Hershey Weekly
Published on January 5, 2015 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release
The Hershey Bears Hockey Club picked up four of a possible six points over their three-game week, keeping the club locked into second place in the East Division and in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
The week started with a rare Tuesday game against the Norfolk Admirals at GIANT Center. After being outshot 9-2 in the opening frame, the Bears poured on the pressure in the second, scoring twice on 16 shots against Admirals goaltender John Gibson. Garrett Mitchell's first of the season came when he was sprung on a breakaway upon exiting the penalty box, on a beautiful look from Kris Newbury. Newbury then hustled to beat an icing call and then set up Casey Wellman for his ninth of the season with time ticking down in the period. Philipp Grubauer was the story of the game in keeping Norfolk off the board all night, but with a sixth attacker on the ice, Norfolk's Louis Leblanc was able to fire a rebound home with 32.4 seconds left to play to break up the shutout. It was too little, too late as the Bears would claim the 2-1 victory. Grubauer made 21 saves in the win.
The next afternoon, Grubauer would again hold the Bears in the game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, but the hosts would eventually prevail by a 2-0 score. Tom Kostopoulos deflected a Brain Dumoulin shot past the Bears backstop late in the second, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead. Grubauer would suffer an injury early in the third, and Pheonix Copley came on in a strong relief effort, stopping all but Dominik Uher's chance inside the final minute of play.
On Saturday, Copley would deny 25 shots through regulation and overtime, and go a perfect five-for-five in his first AHL shootout, helping the Bears skate past the Penguins 2-1. Erik Burgdoerfer began the scoring, floating a shot past Jeff Zatkoff early in the second. Matia Marcantuoni scored to tie the game, and from there, it was up to the goaltenders and penalty killers. Philippe Cornet scored in the top half of the fifth shootout round, and Copley denied Kostopoulos for the victory.
HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES
MITCHELL IS MONEY: RW Garrett Mitchell scored a highlight-reel goal on Tuesday against Norfolk for his first goal of the season and eventual first-star honors. Because the alternate captain sat out a majority of the 2013-14 season with an injury, it would be Mitchell's first goal since April 28, 2013, game two of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Providence.
GIANT GRUBAUER: G Philipp Grubauer posted a fantastic second-half of December prior to exiting Wednesday's game at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with an injury. He has allowed two goals or less in his last five consecutive starts, going 2-2-1 with a goals-against average of 1.45 and a save percentage of .936.
BURGDOERFER BURIES FIRST: D Erik Burgdoerfer collected his first AHL goal on Saturday, the only Hershey regulation goal in a 2-1 win over Wilkes- Barre/Scranton. The goal was the first of his 23-game AHL career.
RISE OF THE PHEONIX: Rookie G Pheonix Copley has played remarkably despite having not seen much game action. In his last five games - which span exactly one month time - Copley is 3-0-1 with one no-decision, a goals- against average of 2.03 and save percentage of .920. In his most recent win, a first-star performance against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday, he stopped all five shots to earn his first career shootout decision.
NOTHING NEW: C Kris Newbury posted a three-point week, starting with a second-star performance in setting up both Hershey goals in Tuesday's win over Norfolk. He then added an assist on Erik Burgdoerfer's goal in Saturday's win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Newbury has four points (1-3-4) in his last four games. The veteran is also just 10 games away from playing 700 in the AHL.
BEARS BULLETS: Hershey leads the AHL with 23 first-goals, and is 14-6-3-0 when scoring first...Hershey went 13-for-14 on the penalty kill last week, maintaining the AHL lead in penalty killing (88.7%) and pulling into second in home penalty killing (89.0%)...The Bears have points in their last six home games (4-0-2-0) and in eight of their last nine at GIANT Center...Hershey now ranks second in the league in goals-against per game (2.24) and third in shots against per game (26.85)...The Bears have allowed the fewest second-period goals in the AHL (23) and are tied for the second-fewest goals allowed in the first period (19)...With their third-largest crowd of the season on Saturday (10,882), The Bears lead the AHL in attendance with an average of 9,321 fans.
American Hockey League Stories from January 5, 2015
- San Antonio Rampage Weekly Update - San Antonio Rampage
- Dallas Returns Travis Morin to Texas - Texas Stars
- Worcester Sharks to Host Four High School Hockey Double Headers at DCU Center - Worcester Sharks
- Albany Devils "Pucks and Paws" Returns this Saturday - Albany Devils
- Nedomlel, Barnes and Chouinard Join from Toledo - Grand Rapids Griffins
- John Anderson Added to AHL All-Star Coaching Staff - Chicago Wolves
- Pirates Recall Domingue from Conditioning Assignment, Reassign Lee - Portland Pirates
- John Anderson, Roy Sommer Added to AHL All-Star Coaching Staffs - AHL
- Springfield Falcons Weekly - Springfield Falcons
- Rock Report - St. John's IceCaps
- Albany's Joe Whitney Named CCM/AHL Player of the Week - AHL
- 'Dogs Start Season-Long, Seven-Game Homestand - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Minnesota Returns Graovac to Iowa Wild - Iowa Wild
- Wolf Pack Weekly - Hartford Wolf Pack
- New Year Starts Strong for Rockford - Rockford IceHogs
- Monarchs Sign Joe Howe to PTO - Manchester Monarchs
- Coyotes Recall Lessio from Portland - Portland Pirates
- Jets Recall Keaton Ellerby from St. John's IceCaps - St. John's IceCaps
- White Recalled by Flyers, Lamarche Reassigned to Reading - Lehigh Valley Phantoms
- Hershey Weekly - Hershey Bears
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
