Dubé's Mindset, Support From Teammates Helped Him Overcome Scoring Drought

HERSHEY, Pa. - Prior to scoring the game-winning overtime goal in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals Saturday night, Hershey Bears forward Pierrick Dubé was struggling.

A regular offensive contributor throughout the regular season, as evidenced by his impressive 28 goals, 20 assists statline in 66 games with the Bears this season, Dubé was held off the score sheet in all but one game in the postseason - a two-point performance against Lehigh Valley in Game 4 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals.

"I've been struggling scoring goals. It was just not going in," Dubé said of his recent scoring drought in the postseason.

The lack of production certainly wasn't due to a lack of effort, or even a lack of creating scoring chances.

Dubé has recorded 33 shots in nine postseason games this spring, leading all Bears players with Ethen Frank's 25 shots on goal and Ivan Miroschnichenko's 21 shots coming in a distant second and third in that category, respectively.

"He's trying to do the right things out there, but they weren't clicking in his direction and he was getting a bit frustrated," Bears head coach Todd Nelson said of Dubé's offensive woes in the postseason. "The goals just haven't come his way."

Despite frustration setting in, Dubé said his teammates were always there for him in supporting him through a difficult personal stretch on the ice.

"The locker room that we have, it's just.. it's amazing. We're all brothers, we all care for each other," Dubé said proudly of his teammates having his back.

Hershey was on their heels much of the third period, as well as the beginning of overtime Saturday night but Dubé made all of that irrelevant after he stole a puck on a backcheck and - after a nice give-and-go with Jimmy Huntington through the neutral zone - entered the offensive zone with speed down the left wing, taking the puck to the net and picking the far-side corner of the net to lift his team to a huge overtime win and 2-0 series lead.

"I was having a tough time and everyone was talking to me [telling me] to stick with it, and it's going to come at some point. And it ended up [being Saturday]," Dubé said after the game.

Mike Vecchione, who scored the Calder Cup clinching goal in Game 7 overtime as well as the overtime winner this past Thursday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, went as far as to say that a big goal was coming for Dubé.

"I called it before, no big deal," Vecchione said in a team-released video from the locker room prior to handing Dubé the team's player of the game 'Bear head' after Dube's game-winning overtime goal Saturday night.

In speaking with reporters after Saturday's Game 2 overtime winning goal, Dubé referenced his game-winning overtime goal to win a QMJHL championship in 2022 with the Shawinigan Cataractes.

"It was kind of like the game goal. This one feels good," Dubé recalled, comparing the two goals, both of which were overtime game-winners. "It feels amazing, honestly."

Dubé was open and honest about his offensive struggles in the postseason, and about his confidence wavering.

But after being asked by RMNB's Ian Oland about the meaning behind a tattoo on his arm, it became clear that Dubé is one very determined hockey player that is unafraid of a little adversity along the way.

"If you don't take any risks, you don't write any stories," Dubé said when asked about a tattoo he got on his right bicep last summer that reads 'No Risk No Story'. "At the end of the day I'd rather take risks and fall/fail, so I can be better the next time. It's just something that I have in my head, and in my mindset with everything in life."