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Hershey Bears

Hershey Weekly

March 10, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club picked up two out of six points on the weekend, yet remain tied for the most points in the American Hockey League.

Friday's game on the road against the Providence Bruins turned into a battle of power plays. The Bruins struck first, when a slap shot from Joe Morrow changed direction on its way to Philipp Grubauer. The puck bounced to the goaltender's left, and Paul Carey slammed it home for a 1- 0 lead. Providence took a 2-0 lead on a second-period power play, when a Hershey clearing bid deflected into the slot and onto the stick of Seth Griffith. He snapped the puck past Grubauer for an unassisted tally. The Bears got on the board just over three minutes later, also on a power play chance. Tim Kennedy collected a feed from Stan Galiev and sent a snap shot high over the arm of Jeremy Smith. The goaltenders did the job for the duration of the game, and despite the Bears holding Providence to three third-period shots, could not find the equalizer themselves.

The Bears then traveled to face the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday afternoon. After Dustin Gazley and Chris Conner wiped out deficits of 1-0 and 2-1, Casey Wellman scored his 20th of the season to put the Bears ahead at the first intermission. Danny Kristo scored the only goal of the second period, a shorthanded breakaway that beat Pheonix Copley. Despite Hartford holding Hershey to three third-period shots, Kris Newbury and Stan Galiev capitalized on two of them, sending the Bears to a 5-3 victory. Five players recorded multiple-point games in the win.

The Bears wrapped up the weekend with a 12-game home point streak and five-game home win streak on the line as the Portland Pirates, perfect on the weekend so far, came for their second visit of the season. After losing 5-2 on Valentine's Day, the Pirates turned their fortunes around in a 5-1 victory. Galiev would score first, taking a cross-ice feed from Andre Burakovsky while the Bears worked a power play and ripping a shot over the glove of Portland goaltender David Leggio. After Chris Brown rang the iron on a nice scoring chance moments later, Dylan Reese tied the game with a slap shot through traffic. Joel Hanley would beat Grubauer on a crash-the-net play for the eventual winner. Justin Hodgman, Philip Samuelsson and Jordan Martinook tacked on third-period goals to send the Pirates to victory. Grubauer made 30 saves in the setback.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

MAGIC NUMBER...: ...for the Bears to clinch a playoff berth: 24 points.

FIRST & 20 FROM 21: RW Casey Wellman netted his 20th goal of the season in Saturday's win at Hartford, the first time in his pro career that he has produced 20 goals in a season. He also became the second 20-goal scorer on the Bears roster. He currently ranks tied for second on the Bears in scoring (20-22-42).

CONNER'S ON: Reigning CCM/AHL Player of the Month Chris Conner is rolling in March, producing five points (1-4-5) in the four games played. He had an assist on Friday at Providence, a goal and an assist in Saturday's win at Hartford and set up the lone Hershey goal on Sunday vs. Portland. Conner has produced 29 (11-18-29) of his 44 points over his last 26 games.

RISE OF THE PHEONIX: G Pheonix Copley won his third consecutive start on Saturday in Hartford, a 34-save performance, to improve to 11-3-3 on the season. Copley is unbeaten in regulation in his eight starts in calendar year 2015 (6-0-2).

LANDRY'S A PLUS: D Jon Landry posted a plus-1 rating on Saturday to increase his plus-minus total to plus-24 on the season, which leads the AHL.

PURE POWER: RW Stan Galiev buried the lone Bears' goal on Sunday vs.

Portland, his team-leading 23rd goal of the season. The goal was also Galiev's 13th on the power play, which leads the AHL. Additionally, it was the first goal of the entire game - and Galiev also leads the AHL in first goals (eight).

DUSTIN THE COMPETITION: RW Dustin Gazley scored his second goal of the young month on Saturday at Hartford, and has lit the lamp eight times over his last 11 games. His 14 goals rank tied for fifth among his teammates.

BEARS BULLETS: Hershey leads the league with 38 first-goals, and is 26-9- 3-0 when scoring first...Hershey is ranked ninth in goals per game (2.92) and second in goals against per game (2.25)...The Bears rank second in penalty killing (87.8%)...The Bears rank second in team shutouts (nine)...The Bears are tied for the most wins (36) and points (79), and fewest home regulation losses (six) in the AHL...Hershey eclipsed 300,000 in total attendance again in 2014-15, and maintains the AHL attendance lead with an average of 9,672 fans (33 games).

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