Sunday, March 1, 2009

Bears vs Providence preview, 3/1

Which Bears team will show up tonight? The one that finished the game last night or the one that started the game? Providence is a good team and they are in first in their own division and are fighting to stay there so they aren't going to come out slow. They lost last night in Philly and are going to be looking for a statement win tonight against the 1st place team in the Eastern Conference.

The Bears need to come out on all cylinders this evening or they could find themselves in a hole early. They have now won 2 straight home games and are going to look to make it three before heading out on the road for 2 games next weekend. They return to home ice on the 11th when they welcome Springfield to town.

Providence on the other hand is in the middle of an 8 game road trip. They have started out by earning 4 points (1 win, 2 shootout losses) in the first 3 games of the trip. They aren't nearly as good on the road as they are at home so hopefully the Bears can catch them tonight.

The Bruins are finishing up a 4 in 6 while the Bears are at the tail end of a 4 in 5 weekend so both teams might be a little tired.

Hopefully the Bears can come out and play with urgency for the entire game instead of just the third period like they have the past few games.


Hershey Bears
record ~ 38-17-1-5 82 points
standings ~ 1st in East Division
playoff positioning - 4 points ahead of 2nd place
most recent game ~ 6-4 Win vs Norfolk, 2/28
last 5 games ~ 2-1-1-1
home record ~ 21-8-0-2
goals for ~ 232
goals against ~187
power play ~ 18.6% (8th)
penalty kill ~ 79.4% (26th)


Providence Bruins
record ~ 34-21-2-3 73 points
standings ~ 1st in Atlantic Division
playoff positioning ~ 2 points ahead of 2nd
most recent game ~ 4-3 SO Loss @ Philly, 2/28
last 5 games ~ 3-0-0-2
road record ~ 13-11-2-3
goals for ~ 184
goals against ~ 172
power play ~ 18.0% (11th)
penalty kill ~ 82.6% (16th)

last time teams met - Providence won 7-2 in Providence on January 2.

Players to watch:

Hershey:

LW Oskar Osala (36)- After not recording a point in almost a month and a half he has an assists and a goal in his last 2 games. Played well last night with Mink and Aucoin...will we see that line again?
RW Graham Mink (21) - Went on a tear through February with 10 goals and 5 assists in the 12 games last month. That includes 4 goals and 3 assists in the last 3 games.
C Keith Aucoin (11) - He has quietly put together a 12 game point streak after tallying at least one point in every game in February. In those 12 games he had 4 goals and 16 assists.

Bruins:

RW Brad Marchand (12) - He is tied for second on the team with 47 points but has been on a tear lately. He has 5 goals and 10 assists in his last 10 games.

C Martin St. Pierre (39) - Also tied for second in points with 47 but his have come in only 42 games. He has 1 goal and 4 assists in his last 5 games.
D Johnny Boychuk (3) - The former Bear leads the team with 50 points this season. In his last 6 games he has 3 goals and 3 assists.


LET'S GO BEARS!!!

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