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Hershey Bears

Hershey Weekly

April 6, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club split their weekend set of games with the Norfolk Admirals in the two teams' final meetings before the Admirals move west for next season.

On Friday, the Bears came out with a good start, but saw the Norfolk defense and goaltender Ryan Faragher shut them down in a 4-0 decision. After Faragher had denied Tim Kennedy on two good chances early in the game, and after the Admirals' penalty kill fended off the Bears' lone opportunity, Norfolk took a 1-0 lead late in the opening period. Max Friberg got his 14th of the season at 19:03, completing a tic-tac-toe passing play with a tap-in behind Philipp Grubauer. In the second period, Norfolk added two more goals to pad their lead. Charles Sarault deflected a shot from Brandon Montour on the Admirals' first power play chance of the game to make it 2-0, and Matt Bailey increased the lead to 3-0 with a wrist shot through a screen from the right circle. Antoine Laganiere then completed a three-on-one rush at 9:24 of the third to finish the scoring. Grubauer made 31 saves in the loss, while Faragher denied all 24 Hershey shots for his first professional shutout.

In the Saturday rematch, the Bears' defense, goaltending and penalty killing would turn the tables on the Admirals as Hershey skated away with a 2-0 victory. Pheonix Copley got the net for the Bears this time out, and turned aside all 25 shots sent his way to earn his third shutout of the season. Stan Galiev would give Copley all the offense he would eventually need, when he ripped home his 25th goal of the season and league-leading 15th power play strike at 2:41 of the middle frame. Tim Kennedy and Chris Conner set up the Bears' league-best 46th first-goal of the season. Norfolk would get four of the next five power plays handed out in the game, and the Bears snuffed them all out. On Norfolk's second chance, Copley would deny Friberg on a shorthanded breakaway to keep the Admirals at bay. Cameron Schilling would find a puck high in the Bears' zone and flung it ahead for Casey Wellman, who hit the vacated Norfolk net with 1:06 left to play and punctuated the victory. Faragher played another solid night in the Admirals' net, stopping 26 of 27 Hershey shots.

The two points gained by Hershey on Saturday reduced the team's magic number to clinch the East Division to six points. Hershey travels to St.

John's this weekend to finish the season series against the IceCaps.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

MAGIC NUMBER: Any combination of six points gained by Hershey or lost by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will give the Bears the East Division regular-season title.

FIRST AND FOREMOST: RW Stan Galiev continues to provide the Bears with great starts to their games. His second-period power play goal on Saturday was his team-leading 25th of the season and AHL-leading 15th with the man advantage, but it was also his 10th time scoring the game's first goal - a statistic which also leads all AHL players.

PHEONIX RISING: G Pheonix Copley won his seventh consecutive game on Saturday, stopping 25 shots to help the Bears defeat Norfolk and earn the rookie his third shutout of the season. Copley remains unbeaten in regulation in all of calendar year 2015 (10-0-2). He is now 15-3-3 in 23 games with a goals-against average of 2.10 and save percentage of .926.

PLAYING VERY WELL: RW Casey Wellman continues to add to his career numbers this season. He scored two goals on the week, and now ranks second among his teammates with 24 tallies. Wellman has produced eight points (3-5-8) over his last seven games for a total of 53 points (24-29-53), which also ranks second on the squad.

CARRICK JOINS RANKS: D Connor Carrick chipped in two assists on Wednesday vs. Worcester, pushing his season total to 42 points (8-34-42). He has become the first defenseman since Patrick McNeill (2011-12) to record 40 or more points, and has the highest point total by a Hershey blueliner since Sami Lepisto notched 42 in 2008-09.

TK-O: C Tim Kennedy picked up his 47th assist of the season in Saturday's win at Norfolk. He remains in second place in AHL assists. The helper was also his 20th on the power play, which also ranks second in the league. He enters this week in eighth place in overall scoring (11-47-58).

WELCOME: The Bears signed Canisius College standout G Keegan Asmundson to an amateur tryout agreement on Monday. Asmundson posted a 2-1-0 record with the South Carolina Stingrays over the last two weeks.

BEARS BULLETS: The Bears recorded their 19th road win of the season on Saturday, and are tied for the most road wins in the Eastern Conference...RW Stan Galiev's goal on Saturday was the Bears' 46th first goal of the season, which leads the AHL...Hershey maintains the second-best penalty kill in the AHL (87.8%)...The Bears are 16-2-2-1 in their last 20 games played on Saturdays...The Bears recorded their 10th team shutout of the season with Saturday's win at Norfolk, breaking the old record of nine (1996-97 and 2003- 04)...Hershey maintains the AHL attendance lead (avg. 9,767, 36 games).

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