Hershey Inches Closer to Calder Cup Playoffs

HERSHEY, Pa. - With a Calder Cup playoff berth within reach, the Bears traveled to Allentown Wednesday night, a rink where they had not been victorious this season. Newly signed forward Ethen Frank made his first professional start and was impressive in his early shifts, but it was Mike Vecchione who recorded the lone goal of the first period, pouncing on a rebound and scoring against his former team at PPL Center in a 2-1 setback.

Hershey traveled to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Friday night and while Ethen Frank scored his first professional goal on the powerplay to tie the game and Mason Morelli tallied his 12th of the season also on the powerplay, the Penguins battled back in a six-on-five situation after pulling Tommy Nappier for the extra attacker.

In overtime, a questionable call on Brett Leason allowed the Penguins to have a four-on-three where they scored the game-winner.

"You know, we have a tough time trying to manufacture five on five," Scott Allen told InsideAHLHockey.com after the loss. "So it's crucial that our powerplay does step up and get opportunities. And they certainly did that tonight. And then the same thing on the flip side, the penalty kill was strong throughout. Unfortunately, the four-on-three they did a good job on the power play with it."

Unfortunately for Hershey, things went from bad to worse Sunday as they fell 1-0 at home to the Providence Bruins, a team that shut them out for the third time this season.

Brandon Bussi shined in his second game in goal for the Providence Bruins, turning aside all 26 of  Hershey's shots. Hershey’s inability to clear the defensive zone and make crisp passes also proved problematic in the shutout loss. It was the third time this season the Bruins have shut out the Bears.

Like the game before, a questionable penalty call brought some angst from the fans and team alike, but Allen’s mantra this season has been no excuses, and that was evident in the post-game interview as well.

"You can debate the call," Allen said. "I mean, Providence is known as an embellishment, diving team. Did he embellish it? I'll let somebody else be the judge of that. But you can't put yourself, regardless, you can't put yourself in that situation. And we did."

Special Teams Weekly Recap

Hershey PP was 2-7 (Frank and Morelli vs. WBS)

Hershey PK was 8-9

Three Things

1. Ethen’s Excellent in Debut

The kid has speed, which is useful to Hershey since the likes of Joe Snively and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby are both currently in Washington. He also has a quick release, which certainly comes in handy as well as he had some good chances early, especially a 'Grade-A' chance on his second professional shift.

Certainly those two qualities and a nose for the net helped him lead the NCAA in scoring.

In his second professional game, he scored on a blast from the circle on the power play, reminding some of Alex Ovechkin.

2. South Carolina Bows Out

The Stingrays failed to qualify for the Kelly Cup for just the third time since 1994.

The good news is that the Bears should see a few players join the team this week.

The bad news is that Scott Allen will have a number of healthy scratches going forward, which might not seem like a 'bad' problem given where the Bears have been this season with healthy skaters, recalls, illnesses, and injuries.

Unfortunately, there is another problem with South Carolina’s elimination and Hershey’s struggles - Washington’s lack of developing players in the system and benching 'developmental' players in Washington has not escaped the notice of many in Hershey.

3. Rookies on PP

Allen and the coaching staff not only placed Frank on the powerplay in his first week, they also placed Julian Napravnik on the second PP as well in his professional debut Sunday night at home.

Allen said, "You know what, a lot of that goes into the research and background and do with the trust we have in our scouting department. They do a tremendous job finding players, and we want to put guys in position to succeed. And so right from the outset, you know, we put those guys in position to succeed."

Napravnik has speed and scoring abilities in his own right, so this pair should be very fun to watch as they develop at this level.

Scott Allen Quotable

"Yeah, also one of his teammates was playing for us too," Allen said in response to preparing for newcomer Brandon Bussi. "So it gives Alex Westlund the opportunity - Alex Westlund is an extremely thorough guy. He does a tremendous job with not only our goalies but pre-scouting other goalies. So, the guys are always prepared in regards to, you know, opposition goalies. But I mean, to be honest with you, I could have shut us out in that first period too you know, the amount of shots we had. And that's what was disappointing to me; we had a goalie playing a second pro game. And, you know, we didn't get after it. We didn't take advantage of that."

Ethen Frank Quotable

"I just try to be like a sponge and soak everything up. I've been learning a lot in my first week here and I'm just going to keep trying to keep doing that. You know, just learning everything every day has been really helpful especially with the caliber of the players. It's helping me get better every day to improve."

The Road Ahead

Hershey travels to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Tuesday night and Allentown Friday night before returning to Giant Center to complete a home and home series with the Flyers' AHL affiliate on Saturday.

Milestone alert

The Bears still have yet to clinch a postseason berth. They are now four points away from making the playoffs heading into Tuesday's showdown in Wilkes-Barre. After winning just three games this month, the Bears need to turn a corner quickly or they will find themselves needing help to make the Calder Cup Playoffs.