It had to happen sometime, right? For the first time in almost a month, the Hershey Bears lost a game on Friday to the Syracuse Crunch. The loss ends Hershey’s win streak at nine games, dropping their record to 18-5-0-0 in a 4-1 setback. It took a near perfect effort from the Crunch, who limited the Bears to just ten shots in the first 40 minutes. Two goals on the power play proved to be enough as the home team skated off with a win.
Hofer Highlights, Syracuse Streaks
The only highlight of the night from a Hershey perspective is the lone tally of the night courtesy of Ryan Hofer. The rookie forward tallied his second professional goal with a laser to the top corner. It’s his first goal since November 17 in a strong showing for him, but it was not enough on this night. The Bears put 12 shots on goal in the final frame but got no breaks for goals to pull within one. Syracuse scored on the empty net to seal the deal. The biggest loss for the Bears was forward Ethen Frank, the team’s leading scorer who didn’t play in the third period.
Syracuse is trying to gain ground in the North Division race. The win is five in a row for the Crunch, who pulled to within a point of the lead in the North. Their opponent, the Cleveland Monsters, lost on Friday in Wilkes-Barre by a 5-3 count to add some intrigue in the race. Syracuse will be big fans of Hershey’s when the Bears return home to face the Monsters at Giant Center on Saturday.
Home for the Holidays
The loss creates a new challenge for the Bears, who fell by the same score back on November 12 against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms before starting this streak. Hershey head coach Todd Nelson has said for much of this streak that his team has more to give, and they’d face adversity at some point. That challenge has arrived as the Bears will face a similarly ticked off Cleveland Monsters team that needs points as much as they do.
Hershey will be back on home ice for a five game homestand and seven of their next eight games will be at Giant Center. The Bears are the league’s best team on home ice with a 9-2-0-0 record in the Sweetest Place on Earth, and there’s no time like the present to get back on track. This streak of home play carries them nicely past the Christmas holiday with their longer road trips later on in 2024.
