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Full Game: Relive Game Five of the 2010 Calder Cup Finals

Seven years ago Sunday, Alexandre Giroux scored arguably the greatest goal in Hershey Bears history putting the Bears one away from winning their second straight Calder Cup.

Until now, the game that was viewed by over two thousand at a viewing party at Giant Center only aired once on television. But now you can watch the full game via our YouTube channel (which you also should subscribe to while you’re over there.) Enjoy!

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Chocolate Fix 1/25/2012

Photo credit: Mitchell Layton (and hijacked from our sister blog RMNB)

I’d rather not talk about this past weekend, but there were 3 games. Here are recaps from Friday, Saturday and Sunday all resulting in no points. The only good things to come out of this past week was an announcement that the All-Star Classic would be on TV and the Bears continued their tradition of reading in schools.

Keith Aucoin voted a starter at this year’s All-Star Game. [The AHL]

This isn’t the kind of season Zach Miskovic hoped he would have, but he is still making the best of it. [PennLive]

The Old Barn hockey show had Jim Jones, John Walton and Doug Yingst join them this week. [OBHS]

Tomas Kundratek has been a nomad this season. [CSNWash]

Speaking of Kundratek, he’s back in Hershey. [Caps]

And playing in the NHL was a dream come true. [PennLive]

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Hershey Eliminated from Playoffs by 2-1 OT Loss

Mike Murphy and Braden Holtby shake hands after Game 6. Photo by Kyle Mace

With the Bears facing possible elimination tonight, everyone was nervous.

They only got more nervous when the Charlotte Checkers scored just 35 seconds into the first period. The Bears failed to clear the zone and the Checkers took advantage. Braden Holtby stopped the first shot but a rebound bounced past him. But the Bears held off the Checkers for the rest of period and did a good job of not letting that early goal rattle them.

The Bears also escaped the second period without letting the Checkers score any more goals. I say escape because they were playing Russian roulette with how many penalties they were taking. The penalty kill unit stood up Charlotte and the game moved on with no scoring change.

The good news was that Hershey only needed one goal to tie it up. The bad news? It was time for the third period, which is (as we learned in Game 5 on Friday) notoriously an all Charlotte period.

Time was the enemy and just when things started looking grim, the Bears finally broke the shutout and tied the game! Keith Aucoin won the face-off and Brian Fahey took a shot from the top of the right face-off circle to bring the crowd to its feet.

The final few minutes of regulation ticked away and the already nerve-wracking game became more nerve-wracking by moving on to sudden death overtime for the first time this series.

Checkers celebrate moving on. Photo by Kyle

Unfortunately for the Bears, it was over quick. Just 1:30 into overtime, the Checkers scored to eliminate the Bears from playoffs. Nicolas Blanchard was right in front of the net with no one between him and Holtby. Nick Dodge set him up and the Checkers won 2-1 (OT).

It wasn’t Hershey’s year this year. As sad as it is, Hershey fans have been spoiled by their team. Eleven Calder Cup Championships will help the organization hold its head high even though we will not be watching Bears hockey in May for once. We have some of the best fans in the world, a fact proven by the round of applause the crowded Giant Center gave their team even after losing.

Until next season…

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2011 AHL Clear Day and Andrew Kozek

Andrew Kozek photo courtesy of chicagowolves.com

Now that the Clear Day rosters have been released, tell us what you think. You can see the full list of teams and their rosters on the AHL’s website.

The Bears have submitted the following roster:

Braden Holtby (G)
Nolan Schaefer (G)
Keith Aucoin
Francois Bouchard
Sean Collins
David de Kastrozza
Brian Fahey
Andrew Gordon
Kyle Greentree
Andrew Joudrey
Boyd Kane
Andrew Kozek
Dmitri Kugryshev
Maxime Lacroix
Patrick McNeill
Zach Miskovic
Mathieu Perreault
Steve Pinizzotto
Ashton Rome
Sheldon Souray
Patrick Wellar
Brian Willsie

Some important notes about the Clear Day rosters:

From the AHL:

Only those players listed on a team’s Clear Day roster are eligible to compete in the remainder of the AHL regular season and in the 2011 Calder Cup Playoffs, unless emergency conditions arise as a result of recall, injury or suspension. Teams may also add signed junior players or players on amateur tryout contracts, but only once their respective junior or college seasons are complete.

In the case of the Bears, Braden Holtby is currently on recall to the Washington Capitals.  He is still eligible to be on the clear day roster due to time spent in the league thus far and he was on the Bears roaster as of the NHL trade deadline.  Jay Beagle is not on the roster, nor can he play for the Bears for the remainder of the year.  He was on the Capitals roster at the time of the NHL trade deadline and is no longer in an entry level contract.  Some have also wondered why Dmitry Orlov is not on the roster.  He can play under the provision of the Amateur Tryout Contract (ATC).  Leaving him off the roster kept a spot available for another player.  We would also expect to see Cody Eakin added to the roster once his junior season has concluded.

Doug Yingst is a master when it comes to the AHL Clear Day.  This year before the deadline he added Nolan Schaefer (G) and Andrew Kozek (LW) to the team.  Schaefer is on loan from Boston.  Kathryn has the low down on Schaefer.  As far as Kozek goes, he is on loan to the Bears from the Chicago Wolves.  This isn’t the first time Yingst has made a deal with the Wolves before Clear Day.  Last year he added Grant Lewis on loan from the Atlanta Thrashers (Chicago Wolves).  In 2008 Yingst pulled off a deal to send Joe Motzko to Chicago in exchange for Alexandre Giroux just before Clear Day.  Kozek comes to the Bears this year from the Wolves as a second round selection in the 2005 entry draft by the Atlanta Thrashers.  He has played in 57 games for the Wolves this season tallying 7 goals and 5 assists.  In exchange, Josh Godfrey was loaned to Chicago.

You will also note that there are a number of injured players on the roster.  Because they are injured, substitutions can be made for them until they are declared healthy again.  One injured player that did not make the list was Lawrance Nycholat.  If Nycholat heals up before one of the other inured players he could still get in the lineup (I think).  Tim Leone of the Patriot News talked to Yingst about the omission.  Yingst stated that injury as well as veteran status were factors in Nycholat’s not being on the roster.  For those unfamiliar with the veteran rule:

Of the 18 skaters (not counting two goaltenders) that teams may dress for a regular-season game, at least 13 must be qualified as “development players.” Of those 13, 12 must have played in 260 or fewer professional games (including AHL, NHL, IHL and European elite leagues), and one must have played in 320 or fewer professional games. All calculations for development status are based on regular-season totals as of the start of the season.

So there you have the roster that will take this team to the playoffs.  What do you think?  What changes would you make?  Would you have made different deals before Clear Day to get other players in Hershey?  We want to know!  This is your chance to play General Manager.

Chocolate Fix – 2/2/2011

This was a busy week/weekend for Hershey.  The Bears hosted this little thing called the AHL All-Star Classic.  From a fan perspective it was a great weekend.  Hopefully the staff of the Bears would agree.

I’ll start this week’s Chocolate Fix with a collection of news from the All-Star Classic.

  • Dan Sernoffsky talks to Andrew Gordon about the AHL All-Star Classic. [LD News]
  • Time Leone has a great article about the history of the AHL All-Star games in Hershey, Mitch Lamoureux’s Hall of Fame induction and the current Bears representation in the game. [PennLive]
  • Eric Thomas covers the All-Star skills competition and Brian Fahey. [PennLive]
  • Tim Leone’s notes on the weekend. [PennLive]
  • Derek Meluzio stacks the pads on the AHL All Star weekend. [PennLive]
  • Bob Flounders on Mitch Lamoureux’s HOF induction. [PennLive]
  • More coverage from PennLive with Bob Flounders talking to Alexandre Giroux about is time in Hershey. [PennLive]
  • And more Tim Leone coverage.  This time he sums up the speech given by AHL president and CEO John Andrews during the All Star weekend. [PennLive]
  • A local fan recounts her day at the AHL All-Star skills competition and the party after. [My Home for the Holidays]
  • Staying with the skills adventures, Lucy gives us her point of view. [Hockey is my Boyfriend]
  • The All-Stars made a visit to the Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital while they were here. [VIDEO]
  • Lastly, Corey Masisak (former of DC and now with the NHL) says that Hershey was the perfect host for the All-Star celebration. [NHL]

While this is technically All-Star news, I put it on a line of its own.  Chris Gordon of the New York Times says, “What the A.H.L. lacks in glamor it makes up in enthusiasm — at least in Hershey, a hockey town if there ever was one.” Thank you, Chris! [NYT]

NBC Sports picks up on Todd Ford’s awesome Johnny Cash mask! [Off the Bench]

Curt Boyd talks about his “Collins Scale”. [The Sports ‘Burger]

The All-Star break marks what is traditionally the unofficial end to the first half of the hockey season.  GM gives us his synopsis of the first half. [HersheyBearsHockey Blog]

Highlights from the 2011 AHL All-Star Skills Competition

Photo by Brian Mills

The 2011 AHL All-Star Classic was the news of the day in Hershey.  A large crowd gathered to witness the best players in the AHL show off their skills in an assortment of events.  Unlike recent years, the format this year is an East versus West match up.  One player from the Western All Stars received a loud round of applause.  That player was former Bear, Alexandre Giroux.  Of course current Bears Brian Fahey, Andrew Gordon and Braden Holtby also received large show of support.

The First event was the “Sher-Wood Puck Control Relay.”  The East took two out of three heats to get an early lead.  Up next was the “Reebok Fastest Skater.”  The RBC Future Stars gave the West a point, while the East got points for the fastest individual and fastest team average.  The “RBC Rapid Fire” competition was next on the agenda.  The goalies from the East came up big.  Martin Jones and John Curry had to split duties because Holtby sat out the events with a sore knee.  The East got another point thanks to fabulous goal tending.  The East picked up two more points in the “Reebok Hardest Shot.”  The East had the highest team average and Fahey led all contestants with a shot of 96.9 mph.  In the “Reese’s Accuracy Shooting” the East yet again prevailed gaining two more points.  The “Reese’s Pass and Score” also belonged to the East when they won 4-2.  The last event was the “Panasonic Breakaway Relay.”  Again, the goaltending from the East was the dominant factor.  The offence from the East also produced 4 goals.  After all events were done, the East outscored the West by a score of 19-7

For a full score sheet from the competition, check out the results on the AHL’s official website. After the jump, make sure to check out our extensive photos from the day.

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Hershey Bears Edge Out Manitoba Moose, 4-3

Hershey started off incredibly strong. They absolutely punished the Manitoba Moose in the first two minutes alone. Brian Fahey got the first goal of the night 43 seconds into the game. His shot came from the blue line and may have deflected off a Moose player before entering the goal. A little over a minute later, Nikita Kashirsky recorded his second goal of the season. Two shots for Hershey, two goals for Hershey.

Manitoba then took a time out to regain their composure. They rebounded and were able to keep calm despite their early deficit. In the last minutes of the period, they got their first goal of the night. It kind of looked like Patrick Wellar screened Dany Sabourin on that shot.

During the second period, the Bears relaxed a little. They stopped firing shots at Manitoba goaltender Eddie Lack. As a result, Manchester kicked it up and tied the game. It was a good cross ice pass for Manitoba but Sabourin didn’t handle it well. Instead of using lateral movement to slide across the crease, he panicked and dove.

Hershey regained the lead before the end of the second period. Stop me if you’ve heard this before but Andrew Gordon scored on the power play with a shot right on the door step of the Manitoba goal. Shocking, I know.

During the third period, the first half was mostly uneventful. It didn’t get interesting until Manitoba tied it up again with a goal that beat Sabourin short side. I’m going to guess he wants that one back.

But have no fear! Andrew Gordon, power play player extraordinaire, is here to save the day! Once again, parking out in front of the net paid off. Lawrence Nycholat‘s shot from the blue line came towards the net and Gordon got his stick on it with less than thirty seconds left in the game. The Bears were able to stave off any last minute chances from the Moose and won 4-3 in exciting fashion.

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