The Hershey Bears have made the playoffs, officially. The Bears defeated the Philadelphia Phantoms last night 5-2 to clinch the 4th seed in the East Division. Bridgeport also lost so the Bears would have made it no matter what.
After spotting the Phantoms 2 goals in the first half of the 1st period the Bears erupted for 5 unanswered goals to finish the game. Andrew Gordon scored his 15th and 16th goals of the season in the 1st period to tie the game at 2 after one period of play. Jason Morgan added his 19th and Ryan Flinn added his 2nd in the 2nd period to give the Bears a 4-2 lead after two periods. Jay Beagle added his 19th of the year about 7 minutes into the 3rd period to put the final touches on the scoring in the game.
Unfortunately that was not the end of the action. A couple of minutes later Daren Machesney may have said something to or done something to Jesse Boulerice of the Phantoms and Boulerice went after Machesney and knocked him down. Before long all the Bears on the ice as well as one from the bench were in the corner fighting all the Phantoms, including goalies.
Grant McNeill is the Bear that left the bench to join the fight. He took care of Jesse Boulerice though as Boulerice left with his left arm seemingly hurt.
I do have to say that Tristan Grant was a little bit nicer as he could have really pounded away at Shawn Collymore but let up rather quickly. Grant is an experienced fighter where Collymore isn't and was just defending the goaltender.
If you want to see the video here is the link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOSV0CbGTrM, unfortunately the only video we have so far is with the Phantoms announcers.
McNeill will get suspended for leaving the bench. Probably 5 or 6 games from what I have been reading. Flinn may also get suspended because of an apparent stick swinging incident that happened earlier. There is no video of the incident but he fought with a Phantom right afterwords. He also threw a water bottle at Boulerice as he left the ice.
The McNeill suspension will have the larger impact but I don't have a problem with what he did. Boulerice has a history of this sort of stuff. Earlier this year he cross checked Vancouver Canuck Ryan Kesler in the head. Someone that could handle him had to get in there and with Flinn in the box and Louis not dressed, that someone did! Dean Arsene was in the broadcast booth with John Walton last night and he said we will take the suspension and that he thinks McNeill did the right thing.
Back to the game now, Machesney played great in goal. He gave up the 2 in the first period and then stopped everything else. He ended up with 38 saves on 40 shots. There has been much discussion on pennlive's bears forum about Cheese vs Freddie and who should start. My opinion has been and will continue to be that Cheese deserves the chance. But right now I say go with the hot hand. I know Freddie played great on Friday but then he sat and watched last night so he is going into the game cold. Start Cheese tonight, if he wins start him again Wednesday night and go with who is winning. When Cheese loses than go with Freddie. After a couple games the number 1 goaltender should be clear and then you stick with that one! But Coach Woods, you can't keep switching goalies after every game. These guys both run hot and cold, you put them in for one and then you take them out for the next one. Let them get some rhythm.
Playoff Schedule: an odd 1-2-1-1-1-1 format!
Game 1 - at Giant Center, Wednesday April 16th at 7:00
Game 2 - in WB, Saturday April 19th at 7:05
Game 3 - in WB, Sunday April 20th at 5:05
Game 4 - at Giant Center, Wednesday April 23rd at 7:00
Game 5 - in WB, Friday April 25th at 7:05 (if necessary)
Game 6 - at Giant Center, Saturday April 26th at 7:00 (if necessary)
Game 7 - in WB, Sunday April 27th at 7:05 (if necessary)
Tickets for games 1 and 4 are on sale now at Giant Center box office. There is one person I know of going to Wilkes Barre for game 3 and he is sitting in section 120 and wants company.
Tonight the Bears get Binghamton in a relatively meaningless game. The goal for tonight should be to get out of Hershey with no injuries.
LET'S GO BEARS!!! WWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
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