Hershey Bears Weekly Notebook 1/4/23

HERSHEY, Pa. - The Hershey Bears (22-7-3) remain atop the Atlantic Division standings heading into 2023, and in doing so results in head coach Todd Nelson being the Atlantic Division All-Stars bench boss for the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic's 3-on-3 tournament in Laval, Quebec where he will likely be coaching at least one or two of his Bears' players at the All-Star event next month.

Entering the new calendar year 7-2-0-1 in their last 10 games, the Bears will aim to continue to maintain their torrid pace to begin the 2022-23 season heading into a 10-game slate in January which begins with a five-game homestand.

Last Week

Tuesday, December 27: Hershey - 2 at W-B/Scranton - 1 (SO)

With little practice time before returning to action (morning skate before departing for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), the Bears made the trip up I-81 yet again to visit their in-state rivals, the Penguins. Frank once again provided the offense as he opened the scoring for the second straight game with a powerplay goal. The Penguins tied it with a powerplay goal of their own. After playing scoreless the rest of the way through regulation and overtime, McMichael scored on Hershey’s first attempt in the shootout. Zach Fucale shut the door on the Penguins to earn the victory in net with 24 saves. Of his team’s performance after a four-day break, Nelson said, “In the morning skate, our execution was really good, and I was quite surprised, and then this first game back after having four days off, I was really surprised with the first period. That was one of the best periods of the year; it’s a credit to the guys.”

**Wednesday, December 28: Providence - 0 at Hershey - 1

The Bears kept things rolling in the right direction on Wednesday night when they shutout visiting Providence, the league’s second best team, 1-0. A Jake Massie pass to Mike Vecchione was the lone goal to beat Brandon Bussi. The two defensive-minded teams battled scoreless the remainder of the way with Shepard earning his first shutout of the season, third of his career with the Bears with a 22-save performance. Things did get a bit dicey late in the second when McMichael appeared to take an elbow to the head. While he was down on the ice, Morelli stepped up to engage Chris Wagner. McMichael returned to the ice for the third period with Nelson saying, “We just have a viewpoint that if somebody hits one of us, they hit all of us, and you know, Mike, like he’s fine. I was a bit concerned; I thought it was going to be worse, but he came back and played in the third. So you know, good hockey teams like to govern their teammates, so that’s what happened.”

Saturday, December 31: Providence - 4 at Hershey - 3

Unfortunately, the Bears were not able to close out 2022 with a victory as the Providence Bruins earned a 4-3 victory over the Bears on New Years’ Eve. Frank continued his impressive rookie season scoring a rebound goal just 27 seconds into the contest. The visitors tied the game later in the first and took the lead with a pair of goals in the second period before Frank scored his second of the game on the powerplay. Newcomer Kevin O’Neil tied the game on a powerplay goal in his second game for the Bears, but the Bruins were able to score the game-winner, a goal that Nelson likely would have challenged if this was an NHL contest. It was “something we can’t challenge…that’s the American Hockey League,” Nelson said, noting the captains were told that the puck didn’t make it across the line before the contact. He added, “It’s not a situation where we can challenge the replay on stuff, so it’s not the National Hockey League.”

Quotable

Head coach Todd Nelson

"Yeah, but you know what? It's good that our guys are going through these games," Nelson said of playing in close playoff-like games. "It's kind of weird; we have a hard time protecting the lead, but we feel more comfortable playing like that and that's good for us to go through these situations. And if you look at our lineup, the guys get the job done," he added alluding to the number of players currently out of the lineup for injuries and recalls.

The Week Ahead

Hershey hosts Charlotte Saturday and Syracuse on Sunday this coming weekend as the team continues their seven-game home stand.

Saturday, January 7: Charlotte at Hershey, 7:05 p.m. ET Sunday, January 8: Syracuse at Hershey, 5:00 p.m. ET

Team Leaders

Points: Mike Vecchione - 28 Goals: Ethen Frank - 13 (T-17th in AHL) Assists: Mike Sgarbossa, Mike Vecchione  - 16 +/-: Ethen Frank, Mike Vecchione +17 (T-3rd in AHL), Gabriel Carlsson +14 (T-11th in AHL), Mike Sgarbossa +13 (T-15 in AHL) PIM: Kale Kessy - 68 (6th in AHL) Saves: Zach Fucale - 394 SV%: Hunter Shepard .928 SV% (4th in AHL) GAA: Hunter Shepard 1.88 GAA (1st in AHL), Zach Fucale 2.50 GAA (12th in AHL)