The Bears came into play on Sunday evening just two points shy of first place in the Atlantic division. They would look to tie the Hartford Wolf Pack for first as they welcomed in the Rochester Americans to Giant Center.…
HERSHEY, PA – Garrett Mitchell celebrates his goal with Tyler Lewington and Nathan Walker in Hershey’s 5-3 win over the Rochester Americans Sunday night. (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
The Hershey Bears are one of the hottest team in the AHL right now, and nothing is stopping them. On Sunday night, they extended their winning streak to five games. With goals from Christian Thomas, Riley Barber, Nathan Walker, Garrett Mitchell, and Aaron Ness, along with a 21-save preformance from Joe Cannata, Hershey took all six possible points avaiable this weekend.
Below the jump, enjoy photos from Sunday night’s game. Also, check out the shots from the postgame autograph session here.
HERSHEY, PA – Brandon Segal scores his first of two goals on the night for Hershey in their 5-1 win over Rochester (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
It may not have been a 60 minute, complete game effort by the Hershey Bears like Head Coach Mike Haviland has been preaching, but it was awfully close. Brandon Segal tallied two goals and earned first star honors in a convincing 5-1 Saturday night win against the Western Conference Rochester Americans.
HERSHEY, PA – Philipp Grubauer, seen here at the Outdoor Classic, made 35 saves in Hershey’s 4-1 win over Rochester (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
A day after watching their point streak get snapped in the hands of the Toronto Marlies, the Hershey Bears returned to the United States to face the historic Rochester Americans. Looking to jump back into the win column, four different Bears score combined with a solid performance by Philipp Grubauer to cap a 4-1 victory in New York.
Tomas Kundratek misses a chance at a wide open Americans’ net. (All photos courtesy of Tim Stough)
New to SHOE this season will be a “weekend in photos” post. Both Kyle and myself are credentialed to shoot Bears games in different areas of Giant Center. And as you might of imagined, we take a lot of pics. So many in fact that they can’t all fit into our game recaps. So instead of keeping these pictures on our cutting room floor, we’ll post the most notable ones in this weekly segment.
This week, I supply all of the snapshots, and they come from the Bears home opener on Saturday night. Take a look and make sure to click on the pics to enlarge them.
HERSHEY, PA – Americans’ Evan Rankin celebrates Marcus Foligno’s goal in the third period (Kyle Mace – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
Saturday night at Giant Center the Hershey Bears squared off with the second oldest franchise in the American Hockey League, the Rochester Americans. It wasn’t just a hockey game, but a celebration among Hershey Bears fans, players and staff members. Saturday the Bears celebrated 75 years of hockey.
Photo credit: Kyle Mace
Hershey Bears forward Garrett Mitchell has started off his second professional season strong. He scored a goal in his second game of the year in the Bears 3-2 win over Binghamton. And tonight, Mitchell had a Gordie Howe hat trick, registering a goal, an assist, and a fight in the Bears’ home opener. Well, should we call it a Gordie Howe hat trick plus with him registering a game misconduct too?
Kyle Mace’s exceptional photos of each event are below.
In a match-up of the league’s most storied teams, the Bears were looking for a solid win on the road after experience some issues in this stretch.
Sadly, it didn’t turn out like they hoped. It started off just like we wanted it to. A gritty play resulted in Matt Pope chipping at puck at David Leggio. It took a nice bounce and hopped into the goal. But the Amerks scored on the power play and then during the final minute of the period to take the lead.
Patrick McNeill celebrates his first goal of the game (All photos by Kyle Mace)
After an interesting game last night against Adirondack, Hershey played another weird one tonight after Rochester would score three goals in the third period and send the game to overtime and then a shootout. But the result was the same, as Hershey wins 4-3 over the Americans (SO.)
You can’t win ’em all. Although, when you’re playing the struggling Rochester Americans, you tend to think you can win it.
It looked like it was going to be really bad at first. By the end of the first period, the Bears were already down 2-0. Rochester scored once on the power play and once even strength to make it look like a rough night for Hershey. It didn’t help when the Amerks scored in the beginning of the next period on a rebound shot past Todd Ford.
At the end of this recap, you’ll find the lines and pairings, as usual. However, those lines didn’t last very long. By the end of the second period, the coaches were already doing some shuffling in order to combat the Amerks early lead.
With the Amerks up 3 goals to none and Boyd Kane going to the penalty box for two minutes, things started looking grim. Thankfully, the Bears refused to give us and started putting some pressure on Rochester, even while down a man. Zach Miskovic unleashed a big shot that Johann Kroll tipped along the way and the Bears ended Tyler Plante’s shutout with a short-handed goal. That is Kroll’s first goal and point of the season.
Things really got exciting when Jay Beagle brought the Bears within one goal of tying it. He approached the goal at an angle that was rapidly getting tighter and tighter. He had such a quick backhand shot that it was hard to tell he even shot at all until you saw the slow motion replay. Plante was just as fooled and suddenly it was 3-2 Rochester.
It was like the Bears got a second wind. They start skating faster and harder and Rochester responded by matching their pace. The two teams battled it out for the rest of the period but Hershey couldn’t complete the comeback. They came very close but had their shots blocked. They even hit iron a couple of times. Amerks win 3-2.
The Bears will be at home for the remainder of the weekend. Make sure you come out and cheer the team back to its winning ways.
