the Toronto Marlies. On Hometown Heroes night, Hershey welcomed the Rochester Americans, reigniting the AHL’s oldest rivalry
Some good news for the Bears pregame, Spencer Smallman was sent back to Hershey yesterday after Ethen Frank was activated off of IR in Washington. Don’t expect to see Frank back anytime soon though- Pierre-Luc Dubois is officially out for the next 3-4 months, as he will be recovering from surgery on his abdominal and adductor muscles.
Couple of big lineup changes for the Bears. Bogdan Trineyev came back in tonight after illness kept him out of Friday’s game. He was joined on the first line with Spencer Smallman and Alex Suzdalev. After strong games from both Friday, Sam Bitten and Matt Strome were promoted to the second line, centered by Ilya Protas.
Grant Cruikshank centered Dalton Smith and Justin Nachbaur, who circled back into the lineup, while Henrik Rybinski would center a line with Andrew Cristall and Graeme Clarke. With Smallman and Trineyev returning, plus Nachbaur circling back in, Eriks Mateiko, Luke Toporowski and Patrick Thomas all were healthy scratches.
On the back end only two changes. Clay Stevenson got the start in net, while Jon McDonald came in for David Gucciardi.
Postgame Takeaways
- I felt the Bears played a much stronger first period tonight compared to Wednesday. It showed in the shots category too, Hershey was up 10-6 on the Americans after that period.
- Sam Bitten is going to be a fan favorite from this team. Came into Hershey with no points in four games, and he plays both nights this weekend and ends with two goals and an assist. You love to see that.
- He was perfectly placed in front of the net to redirect Louie Belpedio’s shot that made it 1-0 Bears. It may have hit off his leg instead of his stick, but as long as it goes in who cares. What a start for the newcomer.
- Speaking of newcomers, Corey Schueneman also impressed in his first two games. Coach King said he would bring a more 200 foot game, and he showed that this weekend.
- Bit of bad luck for the Bears on the only goal they conceded. It looked like Trevor Kuntar may have been just a bit offside when he collected the puck, but that’s not challengeable at this level.
- To that point- it’s been about a decade since the NHL introduced the offside review to the league. I recognize the challenges in AHL barns, but it feels like it should be time soon to try and implement it at the AHL level too.
- Hershey only had to kill one penalty tonight, and they did so with little issue. That now takes the Bears to 18 straight successful kills, with the last power play goal allowed coming in the first period against Lehigh Valley back on Oct. 24.
- The last two starts for Clay Stevenson have been big. After allowing 4+ goals in three of his first four starts this year (which many were not his fault), Stevenson has only let in three goals over his last two starts. He came up with some big saves tonight, and this tandem is starting to look really good between him and Garin Bjorklund.
- It’s felt like Alex Suzdalev’s first AHL goal has been coming since he was inserted into the lineup. It finally came tonight and was the game winner for Hershey. Suzdalev is one of the many players Derek King will have to make a tough choice on when Ivan Miroshnichenko and Brett Leason are available.
- After starting 1-3-1, Hershey is now 5-1-0 in their last six. This group is coming together and the improvement is clear. This is going to be a very competitive group in the AHL and I’m excited to see them continue to come together.
The Chocolate Roar 