Bears Back On Track In Time For Extended Home Ice Advantage

HERSHEY, Pa. - After getting through a busy portion of the schedule and into the holiday break, the Hershey Bears (15-9-3) have seemingly returned to form just in time for the month of January - a month they play 11 of their 14 scheduled games on home ice at Giant Center.

Catching Up

Heading into the home stretch of a wild five-in-six (or six-in-nine), the Bears made the short trip to Allentown for the first of a home-and-home series heading into the holiday break.

Unfortunately for Hershey, Garrett Pilon and the Bears were about two second shy of forcing overtime as video review showed that the no goal call on the ice was correct and the Phantoms emerged with a 2-1 victory. It was their first of the season over the Bears and their fifth straight. The loss was Hershey’s second straight loss. Ryan Dmowski scored Hershey’s lone goal late in the third period with Kody Clark and Drake Dymsha earning assists. Phoenix Copley made 17 saves in the loss. Hershey was a miserable 0-for-5 on the PP. The Bears were without the services of Eddie Wittchow (long-term injury), Shane Gersich (COVID protocol), Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (COVID protocol), Zach Fucale (COVID protocol), Mike Vecchione (injury), Cody Franson (upper-body injury), Brian Pinho (lower-body injury), and Riley Sutter (lower-body injury). In addition, Brett Leason, Beck Malenstyn, and Joe Snively rejoined the team after the Capitals/Flyers game in Philadelphia was postponed due to COVID. Hershey signed Chris Brown and Marcus Vela to PTOs prior to Tuesday’s game.

The two teams were set to square off Wednesday night in Hershey, but late positive COVID tests forced a postponement of the game.

Hershey returned to the ice Monday night in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton where they emerged with a 4-1 victory thanks to a pair of Dmowski goals. Late in the opening period, the Penguins scored their only goal of the game to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, but Dmowski got his first of the game on the powerplay to tie the game going into the second intermission. In the third, Matt Moulson scored a deflection from the netfront on the powerplay, then Dmowski added his second power play goal of the evening. Beck Malenstyn added the game’s final goal just past the midway point of the third. Hunter Shepard earned the victory in net with 24 saves on 25 shots.

The Penguins then made the trip down I-81 Wednesday for a rematch. After a scoreless first period, the Bears got three in rapid succession in the second. After a huge shot from Macoy Erkamps was turned aside, the puck ended up on the other side of the blueline where Tobias Geisser got his first AHL goal. Not to be outdone, Marcus Vela scored his first AHL goal less than four minutes later. Bobby Nardella picked off an errant Penguin pass, got the puck to Dylan McIlrath, who hit Vela for the goal. Morelli then earned an unassisted goal by putting back a rebound of his own shot. The winger then dropped the puck to Nardella who scored Hershey’s fourth goal of the period, but Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got one back seconds later, but it was the Bears who skated off the ice with a 4-1 lead heading into the third. In the third the Bears got a pair from defensemen with McIlrath and Dmowski each recording goals as the Bears dispatched of the Penguins 6-1, the first time they have started a season 5-0 against their in-state rivals. Shepard once again earned the victory in net for the Chocolate and White.

On Sunday afternoon, the Bears finished off the sweep of the week with a 3-2 OT victory over the Bridgeport Islanders (Baby Isles has a nice ring to it). Hershey’s Shane Gersich bookended the scoring with the game’s opening goal, a rebound off a Drake Rymsha shot, and a thrilling swipe-and-score in overtime to lift the Bears. Garrett Pilon returned to the lineup and scored the game’s lone 2nd period goal. Bridgeport managed to get a pair by Zach Fucale who made his first start in several weeks.

Special Teams Weekly Recap

Hershey PP was 3-for-13 (Dmowski scored two and Moulson scored one against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - Dec. 27)

Hershey PK was 9-for-10

Three Things

1. A Bunch of Firsts

In the final game of the calendar year, the Bears saw a trio of firsts against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Tobias Geisser and Marcus Vela each scored their first AHL goals.

After the game, Geisser responded, "I scored a couple of goals in Switzerland too," when asked if it was a relief to finally get this milestone behind him. But perhaps the biggest "first" was a team first as it was the first time the Bears started out the season 5-0 against their in-state rivals, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

"History was made tonight. It’s tough to make history for the Hershey Bears because the history is so long…it’s certainly an element to be proud of for this group," Bears head coach Scott Allen said.

2. Taxi, Please?

The return of the taxi squad once again throws curve balls to already depleted AHL ranks, which in turn further diminishes the depth at the ECHL, but Hershey is weathering the storm rather well, winning six of nine in the month of December.

Currently, Washington has Alex Alexeyev, Michal Kempny, Mike Sgarbossa, Brett Leason, Lucas Johansen, Phoenix Copley. Additionally, former Bears Martin Fehervary, Aliaksei Protas, and Connor McMichael are all currently on Washington’s roster.

The “Next-Man-Up” mentality has served both Washington and Hershey well this season, especially as the Capitals navigate keeping guys from having to go through waivers.

"We've been getting guys in (without) practice time. We finally got to the ice yesterday for some of the new guys to blend in with some of our foundation guys," said Allen.

3. New Years’ Resolution Time

"We just want to stay the course. It's challenging times for everybody. We just to stay living in the moment, learning from our past, be it good or bad and preparing for the future," said Allen in response to being asked for New Years’ resolutions for the Bears.

Of course, with the Bears home for double-digit games in January, the prospect of hitting the road late in the season is on Allen's radar, "We have to make hay while we're at home," he said, noting that the team is still going to take things one game at a time.