The Hershey Bears met up with the Cleveland Monsters for the second time in less than 24 hours on Saturday. After taking the prior day’s matchup in decisive fashion, the two teams traded goals in the sequel. Ultimately, a big third period from Hershey’s top talent led to a 4-3 Bears win. Hunter Shepard collected the win in goal with 21 saves.
Bad Blood
“I’m not going to beg hockey players to be ready to play,” Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber said on Friday. “If they don’t, they’re going to be out of a job soon. Ultimately, my job is to get them ready to play. As an individual, you have to take some pride and be ready to play.”
“There are certain players who have played for a long time that are competing early on. Then, there are some who show up just because it’s a game on the schedule. They’re just there, and you get punched in the mouth really quickly.”
With the gauntlet thrown down, Saturday’s rematch turned into a rivalry game. Two fights and a lot of nastiness upped the ante between the two foes. Just like the day prior, the Bears got on the board first with a power play tally by Mike Vecchione. After a scrappy face-off win by Garrett Roe, Chase Priskie put the puck on a tee for Vecchione. He’d rip a shot past Zach Sawchenko to give Hershey an early advantage.
Vecchione’s goal would be the only tally for most of 40 minutes in this game. Shepard and Sawchenko turned aside all they saw, and the teams settled into a conservative style game. Being blanked for 100 minutes of hockey was enough for the Monsters as they’d strike 17 seconds into the third period. Luca Del Bel Belluz got on the board with a double deflection goal and even the count at one.
Bear and Bears
Six of the seven total goals happened in the final 20 minutes of play. Hershey regained the lead on another power play goal off the stick of Ivan Miroshnichenko. The sophomore sensation looks more and more like Alex Ovechkin with a slap shot to match. His shot beat Sawchenko low to give Hershey two power play goals in a single game for the second straight night.
However, much like the back-and-forth Eastern Conference Finals a year ago, this would be an eerily similar game. Joseph LaBate snuck a shot through Shepard from along the goal line that somehow found a seam. His seventh goal of the season leveled the count at two. Cole Clayton earned his second assist in as many tallies with the lone helper.
Hershey had the answer once more. Miroshnichenko pounced on a loose puck and took off the other way. He’d force a shot on Sawchenko that rebounded off the pad and right to Ethan Bear trailing the play. Hershey’s leading scorer collected at least a point for the fifth time in the team’s last six games. Bear has 40 points after potting two in Saturday’s game.
“We had to stick to our game plan,” Bear said to media specialist Jesse Liebman. “Sometimes, that’s just simple hockey. Cleveland’s been a good time and we knew what mindset we’d need to have coming into this building. Give (the Bears) props, I think we played really well and everyone contributed.”
Hitting the Ground Roaring
The Bears put the game away with an empty net goal for Vincent Iorio. Miroshnichenko made a nice play to help force a turnover leading to the goal. Head coach Todd Nelson once again employed the scorer in a defensive role, and he delivered. Cleveland snuck one by Shepard on the right side of the buzzer courtesy of Del Bel Belluz, but it was too late.
All of Hershey’s top point producers chipped in for the Bears. Hendrix Lapierre registered a point for the ninth straight game while Miroshnichenko extended his point streak to six straight games. Bear had two points to keep an electric season rolling. Chase Priskie had an assist to give him three helpers in the pair of games.
Hershey takes care of business to move to 75 points and a 35-15-5-0 record with 17 games remaining this season. The Bears complete the first leg of their historic, ten-game road trip with two wins. They’ll take on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a big time Atlantic Division tilt on Wednesday night. The Penguins look to claw into the conversation for the top two spots in the division with four matchups against the Bears remaining.
