After taking three of a possible four points from the Cleveland Monsters over the weekend, Hershey looked to continue to build more positive momentum tonight with the Wolf Pack coming into town for a midweek clash.
Crazily enough, this will be the end of an 18-game stretch that saw the Bears not leave the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania via either home games in Hershey or trips to Allentown and Wilkes-Barre. Hershey will travel to Charlotte for a two game set this weekend.
A couple of changes for the Bears from Sunday’s overtime loss to Cleveland. Alex Suzdalev comes in for the injured Eriks Mateiko on the third line. The recalled Justin Nachbaur comes in for Zac Funk on the fourth line. Then on defense, the captain got a break, as Aaron Ness was scratched for Jon McDonald. Clay Stevenson with the start in net.
Postgame Takeaways
- Let me be honest off the rip. That was maybe one of, if not the worst first periods I’ve seen the Bears play all season. They came out slow, were hemmed in the zone 80% of the time, and only got out of it because of a couple of great saves from Clay Stevenson.
- Unbelievably, the Bears ended the period up 1-0. A great setup from Ilya Protas to David Gucciardi, who used an excellent screen from Bogan Trineyev to rip one past Callum Tung with 9.8 seconds left in the first to give Hershey a 1-0 lead.
- Gucciardi was one of the few players who impressed tonight. He was good before his injury and he’s been good since coming back. His pairing will Louie Belpedio works and should be one of the few things that stays the same from tonight’s lineup in Charlotte.
- The first ten minutes of the second were the best hockey the Bears played all night. The late goal seemed to motivate them and they were all over an overmatched Hartford team.
- That lead to Andrew Cristall putting home the Bears second on a beautiful give and go play between him and Bogdan Trineyev to extend the Bears lead to 2-0.
- Cristall with a goal and an assist, and Protas with an assist himself on the Gucciardi goal means those two stay as the Bears top two scorers on the year, with 28 and 27 points respectively.
- Hershey had a real good chance shorthanded that Spencer Smallman put high past the net that could’ve made it 3-0. Hartford surviving that changed the game.
- Neutral zone turnovers have killed the Bears all season, and it did again tonight. Ivan Miroshnichenko missed what should have been an easy pass, which led to Hartford scoring on the counter attack.
- It may be time to talk about Miroshnichenko, who has at times this season looked frustrated and honestly disinterested in playing at full speed. I understand that he may be frustrated with the lack of looks he’s been getting in Washington this year with the multiple injuries the parent club has had this season, but there have been a couple of games, like tonight, where he needed to step up and be a young leader on this team, where he ended up being invisible.
- Hartford would score only a few minutes after getting within one to tie up the game. Brett Berard with an excellent piece of skill to rip one past Stevenson to make it 2-2.
- That tying goal clearly deflated the Bears, as they were outshout 9-5 in the final period and did not get much real zone time.
- Hershey would finish the game without a power play opportunity for the second time this season.
- Henrik Rybinski took a puck to the face in the third period and both left the game and left a good bit of blood on the ice. Best wishes to Rybinski as he hopefully gets healthy quick.
- Hershey would have a few good chances in OT, but Berard would put a rebound chance home to give Hartford a more deserved additional point tonight.
Postgame Comments
Head Coach Derek King: https://youtu.be/IljqnkvFfJI?si=q6ZtJCNPZpyOMNay
David Gucciardi: https://youtu.be/k8xb1i-yp_E?si=vL1bcANmFmaNbP-U
The Chocolate Roar 