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AHL Hershey Bears

Hershey Weekly

November 3, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club picked up two of a possible six points on its recent weekend road trip to New England. Despite the point total, Hershey remains on top of the East Division and in third place in the Eastern Conference entering the new month.

The weekend started off with a bang on Friday, as Hershey would explode for three goals in a span of eight minutes during the latter half of the second period, en route to a 4-0 blanking of the Manchester Monarchs at Verizon Wireless Arena. The game was a reunion for some, as behind the Manchester bench as head coach is Hershey's all-time penalty minute leader and fan favorite Mike Stothers. Bears assistant coach/video Ryan Murphy also returned to the city in which he spent parts of four seasons as a Los Angeles Kings prospect. After a scoreless first period, Dane Byers struck for what would be the game-winner, a goal set up by the 500th career AHL point of veteran center Kris Newbury. Casey Wellman then tallied his league-leading fifth power play goal of the young season to expand the lead. Moments later Chris Brown, playing in his first game since his reassignment from the Washington Capitals, buried his first to give Hershey a 3-0 lead after two periods. Steve Oleksy punctuated the win with an empty-netter scored with three seconds left on the clock. Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves for the sixth shutout of his Bears career.

On Saturday, former Worcester Sharks captain Mike Moore and former Sharks centerman Tim Kennedy returned to their old stomping grounds with Hershey. Worcester got the jump and stormed out to a three-goal lead in the third period, and then relied on luck in hanging on for a 5-4 victory. Daniil Tarasov snapped Pheonix Copley's shutout streak, which lasted a little over two games, just 1:50 into the game with his first goal of the season. Joel Broda stole the momentum only 14 seconds later, jamming his second of the year behind Troy Grosenick. NHL veteran Tyler Kennedy and Cameron Schilling would trade goals before Freddie Hamilton put Worcester ahead for good. Tarasov and eventually Micheal Haley would put the Sharks up 5-2 in the third. Newbury brought the Bears closer at the 4:46 mark, and with 1:16 left, Oleksy scored with six men on the ice to cut the lead to one. Tomas Kundratek rang the right post with just 20 seconds remaining, a bounce that the Sharks were able to savor to the final horn.

The Bears then returned to Manchester on Sunday afternoon, but were unable to close out strong as the Monarchs won 3-1. Newbury scored the tying goal seven minutes after a successful Jordan Weal penalty shot, but Nick Shore struck twice on Grubauer - once shorthanded - to push the hosts to victory.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

NO NEW NEWS: C Kris Newbury once again reigns atop the AHL scoring leaderboard, adding four points (2-2-4) on the weekend. He has a total of 15 points (6-9-15) to lead the AHL. His six goals are tied with teammate Casey Wellman for third in the league; his five power-play assists are also tied for third overall, and his five power-play points (0-5-5) are tied for fifth in the AHL. With his assist on Friday, Newbury became the 88th player in AHL history to reach 500 points. He was also the seventh player since 2009 to reach the milestone while playing for Hershey (Jeff Taffe, Jon DiSalvatore, Boyd Kane, Bryan Helmer, Alexandre Giroux, Keith Aucoin).

WELL POWER: RW Casey Wellman buried his fifth power-play goal of the season on Friday at Manchester. He is the AHL leader in power-play goals at the start of the new month, and his six total goals rank tied with teammate Kris Newbury for third in the league.

HE'S A PLUS: D Jon Landry has accumulated a plus-minus efficiency of plus- eight, which ranks tied for fourth among AHL defensemen.

RISE OF THE PHEONIX: Rookie G Pheonix Copley suffered his first professional loss on Saturday at Worcester, but the rookie is still among the AHL's top goaltenders. His goals-against average of 1.71 ranks eighth in the AHL, and his two shutouts rank second overall.

KUNDRATEK'S BACK: Already surpassing the number of games he played in an injury-shortened 2013-14 season, D Tomas Kundratek has recorded nine assists in his 10 games. His assist total leads all AHL defensemen, and his point total (0-9-9) ranks tied for second among AHL blueliners. Four of his nine assists have come on the power play, which ties for the lead among defensemen.

BEARS BULLETS: - The Bears lead the AHL with eight first-goals in the club's 10 contests.

- The Bears rank in the top ten in both special teams categories: seventh on the power play (9/46=19.6%) and third on the penalty kill (39/43=90.7%).

- The Bears also rank in the top ten in goals per game average (3.20, ninth) and goals against per game average (2.10, fourth).

- Hershey has outshot their opponent in eight of the club's ten games to date.

Check out the Hershey Bears Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from November 3, 2014


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