The Anthracite Triangle

Seems the "Phantoms" of the AHL, once of Philadelphia but currently of Glen Falls, NY, are going to return to the Keystone State in 2014.

It's roughly 75 miles from Hershey to Allentown, about 95 miles from Wilkes-Barre to Hershey, and about 65 miles from Allentown to Wilkes-Barre.

The Anthracite Triangle of the AHL (with Reading in the ECHL thrown in for us Caps fans)...

Bears Opening Night Duds?

The Hershey Bears are going to be wearing special Opening Night jerseys, according to this press release from the club.

It is a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Giant Center and the Bears' three Calder Cups since 2006.  The jerseys will be auctioned for charity after the game this Saturday against Norfolk.

Re-Entry

This morning's number...8

As in goals...goals allowed...by Braden Holtby.

In his last seven appearances with the Caps before being returned to Hershey, Holtby allowed a total of eight goals, posted a 6-0-1 record, 1.16 GAA, .961 save percentage, and pitched a shutout.

In his return to Hershey, Holtby has allowed eight goals in two games, posted  3.95 GAA, .837 save percentage, and has an 0-2-0 record.

Re-entry's a bitch, even if you're not an astronaut.

AHL Schedule To Be Released

Tomorrow, according to the league.  Let the road to the threepeat begin for the Bears.

Another City's Joy

photo: Chris Knight, The Patriot-News

I feel like the uncle at the wedding.

Not that I’m not family, but the day belongs to the bride, the groom, and their parents. I get to sit off to the side, smile broadly, and take pictures.

But it’s not the same as if I was in the wedding party.

And so that’s how I feel today, as a Caps fan, as the Hershey Bears celebrate their 11th Calder Cup, their third in five seasons (four trips to the finals). It is a great accomplishment, one for which the Bears and their fans should be proud. Truth be told, though, even if the Bears are a part of the larger Capitals organization, it doesn’t feel nearly the same as if the Caps won.

And this has nothing to do with the fact that the Caps are NHL and the Bears are AHL. The Bears arguably have the more legendary history and are the platinum standard for franchise management in the AHL. It is that our emotional investment has been and remains with the Capitals. The Bears are part of the family, but for us are more the nephew, not the child into which we pour our hopes, dreams, and fears.

It was interesting to watch the players, friends and families on the ice after the game on Monday, but it was interesting to watch the fans in the stands as well. It was as if no one wanted to leave. This was a celebration of a community that went through six months of a regular season together, shared adversity as the team faced the possibility of disappointment, and then together realized the ultimate prize. It was another year in a long history of seasons of shared hopes, disappointments, and victories that has made Hershey Bears hockey, well, Hershey Bears hockey. And it isn’t the same for a Caps fan who happens to follow the Bears and appreciates the success they have forged over the years.

Perhaps it is different in a smaller community such as Hershey, where the Bears occupy such a well-earned important place, but I would hope that when (and we still think it is a case of “when”) that day comes that it is the Capitals celebrating a Stanley Cup on their own ice, the joy you could see among the fans at Giant Center on Monday will be evident in the faces of the fans who share in the celebration. Those fans who witness the victory that the players work so hard for, and that those same fans share through their support over a long, often arduous season.

Eleventh Heaven: Bears 4 - Stars 0

The Hershey Bears defended their Calder Cup championship won last year in style last night, shutting out the Texas Stars in Game 6 of the Calder Cup final, 4-0, to earn the eleventh Calder Cup in franchise history.

“Defending,” indeed.

The four goals the Bears scored in the Cup-clinching win were all scored by defensemen – Patrick McNeill with a pair, John Carlson, and Karl Alzner. And, Hershey’s defense permitted only 22 shots to reach goalie Michal Neuvirth, who turned all of them away to earn his first shutout of the post season.

The game was not as close as the score indicated. Hershey came out storming, a far cry from the frustrated club that lost the first two games of the series on Giant Center ice. The Bears apparently learned some lessons in breaking down the Stars’ defense, peppering goalie Brent Krahn early and often. In fact, it was Krahn (returning to the lineup and getting his first start in the series) who kept the Stars in the game early. But the Bears did a fine job working the puck in deep, then winning battles to get the puck out in front for scoring chances.

What Krahn could not do, however, was kill penalties. Hershey got a power play chance when Aaron Gagnon was sent off for high-sticking 11:49 into the first period. Forty seconds later, John Carlson pounced on a loose puck in the slot, out of Krahn’s reach, and buried it in the back of the net to give the Bears the only goal they would need. Karl Alzner doubled the lead less than three minutes later, scoring on a drive from the left point as Steve Pinizzotto was screening Krahn. The first intermission ended with the Bears up, 2-0, and dominating the shot total, 17-4.

In the second period, the teams not only switched ends, but apparently switched styles as well. Texas came out aggressively, and Hershey looked a bit timid. But with five minutes remaining in the period, the Bears were putting pressure on the Stars. Patrick McNeill was rewarded for the overall hard work on the part of the Bears, putting back a rebound of his own at 14:47 of the period to give the Bears a 3-0 lead at the second intermission.

McNeill repeated his success in the third, netting a power play goal to drive the final nail into the Stars’ chances for a comeback. Not that the Stars quit, but any means, for after the McNeill goal they mounted their most sustained attack of the game. But goalie Michal Neuvirth made three fine glove saves in succession that had the Stars looking into the rafters in frustration. All that was left was for the Bears to play smart and hard, forcing the Stars to skate all 200 feet of the ice to have any chance of scoring. Neuvirth took care of the rest, turning away ten shots in the period and earning the shutout, thrusting his arms skyward as the final seconds ticked away on the Bears’ repeat as Calder Cup champion.

Chris Bourque was named the winner of the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs. He tied Alexandre Giroux for the overall points lead in the playoffs (27). Bourque’s win continues the history of the trophy never having been won by any player twice. 26 times it has been awarded, 26 different players have won it.

This was a night for the prospects. Carlson’s goal was the game winner, but his play in his own end was top notch. Particularly noteworthy was his contribution to holding Jamie Benn to a pair of assists for the series and a minus-3 rating. Karl Alzner had a fine game in his own end as well (despite performing a face-plant behind his own goal on one occasion). Neuvirth did not have to be spectacular for most of the game – the Bears did a good job of keeping the Stars to the outside – but he was certainly on his game in the last ten minutes when he was called upon to step up in defense of his own shutout. Those three glove saves coming with about five minutes remaining in the game were exclamation points on a fine overall playoff performance for the still rookie netminder.

Other stuff…

-- Along with Patrick McNeill, Carlson and Alzner combined for ten of the Bears’ 36 shots on goal and all four goals.

-- The Bears set a Giant Center attendance record of 11,002. You would have been hard pressed to find any unoccupied seats, too. Not many no-shows.

-- Jay Beagle did not crack the scoring column (he did record an assist), but he had a whale of a game chasing down pucks and making things difficult for the Stars when they controlled (or tried to control) the puck.

-- In the end, Texas simply could not compete with Hershey at even strength. Even though the Bears scored two goals on four power play opportunities last night, they dominated the play at 5-on-5. In the final four games of the series – all won by Hershey – the Bears outscored the Stars 10-2 at even strength.

-- What a different age we live in... it seemed that every Bear had a cell phone in the post-game celebration and was either talking to someone or texting.  And there was Steve Pinizzotto getting everything on video.

It was a great night for the Bears and their fans. We had the opportunity to capture some of it in images…

Congratulations to the Hershey Bears, the 2009-2010 Calder Cup Champions.

Teamwork

photo: Chris Knight, The Patriot News

Well, we're back after an unexpected hiatus, and it appears as though we've missed some heroics by the Hershey Bears.  The Chocolate and White are on the brink of winning the 11th Calder Cup in franchise history. As they prepare to take on the Texas Stars in Game 6 of the Calder Cup finals tonight at Giant Center in Hershey, it bears noting (so to speak) that this playoff season has been especially interesting in terms of spreading the Bears' wealth around. How?...

- The Bears have won 15 games so far, and 12 different players have at least one of the game-winning goals (Alexandre Giroux has three, Matthieu Perreault has 2, 10 others have one).

- Five of the top-eight playoff scorers are Bears: Chris Bourque, Giroux, Keith Aucoin, Andrew Gordon, and Perreault.

- Hershey is 8-1 in overtime games in these playoffs. The eight overtime game-winners were scored by eight different players – Andrew Joudrey, Kyle Wilson, Jay Beagle, Perreault, Bourque, Francois Bouchard, Boyd Kane, and Giroux.

- Despite scoring 71 goals in 20 games (3.55 G/G), Hershey has only two of the top-ten goal scorers in the playoffs (Giroux with 14, Gordon with 13). But they do have seven players with at least five goals (Bourque, Perreault, Wilson, Bouchard, and Steve Pinizzotto rounding out the group of seven), almost a third of the total number of players having scored that many in the playoffs (24).

- Of the 11 shorthanded goals scored thus far, no team has more than the two the Bears recorded (Bourque, Pinizzotto).

- The Bears have nine players in the top-20 in plus/minus (Perreault, Bryan Helmer, Bouchard, Wilson, Bourque, Karl Alzner, John Carlson, Beagle, and Pinizzotto).

- Michal Neuvirth is third among goaltenders in goals-against average, first among all rookie goalies in the Calder Cup playoffs (2.18).

- Only once in his last 11 appearances over the last two series has Neuvirth allowed more than three goals, only three times more than two goals (7-4, 2.05, .927).

If the Bears complete the journey tonight or Wednesday, they certainly will have done it together, as a team.

Calder Cup Final, Game 3: Bears 6 - Stars 3

Well, the Hershey Bears stepped away from the precipice last night, coming back from a 3-1 first intermission deficit to defeat the Texas Stars, 6-3, to get the series to 2-1, Stars. The cousins joined us last night to watch the game on ABC-27, by way of Comcast Sports Net. Of course, those two had very different takes on the action. I tried to keep some notes…

Peerless: Well, guys, it’s a series again. Win Wednesday, and the Bears have home ice again and ensure the series goes back to Hershey.

Cheerless: I read where no team lost the first two games of the Calder Cup final on home ice and came back to win the series.

Fearless: Well, that was then, and last night was now. OK, you get what I mean. Five unanswered goals, and the Bears seemed to spend the last 40 minutes in the Texas end of the ice.

Peerless: The game might not have been as close as the score indicated, either. The Stars got one goal off a Bears skate, another when Michal Neuvirth decided Christmas should come early and played the puck from in front of his own net right onto the stick of Francis Wathier, and Wathier didn’t miss.

Fearless: After that, it was just a matter of getting their heads back in the game.

Cheerless: Uh, no team has come back from losing the first two games of the finals at home…

Fearless: Yeah, yeah, we heard. That first period was brutal… those two fluky goals wrapped around a nice Kyle Wilson goal off a pretty feed from Francois Bouchard. But even as the period was coming to a close, you had a feeling it wasn’t over. The Stars weren’t spending a lot of time in the Hershey end, and when they did, they did little with the opportunity.

Peerless: It looked a little as if Texas was content with a 3-1 lead to just go into a shell, clog the middle of the ice like they had done so far, and try to frustrate the Bears into turnovers.

Fearless: It might have worked, too. Especially as bad as the Bears’ power play had been – 0-for-16 going back to the Manchester series. But then Ethan Graham took a pretty bad elbowing penalty mid way through the second – didn’t have to take that kind of penalty there. And the Bears finally made them pay on Wilson’s second goal of the game.

Peerless: Nice goal, but Keith Aucoin did a whale of a job fending off a Stars defender, pushing the puck deep into the zone and finding Wilson for the goal.

Fearless: That was nice, but the series might have turned less than 90 seconds later when Mathieu Perreault found himself planted at the post to goalie Matt Climie’s left. All he had to do when Karl Alzner threw the puck at the net was tap in the deflection.

Cheerless: Uh, guys? No team has ever come back in a Calder Cup final from losing the first two games on their own ice.

Peerless: Uh-huh… So, it’s tied after two, but it’s a good tie, if there is such a thing. The Bears outshot the Stars 12-9 in the period. It never felt as if the Stars had nine shots, and Neuvirth sure shook off the effects of that turnover. Fortunately, he kept his handling of the puck to behind the net, not in front of it.

Fearless: Yeah, but admit it… even when he handled it behind the net, you were thinking… “gulp!”

Peerless: Well, there was some of that, but he was very strong in front of his own net. No rebounds on those few chances that got through.

Fearless: They sure had the Stars back on their heels…

Peerless: Yup. You had a sense it was a matter of time. Then Andrew Gordon got the big one – maybe the biggest goal of the season for the Bears – off another feed from Aucoin.

Fearless: Nice of Aucoin to show up. He had a whale of a game.

Peerless: Sure did, now if they could only get Giroux going. Although, he did have the primary assist on the insurance goal, Perreault’s second of the game.

Fearless: Texas was hanging their heads after that one.

Cheerless: You know… no team has ever come back in the Calder Cup finals from losing the first two games on home ice.

Peerless: -sigh- We’ve heard… often, in fact. But when Gordon got the last one to make it 6-3, you had the feeling that the Bears finally found their legs.

Feerless: And what about the play of Alzner on that one… gets the puck in deep, circles all the way back to the top of the zone, keeps the puck in, fires, and there is Gordon in front to get the deflection.

Peerless: Sweet play. Alzner had a very good last 40 minutes. Now, if his partner can just find his game.

Fearless: Yeah, Carlson has been struggling. Looks like he’s having trouble in transition. A sign he’s played a lot of hockey this season?

Peerless: Could be, but the prospect of tying the series on Wednesday might be enough to shake the cobwebs loose.

Fearless: Let’s hope so. Let’s hope they remember what Coach Mark French reminded them of before the game… “We talked before the game and there's only one team in this league that's won 72 hockey games this year.''

Peerless: Well, make that 73.

Cheerless: Hey, did you know that...

Peerless/Fearless: SHUT UP!!!

Calder Cup Finals, Game 1: Texas 2 - Hershey 1

All streaks end. That’s why they are “streaks.”

The Texas Stars ended the Hershey Bears’ eight-game home winning streak in this year’s Calder Cup playoffs with a 2-1 win at Giant Center last evening.

It was not much of a game for those who appreciate flash and dash, and that was just the way the Stars wanted it. Content with counter-punching for much of the night, the Stars parlayed a couple of odd goals and some determined trapping to give the Bears only their second loss on home ice in their last 39 games.

If anything, this was a game that Texas probably had an advantage in from the start. Coming off two seven game series (one of which they won in a Game 7 overtime, the other in a Game 7 two-goal margin of victory), the Stars were still game sharp. On the other hand, the Bears looked like a team that hadn’t played competitive hockey in 11 days.

That layoff showed up early as the Stars outshot the Bears 12-2 in the first period and 14-2 over the game’s first 24 minutes. But in the 25th minute, Mathieu Perreault controlled the puck in the Stars’ end and from the middle of the ice found Francois Bouchard circling behind the Texas defense. Bouchard took the pass and patiently waited until goalie Matt Climie committed to the ice, then skated around him and stuffed the puck into the back of the net to give the Bears the 1-0 lead.

That lead lasted barely five minutes when Greg Rallo took the puck by himself into the Hershey end and before the defense could close on him fired a wrist shot that goalie Michal Neuvirth seemed whiff on with his glove. It didn’t matter as Rallo’s shot was perfectly placed just inside the left post and under the crossbar to tie the game.

The deciding goal came on a bad offensive zone turnover by Chris Bourque, who tried to pass the puck from along the right wing boards to Sean Collins, but only managed to get the puck to the stick of Scott McCullough. Bourque tried to make up for the error by backchecking furiously as McCullough raced down the left side, but in trying to slide across McCullough’s line of flight he took himself out of the play, and McCullough finished the play to give the Stars the goal that would provide the final margin.

The best thing that can be said for this game is that despite the 11-day layoff, despite looking very disjointed for the first period and through long stretches of the final 40 minutes, despite never really making Climie work for many of his saves, despite Alexandre Giroux picking up more penalty minutes (four) than the total of his and Keith Aucoin’s shots combined (three), despite an officiating performance by David Banfield that could only charitably be called “uneven,” the Bears held the Stars to two goals. If the Bears hold the Stars to two goals a game in this series, things should end well for the Chocolate and White.

The reason the Bears held the Stars to two goals, though, was not so much defense as much as it was Neuvirth, who was the one Bear who didn’t look as if he had just had an 11-day break. Stopping 24 of 26 shots, Neuvirth had the harder time of it in terms of the quality of chances he faced.

At the other end, Climie played well (26 saves on 27 shots), but the Stars’ game plan looked eerily similar to that employed by the Montreal Canadiens against the Capitals – they took away the center of the ice and forced the Bears to the outside and along the boards. The result was that Texas blocked a ton of shots.

Helping lead to all those blocked shots was the fact that the Bears took a little too much “care” in shooting (get it?...”care bears?”…ok, it’s a Caps thing). Between looking for the next pass or waiting too long to get shots off, Hershey allowed Texas to sit in what amounted to the hockey equivalent of a two-three matchup zone that you might find in basketball. There were no lanes available, either to make cross-ice passes (a favorite among the Bears last night) or to get shots from the points to the net.

One thing was clear as the game went on. Despite these teams not meeting in the regular season, they took an almost instant dislike to one another. There was much after-whistle yapping and shoving. Of the ten minor penalties called in the game, seven were “physical” fouls (cross-checking, high-sticking, slashing, and four roughing penalties).

Because of the games format (2-3-2), Saturday’s game becomes as close to a “must-win” game as there is for the Bears. Going to Texas down 2-0 with three games to play on Stars’ ice would be quite a hole. But even with this loss, Hershey looked like the better team on the ice. They just have to find ways to get more quality scoring chances on net and make Matt Climie actually play “goaltender.” They do that, and things will turn around quickly.

Sittin' at the end of the bar...

It's Hershey and Texas in the Calder Cup finals.  It's a little known fact...

-- This is the Stars' first year in the league in their current incarnation.  They were the Iowa Stars, then the Iowa Chops, then they were chopped out of the AHL for a year, then the Texas Stars acquired the franchise and began skating in the 2009-2010 season.

-- Caps connection... Travis Morin.  A former ninth-round draft pick of the Caps (2004... you might have forgotten that as you started your Alex Ovechkin merchandise collection).  He was 21-31-52, plus-10 in 80 games during the regular season and is 3-10-13, plus-2 in 18 games so far in the post-season.

-- Leading scorer... Jamie Benn.  A fifth-round pick of the Dallas Stars (2007), he is a ringer.  He played in all 82 games for the parent club this season, finishing 22-19-41, minus-1.  In 18 games in the AHL post-season he is 14-10-24, plus-10.  He's coming into this series hot.  He had six goals in the seven-game series against Hamilton.  Benn is the playoffs' leading scorer at the moment.

-- Andrew Hutchinson is eighth among all playoff scorers so far (4-11-15, plus-9).  Caps fans might remember him; he has stops with Carolina and Tampa Bay on his resume.

-- Brent Krahn started the playoffs as the Stars' number one goaltender.  He is currently fifth in goals against average (2.32) and third in save percentage (.928) to go with a 7-3 record.  He is also currently suffering the after-effects of a concussion he sustained in the Chicago series.  In his place, Matt Climie has compiled a 5-2 record, 2.62 GAA, and .922 save percentage.  He allowed only eight goals in the last four games of the Calder semifinal against Hamilton, going 3-1 in the process.

-- The Stars and Bears did not meet in the regular season.

Experience

The Hershey Bears are about to participate in their fourth Calder Cup final in the last five seasons. Winning the trophy would be the 11th time in Bears history that the Chocolate and White ended the season as AHL champions.

This year’s path to the finals has not been an easy one. In winning 12 games through three series thus far, the Bears captured seven of those 12 wins in overtime, an AHL playoff record for overtime wins in a playoff season.

One of the interesting things about the Bears and their seven playoff wins is that the seven overtime game-winning goals have come from the sticks of seven different players. Not only that, but the identity of the seven players suggests that the experience gained in a playoff setting can’t be underestimated as a factor dealing with the high-pressure situations that overtimes bring.

The seven players have combined for 385 career playoff games in the AHL and have a combined scoring line of 59-133-192, plus-53 in those games. For the record, here they are with their AHL playoff records…

And in case you have not noticed, goalie Michal Neuvirth is 7-2 in overtime playoff games over the last two post-seasons.

Nothing beats experience at this time of year. As disappointing as the end of this season was for the Capitals, one hopes that the 28 games of playoff experience earned over the past three seasons will be the platform from which the big club can launch a more successful Stanley Cup run next season.

A Face Made for Hockey

Anton Gustafsson dressed tonight for the Hershey Bears in his AHL debut.  We must say, his official picture at the AHL web site makes no mistake -- this is a hockey player...

Gus just registered his first pro point in tonight's game between the Bears and the Syracuse Crunch oops, make that the Norfolk Admirals (an assist on a goal by fellow rookie Cody Eakin).  Congratulations, Gus... hope it's the first of many.

In the Midst of a Season to Remember

Tonight, the Hershey Bears defeated the Adirondack Phantoms, 4-2, to win their 23rd consecutive game on home ice, a professional hockey record.  The win put the Bears ahead of the Muskegon Mohawks of the International Hockey League, who won 22 in a row in 1965-1966.  It is the latest record in a record-setting season for the Bears, but it probably will not be the last one they set.  There are a few ahead of them that are possible with 17 games left in the regular season...

Wins, season: 57, Binghamton Rangers, 1992-93 (Hershey has 49 with 17 games remaining)

Points, season: 124, Binghamton Rangers, 1992-93 (Hershey has 100 with 34 points yet available)

Fewest Losses (regulation), season: 13, Binghamton Rangers, 1992-93 (Hershey has 12)

Most Home Wins, season: 33, Fredericton Express, 1987-88; and Providence Bruins, 1998-99 (Hershey has 28 with seven home dates left)

Most Road Wins: 28, Providence Bruins, 2007-08 (Hershey has 21 with ten road games remaining)

Highest Points Percentage, season: .775, Binghamton Rangers, 1992-93 (Hershey is currently at .794)

Most Points Earned at Home, season: 68, Fredericton Express, 1987-88; and Providence Bruins, 1998-99 (Hershey currently has 58 with 14 points still available)

Most Points Earned on the Road, season: 59, Chicago Wolves, 2006-07; Providence Bruins, 2007-08 (Hershey has 42 with 20 points still available)

And there is still the big one sitting out there waiting for when the regular season ends... One for the big toe, the 11th Calder Cup in franchise history.

Bear Hunting in Winter

Ever go to a military air show and see the sleek fighter aircraft going through their motions? The breathtaking mix of speed and power?

Well, that was the Hershey Bears last night as the home team strafed the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 9-2, in front of a sellout crowd that included Capitals’ coach Bruce Boudreau, who was on hand for a book signing of “Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer.” It was Washington Capitals Night at Giant Center, and it looked as if the Bears were doing their best to show the big club that there are guys down on the farm who merit a good long look at the big club. In that sense, it was a somewhat odd game, given the score…

-- Despite nine goals, only seven players shared in the scoring. The Keith Aucoin - Alexandre Giroux - Andrew Gordon line went 4-7-11, plus-6 for the evening, but that only got them second best among the forward lines.

-- Mathieu Perreault – Chris Bourque – Steve Pinizzotto went 5-7-12, plus-12 (that’s not a misprint), Perreault netting four goals for the evening, including a successful penalty shot.

-- The Bears put withering pressure on Bridgeport from the drop of the puck. Perreault scored the first of his four goals 1:44 in, the Bears scored all nine goals in the game’s first 37 minutes, and Hershey put 50 shots on goaltenders Nathan Lawson and Scott Munroe.

-- It was almost sad to see the misfortune of Brendan Witt for Bridgeport. A former first round/11th overall draft pick of the Caps, he seems to be at the end now. He was a minus-4 for the evening and looked incapable of keeping up with the speedy Bears.

-- For all of the offense unleashed on Bridgeport, the Bears were “only” 1-for-5 on the power play, and the crowd seemed a bit perturbed early at the Bears’ difficulty in scoring on the man advantage, especially when the Tigers managed to net a shorthanded goal 15 seconds into the Bears’ first power play of the evening.

-- That was a franchise record for goals allowed by Bridgeport. And it could have been a lot worse if not for some fine netminding by Scott Munroe in the third – he turned away all 19 shots from the Bears in the period.

-- Braden Holtby shook off a bumpy stretch with a pretty solid effort. He had been 1-3-0 in his last five appearances (one no-decision), 3.77, .876. Tonight, 22 saves on 24 shots.

-- Tyler Sloan and Quintin Laing were in the lineup for the Bears on assignment from the Caps.  Sloan had an assist and was a plus-3; Laing was held off the scoresheet and was minus-1.

Nights like this make one wonder whether there is any team in the AHL who can defeat the Bears in a seven-game series down the road. It’s a club that is difficult to defeat when they’re on the road (19-9-0) and almost impossible to defeat at home. They score (4.32 goals/game), keep their own net clean (2.42 goals against/game). And right now they are at the top of their game -- 21 home wins in a row (26-3-2 overall)… more than half a home season’s worth of games. They’ve averaged almost six goals a game in doing it (5.90) – five times scoring at least eight goals – and shut down opponents (2.14 goals against/game). Amazing.

Mauled by Bears

The Hershey Bears tied an AHL record last night with their 19th straight home victory, a 4-1 win over the Lake Erie Monsters.

The Bears have not lost on Giant Center ice since dropping a 5-4 Gimmick decision on November 28th. Since that time they have mauled opponents mercilessly in 19 games to the tune of 110 goals for, 40 against. And as if to make the point of their home ice dominance more emphatically, 14 of those 19 wins have come by at least three goals. Only four times have they won by a single goal, and each instance they followed it up with a win of at least three goals.

15 times in 19 games the Bears have registered at least five goals in this run, and six times they have scored at least seven goals in a game. On the other side of the ledger, only six times has an opponent scored more than two goals on Giant Center ice, and only once was it done in consecutive games.

12 different teams have visited Giant Center in this run, and all have left defeated. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has been the unfortunate victim of the most losses in this run, losing three times to Hershey (by a combined score of 17-6).

Individually, the roster’s offensive statistics look like the results of a pinball session…

Six players with at least 20 points, five with at least nine goals, 21 different players with goals, 27 with points. The goaltenders have been doing their part, too…



Four goalies have shared in the 19 wins. Only once was a goaltender pulled (Jason Bacashihua, in a 5-4 Hershey win on December 5th).

They go for the record tonight when the Albany River Rats visit Giant Center. Albany is among the victims in this streak, dropping an 8-3 decision to the Bears on January 30th. You would almost think that the last three months at Giant Center would be a subject for a National Geographic documentary – “Bears Gone Wild”

Road Trip

We had the pleasure of watching the Hershey Bears in action this past weekend as they descended upon Mohegan Sun Arena to take on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The result was not a happy one, as the Bears took it in the teeth in a 5-0 whitewashing. We have to consider ourselves the "bad luck" charm in that the Bears went into the game having won 23 of 24 games.

It certainly was an odd game, especially in the first period. The Penguins' first goal came when Chris Conner sent a shot at Bears goalie Braden Holtby. The puck popped over Holtby's shoulder and dropped behind him in the blue paint. Before he could find it or a Bear could sweep it away, Wyatt Smith pounded it into the back of the net to open the scoring for the Penguins.

If the first goal was odd, the second was positively bizarre. On a Penguin power play, Luca Caputi sent a shot to the net from the point. The puck hit the crossbar and popped up, whereupon Eric Tangradi used his hand to drop the puck to the ice. Dustin Jeffrey then snapped it into the net.

See a problem here?

Well, the referee didn't, not only signalling a goal on what was a hand-pass, but then explaining it to the Hershey bench (complete with hand signals).

The Penguins scored a third goal on a horrible Bears turnover in the defensive zone. Conner collected the puck and skated across the top of the crease, waiting until Holtby committed to the ice before he rifled the puck into the net to give the Pens a 3-0 first intermission lead.

The Bears came out much better in the second, but they didn't reap any rewards for the effort. In fact, they allowed what was a back-breaker of a goal in the last ten seconds of the period as Jesse Boulerice, who was in the penalty box for hooking, exited the box when the penalty expired and skated in with Conner on a 2-on-1 that he converted off a Conner feed. Tangradi closed the scoring with a goal mid-way through the third, and the only suspense was whether Brad Thiessen would get his first AHL shutout. He did, turning away all 29 shots he faced to send the Penguin fans home happy.

Other stuff...

-- Thiessen got the shutout, but he was rarely tested. The Bears had almost no second chances, and certainly none from in close. Thiessen got good looks at the puck and wasn't crowded very often.

-- The Penguins played a simple game of keeping the Bears to the outside and along the boards. There were almost no cross-ice opportunities that could have gotten Thiessen out of position.

-- Holtby was not especially sharp, although not as bad as allowing five goals would suggest. His team let him down on a couple of occasions, but there were more loose pucks lying around than one would usually think normal.

-- It was a rougher game than "only" two fights would suggest, what one would expect from teams so close together that play one another often.

-- We were impressed with Chris Conner for the Penguins, and not just for his 1-2-3, plus-3 night. He hustled on every shift, and the puck seemed to find him.

-- We were also impressed with Mathieu Perreault for the Bears, mostly for his utter fearlessness. For a guy who might actually be as big as his listed 5'8", 166 pounds, he was not shy about going after pucks in traffic.

-- The Bears were missing three of their top nine point-getters (Alexandre Giroux, Chris Bourque, and John Carlson), but the guys who were there didn't have an especially good game offensively. Keith Aucoin was held to one shot on goal, as was Perreault. Defenseman Bryan Helmer led the Bears with four shots, an indicator of the lack of second chances.

As a fan, you think a run like the one the Bears have been on isn't ever going to end or have any bumps along the way. Well, Saturday night was a bump. The Bears seemed to recover, beating Lowell last night to resume their winning ways. So, maybe there is something to our being the "bad luck" charm.

Some pics from the proceedings...

That’s what Bears fans do...

John Walton of the Hershey Bears posted this request for help for a Bears fan who has been dealt an unfortunate blow. More to the story can be found here , here, and here. As John puts it at the end...

"You’ll be helping out a big Bears fan get back to the games he loves so much. We’ve got your back, Jason. That’s what Bears fans do."

edit: An update from John Walton...

"I've also gotten several notes from fans in D.C., Maryland and northern Virginia, asking what they can do if they're not coming to games and they are without a place to donate. For anyone that fits that description, drop me a note at bearsradio@hotmail.com and we'll make arrangements for you. My thanks to the D.C. blogging community for picking up this story from me and posting it so the folks that "Rock the Red" hear about Jason's story."

And you thought the Caps were hot...

On December 11th, the Albany River Rats shut out the Hershey Bears, 3-0.

The Bears seem to have taken the matter rather personally. Since suffering that insult, the Bears have won 17 of 18 games to hit the 70 point mark (in 45 games, five games quicker than did the Caps) and open up a nine-point lead on the rest of the league. During this 17-1-0 run, the Bears…

-- Outscored opponents 91-40 (5.06 – 2.22).
-- Are averaging 7.4 goals a game in their last five games.
-- Are 24-for-84 on the power play (28.6%).
-- Are 75-for-85 on the penalty kill (88.2%).
-- Have points from 21 different players.
-- Have goals from 18 different players.
-- Have three players with at least ten goals: Keith Aucoin (16), Alexandre Giroux (10), and Chris Bourque (10).
-- Have 12 players with at least ten points.
-- Have five games in which they scored at least seven goals.
-- Allowed more than three goals only three times.
-- Have nine wins of at least three goals, five by at least five goals.
-- Outscored opponents 32-7 in the first period (only trailed at the first intermission once).
-- Have 11 periods out of 54 in which they scored at least three goals.
-- Had the first star of the game 16 times in 18 games.
-- Had eight different players be named the game’s first star.

In this run the goalies have done their part…

-- Braden Holtby is 13-1-0, 1.99, .930 (named first star of the game three times and won eight game stars overall)
-- Jason Bacashihua is 3-0-0, 3.67, .870
-- Semyon Varlamov is 1-0-0, 1.00, .966

General Manager Doug Yingst has built quite a team up in Hershey, and Head Coach Mark French, along with assistant Troy Mann and the rest of the Bears’ staff have added to the Bears' reputation as being the flagship franchise of the American Hockey League.

No team has repeated as Calder Cup champion since the Springfield Indians did the trick in the 1989/90 and 1990/91 seasons. The Bears are serving notice to the rest of the AHL that they are not letting down after having won last year’s title.

Kid Goalies

Goalies...numbers. Two of our favorite subjects.

Folks who follow the Caps know that the Capitals have some outstanding goaltender prospects in Semyon Varlamov (21 years old), Michal Neuvirth (21) and Braden Holtby (20). But how good? Well, they've certainly had quite a season as a group so far...


Semyon Varlamov leads all rookie NHL goaltenders in wins, and he is second in goals against average and save percentage. He is 16-1-3 in his young NHL career to date.

Michal Neuvirth is fifth in goals against average among all AHL golatenders (second among rookies... yes, he is considered a rookie at that level) and fifth in save percentage (tops among rookies). He is the defending Jack Butterfield Trophy winner as Calder Cup tournament MVP, which he won by virtue of leading the Hershey Bears to the Calder Cup championship last spring.

Braden Holtby is manning the pipes for the Bears while Neuvirth is on call to Washington to replace the injured Varlamov. If anything, he's been better at Hershey than he has been at South Carolina. Although he's seen limited action with the Bears, Holtby still ranks 13th among rookies in wins (despite playing about a third as many games as the leaders), he would be second in the league in save percentage (tops among rookies) if he qualified, and his GAA would be tops in the entire AHL among all goalies.

And this doesn't even include Dan Dunn, who in six games at St. Cloud State, is 4-2-0, 2.32, .926. His noteworthy number is that of the goals he's allowed, almost a third of them come as a result of power plays (five of 14).

The Caps have as talented a group of goalie prospects as they did when they had Jim Carey, Olaf Kolzig, and Byron Dafoe on the roster (all of whom dressed for the Caps in the 1994-1995 season).

Winners, Top to Bottom

Washington: 18-5-6, first in the Eastern Conference (NHL), five game winning streak

Hershey: 17-7-2, first in the East Division (AHL), outscored opponents 22-7 in their last four games

South Carolina: 16-6-4, first in the American Conference (ECHL), seven game winning streak

That's a combined record of 51-18-12, and these teams have outscored their opponents 289-226. Quite a start to the season for the organ-eye-zation.

with thanks to johnwaltonhockey.com