AHL Hershey Bears

One Loss In Bears' Light Opening Weekend

October 15, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The HERSHEY BEARS Hockey Club came away one goal short in their 75th season opener on Saturday at Syracuse, falling by a 4-3 score. Garrett Mitchell will be the answer to future trivia questions as the player to score the milestone season's opening goal. The right winger finished off a two-on-one rush with Jon Kalinski, and put home a shorthanded tally to become the second consecutive player to open the BEARS season with a shorthanded goal. Barry Almeida scored an even-strength goal in the second period on Saturday, and shows goals in back-to-back regular-season games after scoring on his second shift on April 15, 2012 at Worcester. Jon DiSalvatore, playing in his BEARS debut, set up Almeida's goal and lit the lamp with a third-period power play strike of his own, while Jeff Taffe contributed two assists in his first game with the Chocolate and White. Winger Ryan Stoa led the way with five shots on goal, while defensemen Dmitry Orlov and Garrett Stafford and forward Jon Kalinski ended on the positive side in plus/minus. Goaltender Braden Holtby made 28 saves on 32 shots in the setback.

The BEARS will travel back up Interstate 81 on Friday, October 19 for a 7:05 PM faceoff against the Binghamton Senators, who won their home opener on Saturday by a 2-1 score over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. HERSHEY's 75th home opener is this Saturday, October 20 at 7:00 PM against the Rochester Americans. The first 8,000 fans will receive a magnetic team schedule courtesy of PNC Bank.

BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

SHORTHANDED STARTS: For the second consecutive season, the first goal to start the BEARS' season was scored shorthanded. Garrett Mitchell beat Syracuse netminder Riku Helenius on Saturday, while Christian Hanson's goal that eluded Binghamton's Robin Lehner came on the BEARS' first penalty kill in last season's opener on October 7.

The BEARS are also one of two teams (Manchester) to score a shorthanded goal on the road during opening weekend.

SPECIAL OPENERS: The last four season-opening goals scored by the BEARS have come on special teams (Garrett Mitchell SHG, 10/13/12; Christian Hanson SHG, 10/7/11; Kyle Greentree PPG, 10/9/10; and Andrew Gordon PPG, 10/3/09).

PK SUCCESS: After finishing the pre-season 17-for-21 on the penalty kill, the BEARS killed off six of seven Syracuse power plays in Saturday's season opener. After opening weekend, the BEARS rank tied for eighth in road penalty killing success (6-for-7, 85.7%) and 15th in overall penalty killing success.

LAST AND FIRST: Barry Almeida, who came fresh off of a national championship with Boston College to score his first pro goal in the BEARS' last regular-season game of 2011-12, scored his second pro goal in the team's first regular-season game on Saturday.

TOO PLENTIFUL PIM's: After finishing last regular season ranked second in penalty minutes per game (21.20), the BEARS picked up 25 minutes in Saturday's season opener and now rank third in the AHL.

HERSHEY BEARS SCORING LEADERS

PLAYER GP G A PTS STAT LEADER

Jon DiSalvatore 1 1 1 2 Goals 3 TIED 1

Jeff Taffe 1 0 2 2 Assists J. Taffe 2

Barry Almeida 1 1 0 1 Points J. DiSalvatore, J. Taffe 2

Garrett Mitchell 1 1 0 1 +/- 3 TIED +1

Tomas Kundratek 1 0 1 1 PP Goals J. DiSalvatore 1

SH Goals G. Mitchell 1

Wins -- -- GAA B. Holtby 4.03

SV % B. Holtby .875

AHL EAST DIVISION

TEAM GP W L OTL SOL PTS

Norfolk Admirals 2 2 0 0 0 4

Syracuse Crunch 2 1 0 0 1 3

Binghamton Senators 1 1 0 0 0 2

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 1 0 1 0 0 0

HERSHEY BEARS 1 0 1 0 0 0

Check out the Hershey Bears Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from October 15, 2012


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