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AHL Hershey Bears

Bears Face Weekend Showdown

March 16, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club picked up two of a possible four points in their recent trip to the Canada Maritimes.

On Saturday, St. John's IceCaps goaltender Eddie Pasquale - targeted for Hershey last year before undergoing season-ending hip surgery - emerged as the star of the game, turning aside 23 of 24 shots faced to help his team hang on for a 2-1 win over the Chocolate and White. The Bears got the jump in the game, when Jakub Vrana buried a cross-ice pass from Travis Boyd behind Pasquale with 2:44 left in the opening period. Vrana's appearance was his first since missing three games due to illness. Chris Bourque also assisted on the goal. But Pasquale made several difficult saves, including a seated glove stop on Riley Barber, preventing the Bears from opening up a bigger lead. He stopped all 10 second-period shots and allowed his team to tie the game when Max Friberg's shot got past Dan Ellis at the 4:51 mark. The IceCaps smothered the Bears defensively in the third, and got the go-ahead goal on a power play via a long-range shot from Bud Holloway. The Bears pulled Ellis in favor of a sixth attacker and came inches away from tying the game in the closing seconds, but Pasquale made another save on Boyd with the net wide-open. Ellis stopped 20 of 22 shots in the setback but maintained an incredible run of allowing two or fewer goals in seven consecutive starts.

Justin Peters got the nod in net in the Sunday afternoon rematch and played an excellent game for just his third start since February 21. The backstop made 23 saves on 25 St. John's shots and helped the Bears earn a 3-2 victory. Bourque's 26th goal of the season opened the scoring 7:48 into the game, but in a similar manner to Saturday, the IceCaps tied it on a goal from Gabriel Dumont. Erik Burgdoerfer fired a shot off of a Nathan Walker faceoff win and beat Pasquale in the second, putting Hershey in front again. But the resilient IceCaps again would knot the score with a penalty upcoming on the Bears. NHL All-Star Game MVP John Scott tied the contest, lifting a loose puck home out of a scramble. The teams played an entertaining third period and the game appeared to be headed for overtime when Chandler Stephenson won a faceoff in the Bears' end, and led Ryan Bourque up ice. Bourque fed a pass to Zach Sill, who rocketed a shot off the arm of Pasquale and into the net from the left side with just 1:05 left in regulation.

The Bears head to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to begin another home-and- home set with the Penguins, a weekend battle for the top spot in the division.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

BOURQUE ROLLING AGAIN: Forward Chris Bourque extended his point streak to seven games with a goal and an assist on the weekend and maintains the overall AHL scoring lead (26-40-66). It is his third seven-game point streak of the season. Bourque also matched his point total from last season with the Hartford Wolf Pack (29-37-66). He currently ranks third in goals, tied for fourth in power-play assists (18) and second in power-play points (26). In Hershey, Bourque has recorded 459 points (157 goals, 302 assists), ranking seventh in all-time points and assists and 13th in all-time goals. Clicking at over a point- per-game in his career, Bourque ranks 21st in Hershey games played (451).

STUDENT PASSES THE TEACHER: Chris Bourque's goal on Sunday in St. John's moved him ahead of assistant coach Bryan Helmer in career AHL scoring. Bourque's 565 points place him 62nd on the list; Helmer (564) ranks 63rd .

SILL THRILLS: Forward Zach Sill's goal on Sunday was his first game-winner of the campaign, and made him the 16th different player to record a game- winning goal for the Bears this season.

CONSISTENT COLLINS: Forward Sean Collins picked up an assist on the weekend, pulling his point total to 35 (14-21-35) in 61 games. Collins is four assists, six points and five games shy of his AHL career-best totals in 2013-14 (16-25-41, 67 GP), and is three goals shy of his 2014-15 single-season high.

BURGDOERFER BLASTS TWO: Defenseman Erik Burgdoerfer led all players on Sunday with two points (1-1-2) in the Bears' win at St. John's. It was Burgdoerfer's fourth multiple-point game of the season and first since January 27 at Albany.

MAGIC NUMBER: The magic number for the Bears to clinch a playoff berth is down to 17 points entering week 24.

BEARS NEWS AND NOTES: The Bears have a nearly identical record to 2014-15 (37-18-5-2, 81 points) through 62 games this season (37-15-3-7, 80 points)... Hershey's 20 home wins rank tied for fourth-most in the AHL... The Bears' 118 goals scored at home rank third in the AHL...The Bears' 213 total goals rank third overall...Hershey has taken the third-fewest shots per game in the AHL (28.58) yet ranks third in goals per game average (3.44)...Hershey moved into fourth in the AHL in shots allowed per game (27.95)...The Bears' 81 second-period goals lead the AHL...The Bears are tied for the most overtime games played (17) and lead the AHL in shootouts played (10)... The Bears are tied for the most out-of-division wins by a team (16 vs. North)...The Bears have a total attendance of 308,825 (average 9,651) to again pace the AHL.

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