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AHL Hershey Bears

Good Start, Tough Finish On Short Homestand

November 14, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The HERSHEY BEARS Hockey Club began their recent three-game homestand on a strong note, shutting out the Binghamton Senators 3-0 on Wednesday. Braden Holtby's 15 saves, a stingy defense, a perfect penalty kill, and Graham Mink scoring on the team's only power play chance sent the BEARS to victory. Garrett Mitchell and captain Boyd Kane also scored for HERSHEY. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton then came to town on Friday, engaging the BEARS in a back-and-forth offensive battle. Jacob Micflikier scored a buzzer-beater at the end of the first period, and after Keith Aucoin and Mattias Sjogren helped erase two one-goal deficits to force overtime, Simon Despres' wrist shot beat Dany Sabourin to give the Penguins the extra point. Sunday night's contest against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers saw the BEARS jump out to a fast start, getting a power-play goal from Chris Bourque for a 1-0 lead. Nino Niederreiter answered right back with a penalty shot goal, and Tim Wallace's power-play strike put the Sound Tigers ahead in the second. Micflikier's second goal in as many nights knotted the score, but Bridgeport would post two quick third-period tallies to outweigh Dmitry Orlov's third goal of the season and hand the BEARS just their second regulation setback on home ice. HERSHEY now visits Syracuse on Friday and will host Albany on Saturday.

GIANT Power Play

The BEARS have scored a power-play goal in every home game this season, striking 13 times on 37 opportunities for an AHL-best 35.1% success rate. HERSHEY is ranked second overall with a 28.8% success rate on the man advantage (19-for-66).

Not Much on the Kill

HERSHEY allowed a power-play goal on home ice for just the second time all season on Sunday, and holds the third-best home penalty kill (29-for-31, 93.5%) and seventh-best overall (55-for-64, 85.9%).

AHL Leaderboard Watch

Keith Aucoin is tied for second overall in the AHL scoring race with 19 points (4 goals, 15 assists). Aucoin's 15 helpers also tie for the league lead. His assist on Friday against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton gave him 510 in his AHL career, tying him for eighth all-time with AHL Hall-of-Fame forward Bill Sweeney.

Micflikier, Mink Marching On

Forward Jacob Micflikier has again found his scoring touch, scoring goals in his last two games and posting points in three straight contests (2G, 2A). He and Chris Bourque each have 16 points (7G, 9A), good for second on the BEARS and tied for ninth in the AHL scoring race. Right wing Graham Mink also finds himself on a three-game point streak entering this weekend, with a goal, three assists and a plus-2 rating. Mink has 11 points (3+8) in 10 games to date.

"Movember" is Ford Month:

Matt Ford is captaining the BEARS' "Movember" team, in which fellow teammates will grow mustaches to raise funds and awareness for men's health.

Check out the Hershey Bears Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from November 14, 2011


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