With races in our first ever SHOEY Awards very close, we decided to extend voting another week! We will count up the final votes Saturday, May 10th at midnight and announce all of the winners on Monday, May 12th. We still have two final categories to breakdown and they just happen to be the closest races of them all.
Michael Latta, seen here earlier in the season, had a goal during Hershey’s 5-3 loss to Norfolk Wednesday night (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
As the Hershey Bears left South Central Pennsylvania Tuesday morning for Hampton Roads Virginia, they knew they were heading down south for arguably the two biggest games of their season against the Norfolk Admirals. The Admirals were tied in points with Hershey coming into Wednesday night’s game, but Hershey had the first tiebreaker, giving them the control of their destiny, but after the game, Norfolk now controls the final spot in the Eastern Conference as they topped Hershey, 5-3.
Casey Wellman, seen here earlier in the season, had two points during Hershey’s loss Saturday night to Worcester (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
There are 11 games remaining in the regular season for the Hershey Bears, who are now five points out of the 8th and final playoff spot. That’s not an impossible obstacle to overcome, but the Bears current slump is making the road to the playoffs even harder. Hershey dropped two of three this weekend with back-to-back losses in Worcester on Saturday and in Manchester on Sunday afternoon.
HERSHEY, PA – Michael Latta joins teammates after Brandon Segal’s first period goal during Hershey’s 4-1 win over Adirondack (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
It’s has been high riding for the Hershey Bears this season against the Northeast Division, entering Saturday with an a 7-3-2-1 record in 2013-14. But Cal Heeter and the Adirondack Phantoms have haunted the Bears this season with three wins in the previous four meetings.
With the Phantoms in the Eastern Conference dungeon, their playoff chances are fading away by the second. But for the Chocolate and White, all 16 games remaining entering Saturday have the significance of playoff games. Two points removed from the eighth seeded Albany Devils, Hershey sought a needed home-ice victory.
Four different Hershey goal scorers propelled them to a 4-1 victory over the Phantoms. It was the team’s 20th win on Giant Center ice this season.
During Paul Fixter’s coaching tenure with the Hershey Bears about a decade ago, he implemented a motto, “Earned, never given.” The phrase captured the minds of his players in effort to spread the message that all positive results on the ice have to be earned, and are rarely handed over on a silver platter.
But unfortunately on Saturday night, a border-line joke of a 3-1 Norfolk Admirals win over the Hershey Bears was more on the given side.
Your highlight of the night was in the second period during a tied 1-1 hockey game. Nate Schmidt appeared to be slew footed in the Hershey offensive end and went down to the ice in a heap of pain. The Admirals’ countered down ice on a 2-on-1 rush, setting the stage for a game-winning goal by Chris Wagner at 14:18 of the period.
It was a fun game to watch on television, listen in on radio, or even follow on twitter. But most of all, it was an excellent way to end a six-game skid.
The Hershey Bears traveled to Virginia Beach and throttled the Norfolk Admirals by a 3-2 count. It was their first game played of the season at the Norfolk Scope, and it had a homecoming feel for Bears’ Head Coach Mike Haviland. Haviland was an Admirals’ assistant coach last season and the head bench boss for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 campaigns.
Dane Byers scored a third period insurance marker, which later proved to be the game-winner in a 3-2 decision. With out of town help by the Utica Comets, the Bears now stand within one point of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and three points within the division lead.
Dane Byers, seen here earlier in the season, had two goals in Hershey’s 6-5 loss (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
“12 Rounds” may be an epic movie starring entertainer John Cena, but in a way the action film’s title describes the annual rivalry between the Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Both teams battled in round 12 on Tuesday night to end the 2013-14 regular season portion of the I-81 rivalry. The back and forth game ended in a victory for the Baby Penguins, beating Hershey 6-5.
Washington, DC – Casey Wellman prepares for a faceoff in Hershey’s 5-2 defeat in the 2014 AHL Showcase at Verizon Center (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
The Giant Center goal horn was held silent on Saturday night when the Syracuse Crunch blanked the Bears by a 5-0 count. It ended a 12 game Giant Center win streak for the Chocolate and White, but eyes quickly turned towards an opportunity for revenge the next night.
Sunday was the second annual AHL Showcase held at Verizon Center in our nation’s capital. Last year Ryan Potulny was the hero en route to a 2-1 win over the Norfolk Admirals.
This year the Bears-Crunch battled in Washington D.C. only days before resumption of National Hockey League play. The Tampa Bay Lightning lead affiliate potted five more goals on Philipp Grubauer for the second consecutive night and topped Hershey, 5-2.
HERSHEY, PA – Philipp Grubauer hugs Dustin Gazley after Gazley’s game winning, overtime goal against Wilkes-Barre (Tim Stough / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
As many know, we are in a current time stretch where football season has concluded, the countdown to Spring Training is in full throttle, and where fans continuously fall asleep on their sofa attempting to watch the NBA.
But at the American Hockey League level, the Hershey Bears enter a crucial eight week stretch of their schedule which takes them to April. It is a stretch which will truly decide whether playoff hockey will once again return to Hershey for a ninth consecutive season.
Sunday the Bears battled the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the weekend finale, looking for four out of six standings points in the weekend. Dustin Gazley scored 47 second into overtime to down the Penguins in a Giant Center classic.
HERSHEY, PA – Ryan Stoa celebrates his first period goal with teammates during Hershey’s 5-3 win (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
The Hershey Bears debuted on Giant Center ice for the only time this weekend with a Saturday night match against the Springfield Falcons. Bears Play-by-Play voice Scott Stuccio tweeted hours before puck drop, “Bears undoubtedly will be ready to go for this one. Springfield (25-6-1-3) is the AHL’s top team (.771 points %).”
Hershey dropped a 4-2 tilt in Binghamton, NY the night before. However, Stuccio also tweeted Saturday afternoon that the Senators appeared to have too many men on the ice during their second period, game-winning goal.
Just as Stuccio warned, the Bears were ready to play and grinned out a 5-3 win over the top team in the American Hockey League.