Injuries are taking a toll

The injury bug has hit the Hershey Bears hard in the past month. They have gone 3-8 in their last 11 games and are now in a fight for the last playoff spot in the division. Injuries to the Capitals have resulted in call ups for Chris Bourque and Sami Lepisto. Bourque is back now but Lepisto remains in Washington and has been playing well. Eric Fehr also remains in Washington and probably will until the end of the year. The Caps are fighting for the last playoff spot in the East and if they make the playoffs will probably keep at least Fehr up on the roster.

The Bears have their own set of injuries that are causing problems. Josef Boumedienne, Ben Clymer, Dean Arsene, Jonathon Paiment, Jamie Hunt and Chris McAlister have all missed significant time. According to Tim Leone of the Patriot News the Bears have been without at least 2 of his top six defensemen for all but 11 games since Bob Woods took over as coach. 3 of the top six have missed 12 games. The top six in theory are Arsene, Boumedienne, Lepisto, Tyler Sloan, Hunt, and either McAlister or Clymer. Now Danny Syvret would be in the top six but he has only been with the team for a short period.

The Bears get 8 of their last 13 games at home and need to win most of them. They also need to learn how to score again. The Bears have only scored more than 2 goals in 3 of their last 10 games. They are 2-8 in those 10 games. Alexandre Giroux is scoring his share but Bourque and Andrew Joudrey haven't scored at all lately and Kyle Wilson and Jason Morgan need to pick up their production as well.

The Bears have 74 points and are in 4th place in the East Division. They trail Philly by 11 points and Wilkes-Barre by 9 points. Albany is 6 points up on the Bears. Just behind Hershey is Binghamton with 73 points and Bridgeport with 71 points. The Bears have games left against each of the teams in the division including 3 against Philly and 2 against both Binghamton and Bridgeport. They also have games in hand against the other teams including 2 against Albany.

Upcoming games for the Bears include a game in Albany on Wednesday and back home for Philly this Saturday. I wouldn't say they are must win games but it is getting close to that point.