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Hershey Bears

Hershey Weekly

November 2, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club picked up three points on the weekend, with all points coming on home ice - in thrilling fashion.

The team opened the weekend with its first visit of the season to central New York for a matchup against the Syracuse Crunch. In a dominant first period - in which the Crunch did not have a shot on goal until the midway point - Madison Bowey forced a turnover that came out to Dustin Gazley. The winger snapped the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Bears a 1-0 lead which held at intermission, thanks to goaltender Dan Ellis' play on a late Syracuse power play. The Crunch would eventually turn the game around in the second period, scoring twice within 16 seconds on goals from Matt Taormina and Anthony DeAngelo. In the third period - two seconds after a carry-over double-minor penalty expired - Jeff Tambellini redirected a shot from the slot past Ellis for a big insurance marker. Mike Blunden rounded out a 4-1 win for Syracuse by burying a shot on a breakaway out of the penalty box.

On Saturday, the Bears hosted the St. John's IceCaps and met a team that was relentless on the puck for the first period. Tremendous goaltending from Justin Peters kept the Bears from going down further than 1-0 on a Darren Dietz goal early in the frame. Charles Hudon made it 2-0 just 1:09 into the second period, but the Bears summoned everything to mount a furious comeback. Captain Garrett Mitchell started things off with a nice individual effort and beat goaltender Zach Fucale at 3:50, the only Bears goal on 14 shots in the middle frame. Hershey evened the contest on a rising one-timer by Liam O'Brien at 4:14 of the third. Chris Bourque later found Paul Carey at the back door for the go- ahead goal, and Gazley ended the contest by hitting the empty net with less than 25 seconds left to play. Peters made 26 saves in the 4-2 win.

Another tough second period allowed the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to grab a 4-1 lead in Sunday's first meeting out of 12 between the in-state rivals. Petr Straka scored twice - once shorthanded - and Aaron Palushaj added a goal to put a damper on the first AHL goal from Christian Djoos. But again, the comeback Bears would bring the crowd to its feet. Sean Collins scored on a power play with 7.9 seconds left in the period to pull Hershey within two. Bourque buried another power play goal at 9:18 of the third to cut the deficit to one, and Zach Sill's first Hershey goal with 2:07 left in regulation set off a huge celebration. In overtime, Tim Brent's hooking penalty gave the Bears a golden opportunity but the Phantoms' penalty kill held serve. Riley Barber extended the shootout when his last-chance goal answered an opening tally by Taylor Leier. Collins put the Bears in the drivers' seat in the eighth round, only to be matched by Brandon Alderson. After two more misses, call-up Kevin Sundher scored in the 10th round past Ellis for a 5-4 Phantoms win.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

BOURQUE MAKES HISTORY: Chris Bourque entered the weekend with 399 points in 398 games played in his Hershey career. After failing to tally a point on Friday at Syracuse, Bourque made it 400-in-400 when he tallied an assist on the game-winning goal on Saturday against St. John's. Only 11 other players have produced 400 or more points in his Hershey career: Mike Nykoluk, Tim Tookey, Arnie Kullman, Gil Gilbert, Willie Marshall, Dunc Fisher, Roger DeJordy, Mitch Lamoureux, Frank Mario, Ralph Keller and Obie O'Brien. Additionally, only 24 other players have played more games with the Bears. Bourque added a goal and an assist on Sunday, bringing his Hershey total to 402 points (134 goals, 268 assists). In his AHL career, Bourque has 508 total points (174 goals, 334 assists) in 520 games, including Portland, Providence and Hartford.

FIRST GOALS ALL AROUND: Liam O'Brien, Sean Collins and Zach Sill all scored their first goals of the season over the weekend. O'Brien netted the tying goal on Saturday against St. John's; Collins scored a power play goal on Sunday against Lehigh Valley and added a shootout tally; and Sill buried the game-tying goal on Sunday. For Collins and Sill, the goals were their first with Hershey.

GET HIM THE PUCK: Zach Sill was as clutch as they come on the weekend, setting up Liam O'Brien's game-tying goal in Saturday's win over St. John's, and scoring the tying goal with 2:07 left in regulation in Sunday's shootout loss to Lehigh Valley.

A LITTLE CAPTAIN IN HIM: Garrett Mitchell's second goal in as many weeks started a string of four unanswered goals that the Bears used to defeat St. John's on Saturday. He added an assist for his first two-point game since February 28, and chipped in with a game-tying assist on Sunday.

BEARS BULLETS: Goaltender Dan Ellis played in his 200th AHL game on Sunday against Lehigh Valley...Hershey has scored seven third-period goals in its four home games to earn points in all four (2-0-0-2)... Hershey earned all three points at home this weekend by erasing first- and second-period deficits in both games...After combining for just nine goals in its five previous games, the Bears have tallied eight goals in their last two...Hershey's Saturday night win was its fifth consecutive on Halloween night...The Bears' three-goal comeback on Sunday extended their home unbeaten streak against Lehigh Valley to 18 games (15-0-2-1)...After playing seven of their first 11 games on the road, the Bears will play seven of their next 11 at home...Hershey is one of eight teams unbeaten in regulation at home.

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