“What didn’t I like? We’d be here for a pretty long time,” Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson said after Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. “We were dead on the bench, there was no emotion. We weren’t executing, we couldn’t make plays. The puck was a foreign object. I tell the guys all the time that I don’t mind if you play like you have a piano tied to your butt, just don’t sit down and play it. We got outworked in certain areas, special teams weren’t good tonight. It’s uncharacteristic of our team, we’ll chalk this up as one of our stinkers for the year.”
It was an unusual and uncharacteristic game for the Hershey Bears on Sunday night in the second half of a home-and-home set with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Hershey bench boss Todd Nelson didn’t mince words in discussing his team’s flat effort in a 4-1 loss on Hockey Fights Cancer Night. The Bears fought seemingly everything on the ice in this game, including their opposition, the puck, and themselves at times. Hershey’s power play came up empty in seven tries on this night, and their opposition capitalized on opportunistic chances as the difference maker in this game.
Fighting Cancer
The only effort that brings a smile to Bears fans’ faces is the only goal for Ivan Miroshnichenko. His third goal of the season had a little extra meaning on this night after previously beating Hodgkin’s Lymphoma prior to turning pro. One of the other great stories on this night was that of Garrett Roe, who revealed that his number 65 is a tribute to his late mother’s birthday as cancer affected his family.
“It touches everybody. On a personal level, everyone knows someone who’s battling this disease or been through it and lost loved ones. We saw the tribute with Garrett Roe, who lost his mom, and Miro had to go through it. It’s a horrible disease and it’s good that hockey does these sorts of things to bring awareness of it.”
Another One
The Bears will turn their attention to the week ahead beginning with the first edition of Wilkes-Barre Wednesdays. The Chocolate and White will duke it out with the Penguins each Wednesday for the next three weeks as this busy stretch against some familiar opponents hits its apex. It’s the latest challenge for Nelson’s bunch as his team has turned in some similarly listless efforts in the team’s first two games at Mohegan Sun Arena. They’ll take on the Bridgport Islanders in a home-and-home set over the weekend to cap off a stretch of five games in eight days.
Hershey’s regular goaltender Hunter Shepard turned in an excellent effort in his second game with the Washington Capitals, turning aside 36 of 37 shots to get his team the win. After Clay Stevenson went back-to-back in both games this weekend, Shepard may be back in time to jump into the crease for Wednesday’s game. The Bears are currently without captain Dylan McIlrath, forward Nic Aube-Kubel, Hendrix Lapierre, and defender Hardy Haman Aktell on recalls.
