Hershey Weekly
Published on February 2, 2015 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release
The Hershey Bears Hockey Club added five more points in their three- game weekend to open a four-point advantage as leaders of the East Division.
The Bears returned to PPL Center on Friday, the site of their highest offensive outburst of the season on January 21, which was a 7-2 victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The visitors posted a near-repeat performance this time, cruising to a 6-1 win. Again, the offense came from all over as six different players registered goals. Liam O'Brien started things off with his first AHL goal, and Chris Conner would make it 2-0 shortly afterward. Taylor Leier cut the Phantoms' deficit to one, but that would be it for the hosts' scoring. Connor Carrick, Jon Landry, Dustin Gazley and Chandler Stephenson helped push the Bears to victory. Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves for his 15th win of the season.
On Saturday, the Bears faced a good test in hosting the Syracuse Crunch. After a scoreless first period in which goaltender Pheonix Copley made several saves on a two-man Crunch power play - and moments after Copley stopped Vlad Namestnikov on a penalty shot - the Crunch finally hit pay dirt. Tanner Richard beat Copley for a 1-0 lead, and Yanni Gourde extended the lead to 2-0 with a shorthanded tally. Kris Newbury put Hershey on the board late in the middle frame, setting the stage for a dramatic comeback. On a power play, Philippe Cornet's pass attempt deflected off of a glass divider, off the top of the net, off the back of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and into the goal with 10:05 left to play, tying the contest. Video replay would confirm the goal. The game would progress to a shootout, with Jonathan Marchessault the only one to find the back of the net. Syracuse took a 3-2 victory but the Bears managed to grab one standings point.
On Sunday afternoon, the Bears and Norfolk Admirals goaltenders put on a show for 10,890 fans at GIANT Center. Grubauer and Jason LaBarbera made spectacular saves at both ends, keeping the game scoreless until the third period. With 8:46 left to play, Casey Wellman made a big play by finishing a check and forcing a turnover in the trapezoid. He found Stephenson in the slot, and the rookie ripped a shot inside the right post for the eventual winner. Newbury added an empty-net tally to secure Grubauer's fourth shutout of the season. The Bears now sit just five points behind the Eastern Conference-leading Crunch.
HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES
FRANCHISE MILESTONE: D Connor Carrick may very well establish himself as a future Hershey Bears Hockey Club Hall of Fame member at only age 20. The All-Star defensemen netted the 20,000th goal in franchise history with his power-play strike on Friday at Lehigh Valley. Carrick is tied with teammates Stan Galiev and Tim Kennedy for the league lead in power-play points (18). Among all AHL defensemen his 14 power-play assists lead, his 22 total assists are tied for second and his 29 points are tied for fifth.
GIANT GRUBAUER: Since missing the first four games of January with an injury, All-Star G Philipp Grubauer has won all five of his starts - including all four in January. He picked up his fourth shutout of the season and ninth of his Bears career on Sunday, tying him for second among AHL goaltenders. He also posted his 16th win, which sets a new personal season high. Grubauer ranks fourth in the AHL in minutes (1742:05) and sixth in GAA (2.03).
PLAYING WELL: RW Casey Wellman chipped in assists on both Hershey goals in Sunday's win over Norfolk. He added two assists on Friday at Lehigh Valley, giving him four points on the weekend and making him the third Hershey player to reach 30 points (13-17-30) this season.
CHANDLER CHIPPING IN: Rookie C Chandler Stephenson had his best offensive weekend of the season, rounding out the scoring in Friday's win at Lehigh Valley and netting the game-winner on Sunday vs. Norfolk.
O'BRIEN 1.0: C Liam O'Brien - who had a goal taken away from him on January 24 vs. Binghamton - buried the Bears' first goal of the game in Friday's win at Lehigh Valley for his first career AHL tally.
PHIGHTIN' PHEONIX: G Pheonix Copley faced the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday, and picked up first-star honors with a 30-save performance in regulation and overtime. Copley continues to post impressive numbers, with a record of 7-3-2 in 13 games, a goals-against average of 1.98, save percentage of .924 and two shutouts.
BEARS BULLETS: The Bears have the league's longest-active points streak (6-0-0-1)...Hershey still leads the league with 29 first-goals, and is 19-7-3-0 when scoring first...The Bears have 39 power-play goals, tied for second-most in the AHL...The Bears lead the league in penalty killing (88.2%)...Hershey has allowed the fewest goals (95) in the AHL and ranks first in goals against per game (2.16)...The Bears are tied for the most team shutouts (7)...The Bears have the most home wins (17) and home points (37) in the AHL...Hershey maintains the AHL attendance lead with an average of 9,516 fans (25 games).
American Hockey League Stories from February 2, 2015
- Canadiens Recall Jacob de la Rose from Bulldogs - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Springfield Falcons Weekly - Springfield Falcons
- Flames Recall Center Markus Granlund from Adirondack - Adirondack Flames
- Wolf Pack Weekly - Hartford Wolf Pack
- Checkers Announce Pink in the Rink Promotions - Charlotte Checkers
- Danick Gauthier Reassigned to Syracuse - Syracuse Crunch
- Allen York Recalled by Crunch from Everblades - Syracuse Crunch
- Week 17 Recap: IceHogs and Wolves Skate to Split - Rockford IceHogs
- Coreau Named CCM/AHL Player of the Week - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Grand Rapids' Jared Coreau Named CCM/AHL Player of the Week - AHL
- Hershey Weekly - Hershey Bears
- Jokipakka Recalled by Dallas Stars - Texas Stars
- Ricoh Rock Report - St. John's IceCaps
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.
