Hershey Re-Signs Robitaille

The Bears have brought back agitator Louis Robitaille, a left winger who's a fan favorite in chocolatetown. Here's the link from Hershey's homepage.

Update: Robitaille and his girlfriend Lauren Young are expecting their first child in February. Congradulations Louis!

Hershey Routes the Senators

Seven Straight Unanswered Goals by the Bears Leads to a Third Period Brawl Totaling 68 Penalty Minutes

Hershey Bears 7, Binghamton Senators 1

Boxscore

(Photos Courtesy of Michael Fernandez/Patriot-News)

Playing without their leading scorer in Alexandre Giroux, who was recalled by Washington, the Bears had no trouble denting the scoreboard tonight as six players combined to tally seven goals in route to the Bears blowout victory over Binghamton.

Making his home debut with Hershey Scott Barney lead the way with 2 goals and 2 assists on the night. While struggling to put up just 4 goals and 12 points in 40 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins this season, the Oshawa, Onterio native seemed to regain his offensive stride that saw him put up 32 goals in only 53 games for the Chicago Wolves last year.

Despite not allowing a shot during the first ten minutes of the game, the Bears ended up giving up the game’s first goal when Ryan Vesce scored his 12th goal of the season at the 11:44 mark. The power play goal would be the Senators’ only tally of the game and gave the them a brief 1-0 lead.

Hershey would answer back just two minutes later as goals by Joey Tenute and Scott Barney only 61 seconds apart would give the Bears the lead for good. They got contributions all throughout their lineup as 15 of the 17 players recorded at least a point on the night. Only defensemen Deryk Engelland and Donny Grover were get off the score sheet.

In the third period with the Senators trailing 5 to 1 their frustrations finally got the best of them as Louis Robitaille was jumped from behind leading to an all out brawl that even included both goalies going at it. Goaltender Jeff Glass left his crease and skated the entire length of the ice after Bears goaltender Maxime Daigneault, who defended himself well by catching Glass with a few solid punches that left him shaking his hand afterwards. For his trouble the Senators goalie received 29 penalty minutes alone for leaving the crease, instigating, fighting, a ten minute misconduct, and a game misconduct.

The win kept the Bears on pace with the division leading Norfolk Admirals, who won in a shootout and the third place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, who won in overtime. They remain three points out of first place while still two points ahead of third.

Game Notes:

Troy Milam, Jamie Hunt, Eric Fehr, Pete Vandermeer, and Dean Arsene were the scratches…. Maxime Daigneault stopped 33 of 34 shots to improve his record to 17-4-0.

Bears Blow Lead, But Rally to Win Shootout

Alexandre Giroux Provides the Knockout Punch in the Shootout
Hershey Bears 3, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2
Boxscore

It’s a little ere how much the Bears game resembled their parent club’s game. The Caps, who were playing at the same time tonight as Hershey, jumped out to a 2-0 lead just as the Bears did, only to allow their opposition to tie the game up and eventually send it to a shootout. The difference was that Hershey was able to pull out the win, while the Capitals could only manage a single point on the night.

Tomas Fleichmann got the scoring started as he parked himself in front of the net and knocked home his 20th goal of the season following a nice feed from Mike Green behind the Penguins net. In the second period, Louis Robitaille extended the lead to 2 in what looked like an innocent looking play. He gathered the puck off the boards and just fired a shot, beating goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers.

The Bears took that lead into the third period and looked to be on their way to an easy victory before the Penguins were able to rally and tie the game. With 11:30 left in the game, Micki DuPont tallied his 9th goal of the season on the power play with a shot from the right circle that found the top right corner of the net. A little less than six minutes later, Kyle Brodziak would knock home his 18th of the season as another shot from the right circle beat Maxime Daigneault. It was the result of a quick offensive attack following a defensive zone faceoff win by the Penguins.

After Jakub Klepis hit the post, an excellent performance by Daigneault on some quality scoring chances led by Brodziak, allowed the game to go to a shootout.

Goals by Mike Green and Alexandre Giroux along with a clean sheet from Daigneault, gave the Bears the victory and the much needed extra point to extend their lead in the standings to 4 points over the Penguins. With Norfolk defeating Springfield 2-1, the win also kept Hershey seven points behind the division leaders.

The hit of the night came from none other than Jakub Klepis as he nailed Penguins defenseman Noah Welch. The hit left Welch wobbly and resulted in a scrum that sent Mike Green and Ryan Stone to the box with ten minute misconducts.

Your Top 3 Stars:

1. Maxime Daigneault, Hershey 38 saves

2. Tyler Kennedy, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2 assists

3. Tomas Fleichmann, Hershey 1 goal

Game Notes:

Jamie Hunt (wrist), Chad Wiseman (day-to-day), Pete Vandermeer (broken leg), Jonas Johansson (healthy), and Donny Grover (healthy) were the scratches.

Hershey is Finally Beaten by Albany

River Rats snap 19 game losing streak to the Bears Dating Back to March 28, 2004

Albany River Rats 3, Hershey Bears 1

Boxscore
(Photo Courtesy of Mark Newman/AHL.com)

It looked like a completely different River Rats team than the Bears were used to facing. In the week since these two teams last played, Albany was lucky enough to receive some much needed help in the newly assigned left wing Antti Laaksonen from the Colorado Avalanche and defenseman Anton Babchuk from the Carolina Hurricanes. Each played a big factor in the River Rats first win over the Bears since March 28, 2004.

A sellout crowd of 10,598 at the Giant Center saw Albany jump all over Hershey from the start. Following a Matt Hendricks high-sticking penalty just 4:03 into the game, Matt Murley put home a power play goal on a rebound shot in front of Nolan Schaefer, after the Bears’ goaltender had originally made the save on a Kyle Cumiskey shot. It was Murley’s 14th goal of the season and gave Albany an early 1-0 lead.

Just 15 seconds later the River Rats struck again as Jakub Petruzalek took advantage of a Bears defensive lapse to knock home his 8th of the season and put the home team in a 2-0 whole. Hershey continued their lackluster play and the crowd started to get on them. They voiced their displeasure after some more sloppy play in their own zone lead to a couple more quality scoring chances for Albany after the Bears failed to carry the puck out of their defensive zone cleanly. The River Rats outshot the Bears 14-9 in the first period and were 1-3 on the power play. The score could have been much worse than 2-0 at the intermission if not for some nice saves by Nolan Schaefer in his first start since being reassigned to Hershey by his parent club, the San Jose Sharks.

The second period didn’t start much better as the River Rats struck again just 14 seconds into the period as Annti Laaksonen put home a pass from captain Keith Aucoin right into the slot area. It was Laaksonen’s 3rd goal in his 2nd game since being reassigned to Albany.

The game finally started to turn Hershey’s way at the 8:08 mark of the second when left winger Louis Robitaille got involved in a scrap with Kevin Estrada of the River Rats. The fight brought some energy into the building as it gave the fans something to cheer about. Hershey seemed to feed off of this as they pretty much controlled the action the rest of the game. They were finally able to solve goaltender Tyler Weiman with 2:28 remaining in the 2nd period as Jakub Klepis won a battle for the puck in the offensive corner, and found Kip Brennon in front of the net. The Bears’ resident tough guy received the pass and beat Weiman for his 1st goal in a Hershey uniform. The goal was also the 200th of the season for the Bears, giving them some life heading into the 3rd period.

The final period saw a furious comeback attempt come up short as despite dominating the play, outshooting their opposition 19-5, Hershey was unable to beat Tyler Weiman who made some excellent saves on two quality chances by Chad Wiseman in the period. With 2:48 to go, Wiseman celebrated what he thought was a goal after he had a point blank shot in front of the River Rats goal. It was not to be as Weiman did not allow the puck to squeeze through his pads as he secured Albany’s first win over Hershey this season in their seventh try.

The game marked the season debut in the AHL for defenseman Mike Green who was reassigned to the Bears this past Thursday. He wore number 25 and was paired up with defenseman Tyler Sloan, who coincidently wore number 5, the number Green wore with the Bears last season. He also saw time on the first power play unit on the point with Alexandre Giroux.

Your Top Three Stars:

1. Tyler Weiman, Albany 35 Saves

2. Keith Aucoin, Albany 2 Assists

3. Antti Laaksonen, Albany 1 Goal

Game Notes:

Mike Vogel was a guest in John Walton’s booth during the first intermission. He talked about Kolzig’s recent injury, Frederic Cassivi possibly playing in Washington’s game at Montreal on Tuesday, Mike Green’s reassignment being a numbers game, and Jeff Schultz’s impressive play with the Caps that he credited to his long reach and good poise…. Tim Leone of The Patriot News was Walton’s guest during the second intermission and he credited Louis Robitaille’s fight as a momentum changer in the game, and talked about Hershey’s goaltending situation as Maxime Daigneault is not quite ready to play as of yet…. Nolan Schaefer made his 19th start of the season in the AHL, and his 3rd with Hershey…. Jamie Hunt (wrist), Pete Vandermeer (broken leg), and Deane Arsene (suspension) were scratched to go along with Marc Busenburg, Joey Tenute, and Jonas Johansson, who were listed as healthy scratches…. Former Capital Stephen Peat was a scratch for Albany. He is currently out with a broken leg.