The Big O!!

Oskar Osala added his 9th, 10th, and 11th goals of this season tonight with his FIRST CAREER HAT TRICK!!

What a game for the Bears. Despite referee Nygel Pelletier and his ridiculous calls the Bears welcomed the Phantoms to Hershey with 5 third period goals on their way to a 7-3 win.

Pelletier called 23 penalties, 2 of which were for fighting, and 1 coincidental minors. There were 19 power plays between the two teams. The Phantoms received 11 power plays and scored on 2 while the Bears went 4 for 8 with the man advantage.

Easily one of the WORST officiating calls I have seen watching hockey. He was calling a lot of little penalties while at the same time allowing other should be calls go. And then he managed to award Philly a penalty shot when there was no reason for one.

I don't have a problem if you want to call everything. BUT CALL EVERYTHING! He would call a hook on one guy and then someone else would do it and he would let it go. Very inconsistent is the best way to grade Pelletier.

But for the Bears it was a great performance. The entire team played well and skated hard. In particular I thought Alexandre Giroux had his best game in a couple weeks. He tallied 2 assists but more importantly he skated as hard as he has in a while and played the body constantly.

For some reason Coach Woods took Osala off the rookie line and put Giroux on it for part of the game. I wouldn't break that line up ever again. In fact I would make that my number 1 line. All three of the players (Osala, Perrault, and Bouchard) play with intensity and joy. Watching the three on the bench after the hat trick for Osala you saw how much they LOVE playing this game. And both Bouchard and Perrault were just as happy for Osala as the Big O was for himself. In fact Bouchard might have enjoyed it even more than Oskar.

A complete game that once again showed this teams potential and talent.


My Three Stars of the Game

1. Oskar Osala - his first career hat trick included the game winner tonight
2. Francois Bouchard - an INCREDIBLE pass for Osala's second goal and 2 other assists
3. Mathieu Perrault - only 1 assist but he hustled and skated hard ALL game long

Grading the Performance:

• Offense - B+ - For the first 2 periods the Bears got close but couldn't break through. Much like last night they had lots of chances but couldn't seem to get any breaks or bounces. And then the third period came and the flood gates opened. 41 shots for the game, 23 in the third period alone.
• Defense - B - For the most part a very good performance. The penalty shot wasn't necessarily their fault for the goal but they were out of position which led to the penalty. A very good performance overall as even Lepisto was taking the body in the corners. At times the defense was caught a little flat footed and took some bad penalties but they managed to overcome.
• Goaltending - B+ - The first goal by Syvret was perfectly placed. Varlamov played the angle to perfection but you can't stop a perfect shot. Right before the penalty shot Varlamov stopped Matsumoto on the breakaway with a great pad save and really didn't stand a chance against a very good goal scorer. The third goal maybe could have been stopped but a tough one to get to. Other than being out of position from time to time another solid performance from the rookie.
• Power Play - B+ - 4 for 8 will get you a good grade and most of the power plays were well orchestrated and played properly. On a couple though they had a hard time getting in the zone and getting set up. But overall a good night.
• Penalty Kill - A - I thought this unit was great. Yes they allowed a couple goals but they were ambushed by Pelletier in that second period.
• Overall - B+ - A great game from the team. Even Woods was getting pissed about the ridiculous calls that were being called. They survived a good Phantoms team and an official out to get em in the second period. Good Game Bears!

news and notes:

• Sean Collins was injured in the game Friday night in Philly and did not play tonight.
• Josh Godfrey was called up from South Carolina as Collins is not expected to play tomorrow against Bingo. Godfrey will probably play Sunday night.
• I was surprised to see Varlamov in net tonight. Expect to see Machesney tomorrow evening but Simeon is playing well enough to get another start in my opinion.