The Hershey Bears came into play Saturday night, coming off a rough road trip to Charlotte earlier in the week, dropping both games to the Checkers. They looked to take advantage of some home cooking with a Saturday night tilt…
Riley Barber celebrates with Paul Carey after Carey’s fourth goal of the game on Saturday night against Hartford. (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
The Hershey Bears defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack for the second time in as many nights behind four goals from Paul Carey. Hershey gets two more points to stay in fourth with rivals Bridgeport and Providence winning on this evening.
The Bears came out flying and were rewarded for their hard work as Carey picked up the puck and snapped a perfect shot over the glove of Mackenzie Skapski to make it 1-0 for the home team.
Christian Djoos celebrates his game winning overtime goal against Hartford on Friday night in Hershey. (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
The Hershey Bears hosted the Hartford Wolf Pack looking for 2 points and hopefully advancing into a playoff spot for the first time since January. A back and forth game ended up with an overtime winner from Christian Djoos to give the Bears a 4-3 win.
After a quiet first period, the Bears found themselves behind in the second as Hartford’s Matt Carey tipped in a point shot to give the Wolf Pack the first lead of the game.
Hershey responded under 50 seconds later, as Christian Djoos drove the slot and fed Paul Carey to tie the game at one apiece.
HERSHEY, PA – Chris Bourque celebrates his game winning goal in overtime against Hartford on Saturday night.(Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
The last time Chris Bourque wore the Bears sweater in Giant Center was 1,275 days ago, playing in game 4 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs in 2012. He scored an empty net goal in Hershey’s win that game.
HERSHEY, PA – Former Bear Chris Bourque is joined by teammates after his game tying goal in Hartford’s win in Hershey on Sunday night (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
After a comeback win Saturday night, the Bears faced off against the Hartford Wolf Pack for the second time in as many nights. After two early goals from Connor Carrick and Nathan Walker, Hershey was cruising with a 2-1 lead into the second. Yet Harford would not go down without a fight, as former Bear Chris Bourque would tie the game and Oscar Lindberg scoring to give Hartford the win.
HERSHEY, PA – Bears players celebrate Kris Newbury’s go-ahead goal against the Hartford Wolf Pack Saturday night (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
After a three game losing skid on the road, the Chocolate and White returned to Giant Center to take on the Hartford Wolf Pack. After falling behind 2-0 heading into the third period, the Bears were able to score four unanswered goals against the team formally called the Whale, as Chris Brown, Connor Carrick, and Kris Newbury (twice) all found the back of the net in Hershey’s 4-2 win.
David Leggio, seen here earlier in the season, had 34 saves in Hershey’s shootout loss Friday night (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
It was an odd Friday night around the American Hockey League to kickoff a three game weekend, and one that was slightly beneficial to the Hershey Bears Hockey Club despite a 2-1 shootout defeat to the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Peter LeBlanc scored Hershey’s lone goal with 1:04 remaining in an end-to-end second period. David Leggio was superb and earned third star honors from stopping 34 of 35 shots through 65 minutes.
HERSHEY, PA – Dmitry Orlov (right) goes for the puck against Brodie Dupont during Hershey’s 4-3 loss to the Wolf Pack (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
Striding towards their first win on Giant Center ice since last Spring, the Hershey Bears reunited with the Hartford Wolf Pack. After dropping the team title “Connecticut Whale”, the Hartford based franchise restored the name “Wolf Pack” after a two year absence.
On a Penn State University football game day, 8,001 fans packed Giant Center to witness a Hershey third period collapse, which handed the Wolf Pack their sixth win of the campaign.
Two third period goals for the Pack opposed to none for Hershey led to a 4-3 defeat in front of the hometown crowd. The Bears’ record drops to 1-3-1-0 going into the weekend finale Sunday against Norfolk.
Hartford goalie Cameron Talbot looks back at a puck in his net. Photo by Kyle M.
Hershey chalks up a win the last game they will ever play against the Hartford Wolf Pack before they become the Connecticut Whale.
With Hershey controlling the tempo of this game, it was another game where Semyon Varlamov did not see a lot of shots. He stopped 19 of 22 and at least one of those goals there was really nothing he could do. He looked more comfortable in his crease, even after getting plowed down by Chad Kolarik in the first period.
A strong start to the second period helped push Hershey to an early lead. Mathieu Perreault showed off his speed by breaking up a pass at the blue line before darting off to get an unassisted goal just 17 seconds into the second period. Just over a minute later, Brian Fahey had a bomb of a shot from the right point.
Minutes later, Fahey and Sean Collins took two quick penalties and suddenly the Wolf Pack had their first goal. However, the Bears remained calm and Perreault picked up his fourth goal of the season halfway through the period. Brian Willsie would wrap up the period with a power play goal to make 4-1 Hershey after 40 minutes.
After that period, Hershey was done scoring but Hartford wasn’t. They scored two more goals halfway through the third period before Hershey’s defense could corral them. Willsie’s goal became the game winner as Hershey defeated Hartford 4-3.
So it’s adios Wolf Pack. Hello Whale. We’ll see you in March.
