Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Bears @ Falcons Preview, 12/31

Hershey Bears
record ~ 23-8-0-1 47 points
standings ~ 1st in East Division
most recent game ~ 5-3 Win vs Albany, 12/28
last 5 games ~ 3-2-0-0
road record ~ 9-5-0-1
goals for ~ 128
goals against ~86
power play ~ 16.5% (16th)
penalty kill ~ 82.9% (16th)


Springfield Falcons
record ~ 12-16-4-1 29 points
standings ~ Last in Atlantic Division
most recent game ~ 4-2 Loss @ Manchester, 12/28
last 5 games ~ 0-4-1-0
home record ~ 7-8-0-0
goals for ~ 81
goals against ~ 106
power play ~ 15.8% (18th)
penalty kill ~ 78.5% (29th)

last time teams met - First meeting this season.

Players to watch:

Hershey:

LW Oskar Osala (36)- Finally got back on the score sheet last game with a goal and an assist.
C Keith Aucoin (11) - 2 goals and 2 assists in the last 2 games. Hopefully he can continue to produce those numbers even while his linemates change.
G Simeon Varlamov (31) - He has been sent up and down from Washington multiple times over the past couple weeks. Is he focused and ready for a road trip?

Springfield:

C Ryan Potulny (17) - Leading the team in points with 27. During the month of December he has played in 10 games and has 6 goals and 5 assists.
LW Rob Schremp (44) - Not a goal scorer, he only has 2 this season, but he gets assists regularly. In 24 games he has at least 1 assist in 16 of them. 66%...not too bad.
G Devan Dubnyk (40) - Really he is their only goaltender. He has appeared in 32 games out of the 33 they have played. He has a 3.07 goals against average and a .901 save percentage.


News and notes:
  • Tyler Sloan was recalled to Washington for Tuesday night's game against Buffalo due to Karl Alzner not being able to go. He is expected back with the Bears this week yet.
  • Both Alexander Giroux and Chris Bourque (or one or the other) could return to the Bears lineup this weekend but not for today's afternoon game.
  • Springfield comes into this game with a 6 game losing streak. Beyond that they have lost 9 of 10 and 14 of 17.
LET'S GO BEARS!!! ADD TO THE FALCONS STREAK!!!

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