Hershey Bears Weekly Notebook 12/15/22

HERSHEY, Pa. - The Hershey Bears (17-5-3) secured seven of a possible eight points last week, maintaining the best record in the American Hockey League (AHL). They'll face a pair of in-state rivals in a grueling three-game weekend beginning Friday night in Wilkes-Barre against the Penguins.

It was a rare four games-in-six days week for the Bears, who once again hosted a Tuesday night game where they defeated the Checkers 4-2. Friday they traveled to Bridgeport for the lone road game of the week where they once again earned a 4-2 victory. Saturday and Sunday they hosted the Cleveland Monsters with Hershey earning a 3-2 victory Saturday and a 6-5 setback in a five-round shootout in the rematch Sunday.

### Last Week

Tuesday, December: Charlotte - 2 at Hershey - 4

After a quiet first period Tuesday that saw no few offensive chances for either team, Hendrix Lapierre took a pass from Heinrik Rybinski and beat Alex Lyon early in the second. Sam Anas doubled Hershey’s lead with a negative-angle shot that bounced off a defender and the crossbar behind Lyon before bouncing into the net. 18 seconds later, Bobby Nardella’s shot from the point managed to evade traffic and past Lyon giving Hershey a 3-0 lead, but that lead would quickly evaporate in the third.

Eighteen seconds into the final period, Charlotte tallied a short-handed goal. Later in the period, despite Zach Fucale’s argument that there was interference in his crease, the Checkers cut the lead to one. With time winding down, Lyon headed to the bench for an extra attacker which did not pay off as Shane Gersich drew a pair of defenders and found a wide-open Mike Sgarbossa for the empty net goal.

Fucale finished the night with 34 saves in a huge bounce-back performance.

"It was huge and actually the guys in front of him helped him get those big saves early because we had some breakdowns," Todd Nelson said tongue-in-cheek of Fucale's bounce-back performance to start the week. "It was a big game for him, a good bounce-back game. Like I said before, every now and then you go through a stinker of a game, I think collectively all of us didn't play so well two games ago."

Friday, December 9: Hershey - 4 at Bridgeport - 2

In Bridgeport, the Bears and Fucale surrendered an early lead, but Hershey's top line once again proved effective as Mike Vecchione tied the game off a beautiful pass from Ethen Frank.

In the second, Frank and Vecchione earned assists on Sgarbossa’s goal that gave the Bears their first lead of the night. Later in the period Sgarbossa scored his second goal off another Frank assist.

In the third, the Islanders cut the lead to one, but Frank scored an empty net goal in his first professional four-point performance for the Bears. Fucale made 20 saves on the evening.

"[The top line] contributed tonight again you know, it's just the way it is. Like earlier in the year, I remember a game where it was a tight game and our fourth line went out there and scored a big goal, so we're finding ways you know," Nelson said. "We're working together as a team. If you look at our point totals, nobody's running away at the scoring title on our team; we are all pretty even for our lineup, and that's a sign of a good team, a close team that's pretty even keeled with their offense."

Saturday, December 10: Cleveland - 2 at Hershey - 3

Saturday night in Hershey, the visiting Cleveland Monsters jumped out to an early lead on their first of two power play goals, but Sgarbossa’s skate redirected a Mason Morelli shot into the net to even things at one apiece.

Cleveland regained the lead on their second power play goal, but Aaron Ness scored his first of the season and 50th professional goal. After a scoreless second, video replay confirmed that Sam Anas did score at 8:47 in the third. The clock was reset to that time and the game resumed.

Despite several empty net chances, neither team scored again. Clay Stevenson stopped 25 shots in his first AHL start to earn the victory in net.

On Stevenson's debut, Nelson said, "I think it was a great game for him. You know, we were joking in the coach's room. We said to the goalie coach, Juha, and I said, Don't worry, our team has a tendency of getting our goalies into the game early, and we gave up some pretty big chances and he was tested early, and you know he allowed two power play goals, but five-on-five he got the shutout. I think that's a great first outing for him. It was nice that we got the win to give him confidence, but he looks really comfortable in there. You know, it's a big body that stops pucks."

Sunday, December 11: Cleveland - 6 at Hershey - 5

The teams returned to Giant Center ice on Sunday evening for the rematch. In a wild game which saw Hershey hold four-goal leads twice, the Monsters ultimately prevailed behind power play goals once again.

Kale Kessy opened the scoring early in the first period. That goal was followed by Vecchione’s 10th of the season. Following a Kessy-Brett Gallant rematch from a year ago, Frank tallied to give the Bears a 3-0 lead. Connor McMichael would make it a four-goal lead before Cleveland struck late in the period.

In the second, McMichael scored on the power play, but the Monsters tallied four-unanswered goals, including the final two on the power play to close out the scoring by the end of the second period. In the shootout, both Cleveland's Trey Fix-Wolansky and Hershey's McMichael recorded first round goals. Josh Dunne ended it in the fifth round with a goal for the Monsters.

After the game, a disappointed Nelson said, "Teams that are championship teams, they keep on playing because they want more," noting that the Bears squandered four-goal leads twice. "But that's karma. You know, if you don't [continue playing], if you cheat the game, it's gonna hurt. So the bottom line is, that it's disappointing. We put ourselves in the driver's seat in the first period, and then we stopped working. We stopped working."

Quotable

Stevenson on his interactions with a very happy Zach Fucale after Saturday’s game when Fucale handed Stevenson the game puck

"I think he's a great guy, and goaltending partners is an interesting dynamic because the only way you're ever going to succeed is by building each other up and being happy for one another achieving those milestones because I'm sure he can remember his first AHL win and what that feels like and so what it's like to be in my shoes there."

The Week Ahead

The Bears have an all-Pennsylvania three-in-three weekend ahead of themselves with games in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Friday and Saturday night. They return home to Giant Center Sunday to host the Philadelphia Flyers' AHL affiliate at 5:00.

Friday, December 16: Hershey at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 p.m. ET Saturday, December 17: Hershey at W-B/Scranton, 6:05 p.m. ET Sunday, December 18: Lehigh Valley at Hershey, 5:00 p.m. ET

Team Leaders

Points: Mike Vecchione - 21 Goals: Mike Vecchione - 10 (T-18th in AHL) Assists: Mason Morelli - 15 (T-19 in AHL) +/-: Ethen Frank, Gabriel Carlsson, Mason Morelli +11 (T-12th in AHL) PIM: Kale Kessy - 51 (T-8th in AHL) Saves: Zach Fucale - 387 (12th in AHL) SV%: Hunter Shepard .932 (2nd in AHL) GAA: Hunter Shepard 1.83 (1st in AHL) / Zach Fucale - 2.85 (18th in AHL)