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Hershey Bears

Weekend Ends On Winning Note

February 18, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The HERSHEY BEARS Hockey Club picked up three of a possible six points this past weekend in wrapping up the schedule against Western Conference opponents. On Friday, the Hamilton Bulldogs survived an onslaught of shots and a two-goal performance from Ryan Stoa, by getting 34 saves from Robert Mayer in a 3-2 shootout victory at Copps Coliseum. Stoa's goals both came on first-period power plays and wiped out an early 1-0 deficit. But a power play strike by Louis Leblanc early in the third helped send the game to overtime and eventually the shootout. Garrett Stafford and Ryan Potulny netted their chances but the Bulldogs picked up one more, as Gabriel Dumont, Leblanc and Stefan Chaput all lit the lamp for the win. On Saturday afternoon in Toronto, Andrew Crescenzi scored his first AHL goal to put the Marlies on top early in the game. Casey Wellman evened the score by picking up his first HERSHEY goal on a second-period power play chance, but Tim Connolly snuck a shot past Dany Sabourin in the same period for the game-winner. Goaltender Drew MacIntyre, who three days earlier was with the BEARS' ECHL affiliate in Reading, stopped 17 of 18 shots in picking up his first win with Toronto. The BEARS then finished the weekend with their 446th all-time meeting against the Rochester Americans on Sunday, and played a near-perfect game in earning a 4-1 victory. Potulny scored a shorthanded goal to open the scoring, while Stoa picked up the eventual game-winner, his third goal of the weekend. Boyd Kane and Garrett Mitchell also scored, Peter LeBlanc had two assists and Philipp Grubauer turned aside 35 shots in picking up first-star honors.

The BEARS host the Adirondack Phantoms this Saturday, and will play road games against the Binghamton Senators on Friday and at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall against the Albany Devils on Sunday.

BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

STOA STELLAR: LW Ryan Stoa picked up his second two-goal game of the season on Friday, scoring two power play goals at Hamilton on Friday. He added his third goal of the weekend on Sunday at Rochester, his second game-winner of the season. Three of Stoa's eight goals have come against the Amerks.

HE'S PLAYING WELL: C Casey Wellman scored his first goal in a HERSHEY sweater on Saturday at Toronto. Wellman has recorded six points (1-5-6) and an even rating in eight games since being acquired on January 31.

PETER'S PROVIDING PUCKS: C Peter LeBlanc also continues to find the score sheet since his January 31 acquisition. The native of Hamilton, ON posted two assists in front of his hometown crowd on Friday against the Bulldogs, and then notched two more helpers on Sunday at Rochester. LeBlanc has six assists in his eight games with the BEARS.

BORDER CONTROL: The BEARS finished up their 2012-13 schedule with a record of 2-1-0-1 in Canada.

KINGS OF TIGHT GAMES: The BEARS' run of consecutive one-goal games was halted at eight in a good way on Sunday, in the team's 4-1 win at Rochester. The BEARS are tied with the Houston Aeros for the most one-goal games played this season (30). HERSHEY has a record of 12-11-3-4 in such games.

PK MORE THAN OK: The BEARS have allowed just three power play goals in February. In eight games, the penalty kill is 28-for-31 (90.3%). The team has allowed just one power play goal at home in 13 situations, and just two on 18 road penalty kills. The BEARS rank fourth in road penalty killing.

"D" GETTING IT DONE: The BEARS allowed only five goals in their three weekend road games, helping the team to a third-place ranking in the AHL in goals against per game (2.41).

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