Joe Szymanski

Szymanski: Hershey Survives Rochester Push, Win Last Regular Season Game 5-4 in Overtime, Secure 5th Seed in Atlantic Division

Photo Credit: Hershey Bears Hockey

The Bears are fighting to stay away from Charlotte after last night’s loss, combined with Springfield’s win over Hartford, places the Bears in the 6th seed of the Atlantic Division. If Hershey fails to win tonight, that would see them head down to Charlotte for their play-in series, leaving Hershey without a home game.

They would take on a Rochester Americans team that is fighting for their playoff lives, as they need at least a point to make it themselves after Utica pulled off a stunning sweep of the Providence Bruins this weekend to vault Rochester in the North Division standings.

This also comes off the back of Derek King’s comments about his top line of Ilya Protas, Ivan Miroshnichenko and Bogdan Trineyev, calling them ‘junk’ among other things. You can watch his postgame press conference in full from last night here.

As expected, the lines are shaken up a bit. It is 11 of the same 12 players from last night, with the only change being Wyatt Bongiovanni coming in for Dalton Smith. Two changes on the back end, with Leon Muggli coming in for Jon McDonald and Reilly Webb coming in for Ryan Chelsey, who was placed on the injured list this afternoon with an upper-body designation.

Clay Stevenson gets the start on back to back nights.

Postgame Takeaways

  • Hershey started well, but were generally overwhelmed by Rochester in the first. The Americans were shooting from everywhere, their desperation to secure a point clear.
  • What more can you say about Clay Stevenson. This was his fourth start in six days and he looks as sharp as ever. A perfect 23/23 from Clay in the first kept Hershey in this game.
  • Hershey paid a nice tribute to Rochester Americans radio broadcaster Don Stevens, who is retiring after this season. Stevens has given 40 years to the Americans franchise and will have a few games still to go with Rochester clinching a spot.
  • The story of the second period was special teams. Rochester got on the board first with a power play goal, then Hershey responded with two of their own, one from Trineyev, one from Protas, to give Hershey the advantage.
  • Konsta Helenius had the best shot of the game to tie it at two late in the second. A wicked wrister that Stevenson had no shot at stopping.
  • It was a wild and fast third period as both teams pushed. The energy in this game was high all night, as it felt like both teams emptied the tanks.
  • Wyatt Bongiovanni got back in the lineup today. He will be one of those x-factor players for Hershey heading into the playoffs, and he got on the scoresheet with a great slapshot to tie the game at three after Rochester took the lead back early in the third.
  • Andrew Cristall got his 20th of the year to put Hershey back up 4-3. While Ilya Protas has gotten his deserved flowers, Cristall’s rookie campaign has also been excellent, putting up 60 points while playing in all 72 games this season.
  • Cristall and Protas were the only two Bears to hit the 60-point mark this season. While it’s been likely for a while, with the regular season over, the two become the first rookies to finish first and second in scoring for Hershey in the 88-year history of the franchise.
  • It wouldn’t be a Bears game this year without it headed to overtime. Lots of close games, that have ended in both wins and losses for this group, and game 72 was no different.
  • It would be Ivan Miroshnichenko who would end it, after a slight delay after officials conferred about potential goaltender interference. Miroshichneko only ended up playing 41 games for Hershey this year due to both injury and call-ups, but put together a great 34 points in those 41 games. This very well could have been his last regular season game in Hershey.
  • All three players (Protas, Trineyev, Miroshnichenko) who were called out last night by Derek King scored goals.
  • In his postgame press conference, King admitted he regretted using the exact words he did and that he maybe should have grabbed them in the room first, but he liked the response from his top guys.
  • Hershey’s playoff journey will start Tuesday in Bridgeport for game one, before coming back to Hershey for game two on Thursday night. You need to bring in Bear nation!

Postgame Comments

Head Coach Derek King: https://youtu.be/UU-RZcKFF-Y?si=6GAenkYZstNHCI0Z

Andrew Cristall: https://youtu.be/VBuQUhXmUic?si=cXVlnx7niMrahv8X

Clay Stevenson: https://youtu.be/7RrEsTtx408?si=sSDkI-iiMaBATYGo

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