The Hershey Bears and the Providence Bruins renewed their rivalry at Giant Center to kick off the new year. Although the teams haven’t played each other since October, tensions rose in a spirited matchup. Providence erased an early 3-0 lead for Hershey, but Luke Philp’s shootout goal lifted the Bears to a 4-3 decision. Hunter Shepard made 25 saves and stopped all four shootout attempts he faced in the win.
Hungry, Healthy Bears
Hershey benefitted from an enhanced roster in Saturday’s game. The return of Hendrix Lapierre from Washington and Alex Limoges from injury made an impact on the game. Both players tallied points in their return to the lineup. The only subtraction came in the form of Henrik Rybinski, who missed the game due to illness. It’s the closest Hershey has had to a full lineup since early December.
The Bears got off to a fast start and seemed poised to run away with the game early on. Pierrick Dubé got the scoring started by deflecting an intentional shot past Michael DiPietro for his seventh goal of the year. Dubé has been heating up of late with two goals in his last three games. He looks more like the player who scored 28 goals a season ago.
Hershey doubled their lead minutes later. Lapierre darted into the zone and drew defenders to him. He made a slick pass back to Spencer Smallman with some space for a quick shot. Smallman’s shot took a bounce off a defender and fooled the goaltender for his fourth of the season. The new dad strength paid off as the family welcomed their second child over the holidays.
Pendulum Swing
One item on the Christmas list for the Bears and their fans was a power play goal. The team’s struggles with the man advantage in the month of December were well-documented. Hershey’s ranking dipped tremendously in that span to 15th in the league from third. Both teams had their chances, but Hershey broke through first as Mike Sgarbossa found a seam on DiPietro.
With goals separated by 2:30, the Bears threatened to run away with this game. However, the Bruins would be granted a lengthy two-man advantage late in the first period. They’d capitalize as Patrick Brown deflected a shot past Shepard to give Providence a spark at the end of the frame.
Providence built on that momentum in the second period, as Riley Tufte found some space unchecked for his tenth of the year. Just before the end of the second, Vinni Lettieri buried the third rebound of a flurry in front of Shepard. The two teams entered the third period square at three goals each.
Bear Battle
The two teams collided with physicality and unpleasantness early and often in this game. Hershey’s Brennan Saulnier was given a misconduct and later a game misconduct, both for abuse of officials. The call stemmed from an earlier altercation on the latest scrap following a whistle behind Shepard’s net. Both teams racked up plenty of penalty minutes and could have had many more.
The game dueled to overtime and eventually a shootout as the scoring dried up after the middle stanza. Hershey opted to shoot second, and Shepard’s stops set the stage for Philp to go for the win in the fourth round. He’d make no mistake with a silky-smooth finish to give the Bears the second point.
It’s a nice reward for Philp, who has struggled at times with his new team this season. He had 29 goals and 53 points for Rockford in 2022-23 and was sidelined by major surgery last season. Philp is looking to get back to that pace as a regular in the scoring column over his career.
A Step in the Right Direction
There’s a lot to like for the Bears in this game. Although the team went through a small drought after scoring early, they clamped down to get the win. It’s important to get back in the win column against Atlantic Division opponents who are catching fire lately. Hershey was dethroned from first place on Friday, the result of a hot division and their struggles. The win puts them back atop the division with a key game ahead on Sunday.
“We had a really good first period,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said. “A lot of scrums and penalties on both sides caused us to lose our intensity. They ended up coming back and tying the game, but I thought the third was pretty decent. It’s a step in the right direction. I thought our adjustments in the defensive zone worked better for us tonight, didn’t spend as much time in our zone. Our power play scored a goal.”
“It’s a big one for us; we’ve struggled at home and it’s nice to get a win to start the new year.”
It’s Lapierre’s first game for the Bears since lifting the Calder Cup back in June. Lapierre was promoted to the Capitals but saw limited minutes and sat as a scratch. He was eventually assigned to Hershey with Washington getting nearly fully healthy. Nelson was the adjustment to a big role for him but was impressed overall.
“I thought it was good. He’s a talented player; he can skate really well. As the game went on, he wasn’t used to the minutes he played tonight. He played quite a bit tonight, but he handled it fine. All in all, it was a good game for him and he’s only going to get better.”
Cloudy with a Chance of Teddy Bears
It sets the stage for a quick turnaround for Hershey’s world-famous Teddy Bear Toss on Sunday afternoon. The teams will rematch at 3:00 PM as the Bears will look to carry their confidence into the marquee game. Hershey looks to shatter their record of 74,599 set a year ago when Bogdan Trineyev scored the big goal.
The Bears took control of the record in 2018 with 34,798 plush items thrown and have since doubled that number. Hershey fans have increased their teddy bear count more than ten times the count of the 2010 event. It’s an event that’s garnered attention even from ESPN in the past. This year’s edition of “Sweet, Cuddly Mayhem” is set to be the biggest yet.
Hershey’s teddy bear toss is part of the Hershey Bears Cares Initiative, which highlights the philanthropic efforts of the club. The teddy bears will be donated to more than 35 different local and regional organizations listed by the team. In addition, the Sweigart Family Foundation matches the count as a monetary donation to the Children’s Miracle Network.
