Merry Christmas!

A few facts to consider

If you don't subscribe to the Patriot News or didn't get the chance to read it yesterday Tim Leone had some nice statistics to look at and consider. I will share them with you here....

• For the fifth time in Bears history they have won 20 games in the first 30. The other 4 teams made it to the Calder Cup finals with 3 of them winning including last years team and the 96-97 team.
• The Bears lead the league in goals. They did this last year too.
• But this year (unlike last year) they are also really good at defense allowing the 2nd fewest goals in the league.

It gets even more impressive:

• Alexander Giroux is second in the league in scoring with 33 points. And he has only played in 21 of Hershey's 31 games....not too bad.
• Oh and Andrew Gordon and Keith Aucoin, each with 32 points, are tied for 3rd overall. Yes that means 3 of the leagues top 4 players reside in Hershey.
• Gordon is tied for the league lead with 15 goals and is tied for second in power play goals with 8. Aucoin is tied for second in goals with 14.
• John Carlson leads all defensemen in scoring (24 points), is 3rd in rookie scoring, and is 4th among all players in assists with 23. He is also tied for the league lead with a +17 rating.
• Steve Pinizzotto is tied for the AHL lead with 3 short handed goals.
• Michal Neuvirth is 4th in save percentage and 5th in goals against average.

And the following stats are even better (in my opinion)...especially if you consider last seasons struggles (albeit minor in the end):

• Hershey's TOP RANKED penalty kill has given up only 11 goals....and they have scored 7 shorties! Only 11 goals in 31 games...very impressive.
  
• The power play is #6 overall and since Chris Bourque has been back they have been converting 31.3% of their chances which would be #1 in the league.
• The Bears are 3rd in the AHL in road points percentage and is tied for 3rd in home points percentage.

And to the fans:

• Hershey AGAIN leads the league in attendance, averaging 8,718 per game. And if you are wondering how close the 2nd place team is....Manitoba is averaging almost 1,500 less. That is quite the difference.
  

Just wanted to mention again that I am not responsible for these stats...I borrowed them from Tim Leone. Thanks Tim for doing the research.

Huge win for Bears in Rochester

Yesterday I mentioned that Rochester is a very good home team (11-1-1-0 going into last nights game) and has one of the best power plays in the AHL (2nd overall).

But that didn't help them last night. Despite spending much of the first period (4 separate minors) on the penalty kill the Bears still managed to come away with a 3-1 victory over the North division leaders.

Hershey got a strong performance in goal by Braden Holtby, now 4-1-1 on the season, as he made 26 saves in the winning effort. Hershey held their own at the other end as well scoring 3 times (once in each period) and getting 40 shots on Alexander Salak.

Salak now has 4 losses on the season...half of them coming against the Bears. I am sure he doesn't want to see anymore of Hershey this season.

Hershey got goals from Oskar Osala (7th of the season), Jay Beagle (5th), and Amerks killer Keith Aucoin (13th and 4th in two games against Amerks) to collect their 19th win of the season. Hershey now leads the East division by 3 points with 2 games in hand over 2nd place Albany.

It was a good performance by the Bears as they had struggled recently on Friday nights. It seems the practice schedule change (they had off Tuesday) might have helped them out a bit.

Tonight (depending on the weather) the Bears will host the Amerks at Giant Center. Jason Bacashihua is expected to get the start in net for Hershey.

Rochester again

Last Saturday night the Bears hosted the Rochester Americans and handed them a 6-2 loss while forcing the Amerks starting goaltender Alexander Salak from the game.

Tonight the Bears will be the guests at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial (that's a mouthful) in Rochester.

Rochester is much better at home than on the road. At home they are 11-1-1-0 overall while only 9-6-0-0 on the road. They have also scored 50 goals at home and have only allowed 25 while those numbers are 43 and 48 on the road. And while Hershey hasn't been bad on the road this year (9-5-0-0) they have struggled the past 2 Friday nights on the road when a Wednesday game didn't keep them prepared. And guess what...this is another of those.

A true test of what this team has comes tonight. A good team, even better at home, against a Bears team that hasn't exactly dominated in recent Friday road games.


Last Saturday the Amerks were playing without a few of their top offensive weapons including Michal Repik and Jeff Taffe. And after 3 shifts Graham Mink also left the game with an injury. None of those three are expected to play tonight either.

Rochester played Syracuse this past Tuesday and looked average doing it. Salak however looked very good which is a good sign for the Amerks considering his game in Hershey last Saturday. Rochester got a boost in that from NHLer Nick Tarnasky who is in Rochester for a 5 game conditioning stint. He scored 2 goals Tuesday and will play this weekend against Hershey.

On other note....Michael Duco is back in Rochester for this weekend. To those of you who follow any Capitals blogs you might remember Duco from a few weeks ago. On December 3rd while Giroux was in Washington and Duco was in Florida Duco essentially jumped Giroux and ended up with 27 penalty minutes. To read more about this go over to On Frozen Blog and read their write up.

Here is the video as well....



Boy I hope Duco, GMac, and Ammo get to play tonight...that would be fun!!


Hershey Bears
record ~ 18-8-0-2 38 points
standings ~ 1st in East Division
most recent game ~ 6-2 Win vs Rochester, 12/12
last 5 games ~ 3-2-0-0
road record ~ 9-5-0-0
goals for ~ 103
goals against ~64
power play ~ 16.8% (11th)
penalty kill ~ 93.3% (1st)


Rochester Americans
record ~ 20-7-1-0 41 points
standings ~ 1st in North Division
most recent game ~ 5-3 Win vs Syracuse, 12/15
last 5 games ~ 2-3-0-0
home record ~ 11-1-1-0
goals for ~ 93
goals against ~ 73
power play ~ 21.3% (2nd)
penalty kill ~ 85.3% (11th)

last time teams met - Hershey won last Saturday night 6-2.


Players to watch:

Hershey:

C Keith Aucoin (11)- Scored a hat trick last Saturday night against the Amerks and is now second on the team in goals with 12. Has 4 goals and 5 assists in 5 December games.
LW Alexander Giroux (12) - Wonder if he is going to go after Duco tonight?? Doubt it but even still he has 3 goals and 9 assists in his last 8 AHL games including 2 assists last Saturday night.
RW Andrew Gordon (10) - After having a minor cold streak of no goals in 6 games he has come to play recently. Scoring 8 goals and adding 5 assists in his last 10 games.

Amerks:

C Jamie Johnson (10) - Leads the team with in points (25) and is tied for the team lead in goals with 10 he was struggling for much of the past few weeks but has managed to pick up his game of late. A goal and 4 assists in his last 2 games after only 2 goals and 2 assists in his previous 10.
LW Michael Duco (14) - Isn't a great offensive threat (only 4 goals this season) but in his last 2 AHL games he has a goal and an assist and lets not forgot that he and Giroux have history.
LW Andrew Sweetland (18) - Only 4 goals this season but 2 of those came last Saturday night against the Bears.


LET'S GO BEARS!!!

Aucoin's trick...interesting roster news

After a lackluster performance on Friday night in Albany many were wondering which Bears team would shot up Saturday in Hershey. Unfortunately for the Bears they came out Saturday and allowed Rochester to take a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the contest.

And that was the last time Rochester competed in this game.

From then on Hershey took control by scoring 6 to Rochester's 2. Keith Aucoin scored 3 of those to give him 12 this season, good for 2nd on the team. Braden Holtby made 34 saves as the Americans tried the best they could to get back into the game with 28 shots over the last 40 minutes.

Hershey also got goals from Andrew Gordon (15th), Jay Beagle (4), and Boyd Kane (11) on their 26 shots. All those goals weren't cost Alexander Salak a loss and cost him playing time as he didn't finish the game. He was replaced for the 3rd time this season after giving up 4 goals in the first period.

Hopefully whatever the Bears figured out on Saturday night will return on Friday when Hershey visits the Amerks in Rochester.


In other news this weekend....

The Caps have finally found a home for Michael Nylander. The talented yet overpriced Swede will be spending the remainder of this season in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins...unless of course they loan him out somewhere. Fortunately for the Bears they won't have to see him in the regular season.

Grand Rapids currently resides in 4th place in the North Division so having the extra help might help them get into the postseason. But goal scoring hasn't been their issue and I highly doubt they brought Nyles in to play defense.

More importantly for the Caps (and Bears) though is that the Caps were able to get his multi million dollar salary off the books this season. Now they have some cap space and a roster space available for someone else.

And that someone else has been found...Karl Alzner was recalled earlier and is expected to get a legitimate opportunity to remain in Washington. That is not great news for Hershey as he is probably the best defenseman in Hershey. But as is life in the minor leagues....they will go on.

In other news out of Washington, Mathieu Perreault is back in Hershey while Kyle Wilson might make his NHL debut tomorrow night. Perry was playing very well for a while with the Caps but has struggled of late. He has only produced 1 point in his last 10 games.

As for Wilson this is a great chance for him. This is what I would call a 'show us what you got' call up. Wilson is not considered the top center in Hershey for either offense or defense. If they were looking for a true offensive force they would have called up Aucoin. If they were looking for a solid defensive player they would have called up Beagle.

But Wilson deserves a look and this is his chance. Fair or not his value to the organization will likely be decided during his stay in the capital district.

Good Luck Kyle and as for Karl...congratulations and good luck.

Bears welcome Graham Mink and the Amerks

Last year Graham Mink played a critical role in helping the Bears to their 10th Calder Cup trophy. He scored 32 goals during the season and another 7 in the playoffs. He skated on the top line with Giroux and Aucoin and played his role perfectly. And then in the offseason he left the organization with the hopes of playing in the NHL.

Unfortunately that has yet to happen and he has spent the entire season with Rochester in the North division. But that hasn't been the worst as he is again playing for a division leading team and is the leading goal scorer for the team as well.

It is always good to see former Bears get a shot in the NHL. Dean Arsene got his shot earlier this year with Edmonton and hopefully Minker will get his shot this season with Florida. I think everyone in Hershey will give Mink a warm welcome tonight and we are all rooting for him to get to the top level.

But we still want to see the Bears win and for that to happen they need to show up. Rochester is a good team. Like I mentioned above they are leading the North division by 3 points and have a +22 goal differential. Rookie goaltender Alexander Salak is playing great this season with a 2.03 goals against average and a 15-2 record in 18 games. He is 4th in the league in save percentage with a .933 and is the league leader in wins with those 15.

Like the Bears this team is offensively balanced. 21 players have scored a goal this season and 14 of them have scored 3 or more with Mink's 10 goals leading the way. There doesn't appear to be a go to tandem that controls the offensive strings but they seem to get it done. They don't have a top line like Hershey's where they can just count on them to produce with regularity. No one on the team is producing at a point per game or better while Hershey has 4 such players.

But that doesn't make them any less dangerous. The Bears need to know how to beat this team though as their next 3 games are against them. Tonight and then next Friday in Rochester and next Saturday back in Hershey.

This is a great chance to make an impression against a good Western Conference team. Although of late the Amerks are struggling a bit having lost 2 of their last 3 road games and 3 of their last 4 overall.

Something has to give in these games tough...Rochester possesses the leagues #1 power play while Hershey boasts the leagues #1 penalty kill....which unit is truly the best? We start the discovery tonight.


Hershey Bears
record ~ 17-8-0-2 36 points
standings ~ 1st in East Division
most recent game ~ 3-0 Loss @ Albany, 12/11
last 5 games ~ 3-2-0-0
home record ~ 8-3-0-2
goals for ~ 97
goals against ~62
power play ~ 16.3% (12th)
penalty kill ~ 93.0% (1st)


Rochester Americans
record ~ 19-6-1-0 39 points
standings ~ 1st in North Division
most recent game ~ 2-1 Loss vs Abbotsford, 12/11
last 5 games ~ 2-3-0-0
home record ~ 9-5-0-0
goals for ~ 86
goals against ~ 64
power play ~ 22.7% (1st)
penalty kill ~ 86.0% (9th)

last time teams met - First of 4 meetings this season.


Players to watch:

Hershey:

LW Chris Bourque (17)- After spending the first couple months of the season in Pittsburgh with the Penguins he returned to Hershey last Saturday night and scored 3 goals and 2 assists in his two games last weekend.
LW Alexander Giroux (12) - No one played that well last night but Giroux had his chances but he couldn't get shots off. He needs to do better tonight.
G Braden Holtby (1) - Gets his 5th start of the season in Hershey and his first since November 21 as Michal Neuvirth is in Washington. Solid numbers to this point...1.23 goals against and a .953 save percentage...I would say those are pretty good numbers.

Amerks:

RW Graham Mink (21) - Leads the team with 10 goals and is tied for second with 20 points. He has 3 goals and an assist so far in 5 December games.
C Chris Taylor (12) - Leads the team in assists (16) and points (22) he hasn't produced in 2 straight games but does have a goal and 5 assists in the 4 games prior to that.
RW Michael Repik (26) - Tied for second on the team in goals with 9 and has 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 6 games.


LET'S GO BEARS!!!

Damn you Justin Peters

For the second time in a week Justin Peters and the Albany River Rats completely shut down the AHL's highest scoring team. 36 shots by the Bears last night and 36 saves by Peters to earn the shutout.

Even with the additions of Alexander Giroux and Chris Bourque the Bears could not muster enough offense to beat the Albany goalie. Honestly though I thought the offense was average at best. The stats say 36 shots but I don't think half of those even got to the goalie. Although in the third period Peters made a few spectacular saves.

Hershey's goaltender, Jason Bacashihua, didn't do too much worse. He made two phenomenal saves early in the 2nd period to keep the Bears in the game but in the end he wasn't as good as his counterpart.

Even without a few good players the Rats still came up with enough offense to cut the Bears division lead to only 3 points. Albany got goals from Chris Terry, Nick Dodge, and an empty netter from Mike Angelidis to send the Bears back to Hershey on a sour note.

It was just the second time this season that the Bears have been shutout. And while Peters definitely played great the Bears didn't exactly help themselves. They only registered 5 shots in the first period to Albany's 15 and 2 goals. You can't give a goalie like Peters a period off and then start playing down 2 goals in the 2nd period.

And the power play...I shouldn't even get started....7 chances and not too much coming from them. Referee Frederic L'Ecuyer gave the Bears numerous opportunities but the Bears found ways to fumble the puck around in the offensive zone. But you do have to give the Rats some credit as they clogged passing lanes and took away what the Bears wanted to do.

These two don't meet again til mid January (15th) again in Albany. Maybe by then the Bears will have figured out a way to beat the Rats.


My Three Stars of the Game:

1. Justin Peters - 36 saves and his second straight A+ against the Bears
2. Jacob Micflikier - primary assist on all 3 goals
3. Chris Terry - first goal of game, game winning goal as it turns out and an assist

Grading the Performance:

• Offense | B | The first period was pathetic but they got their game going in the 2nd and 3rd but couldn't beat the Rats. Seemed to wait too long to shoot sometimes....always looking for that perfect pass. A hot goaltender will do that to a team...they think they need to make the perfect play to beat them.
• Defense | B | The blueline units seemed to do okay. No major gaffes, not too many problems. 2 goals allowed but that's okay in most cases. Has been a consistent source of steady play this year in my opinion.
• Goaltending | B | Not bad. Cash played well...some big saves and a couple goals allowed. Definitely not his fault they couldn't score at the other end.
• Power Play | F | Horrible in my opinion. Not shooting 5 on 5 is a little more understandable cause you don't have time but there was WAY too much passing on the power play last night. Instead of getting pucks at the net they were looking for the perfect pass all night long.
• Penalty Kill | A | The only goal they allowed was the empty netter at the end and that really can't be held against them.
• Overall | B | Not a bad game honestly. I thought they had their chances and played well in their own end. Sometimes you just run into a hot goaltender. Unfortunately they have run into the same hot goaltender twice in a week.

Bears look to avenge loss in Albany

The Hershey Bears get another crack at the Albany River Rats tonight in Albany. Last Friday in the same building Rats goalie Justin Peters stonewalled the Bears as the Rats won 3-1 on his 39 saves.

But unfortunately for Peters and the rest of the Rats the Bears got a lot stronger this week. Saturday night the Bears welcomed Chris Bourque back to Hershey and he responded with 3 goals and 2 assists in the next two games. Earlier this week Karl Alzner, arguably the best defenseman on the team, returned from Washington, and then yesterday the Capitals reassigned Alexander Giroux to Hershey.

None of those 3 were with the team last Friday night in Albany but all three will be there tonight.

Unfortunately (for Albany) the roster turnover for the Rats went the opposite direction. This week the Carolina Hurricanes recalled defensemen Jay Harrison and Brett Carson as well as forwards Jiri Tlusty and Pat Dwyer. All but Tlusty played against the Bears last Friday night and accounted for 1 goal and 3 assists on the night.

Not that the Rats will be any easier to beat but losing those 4 sure doesn't hurt the Bears chances. And with the addition of Giroux, who hasn't played for the Bears since the night before Thanksgiving, the Bears roster is as loaded as it has been all season.


Hershey Bears
record ~ 17-7-0-2 36 points
standings ~ 1st in East Division
most recent game ~ 9-2 Win vs Hartford, 12/6
last 5 games ~ 3-1-0-1
road record ~ 9-4-0-0
goals for ~ 97
goals against ~59
power play ~ 17.2% (11th)
penalty kill ~ 93.6% (1st)


Albany River Rats
record ~ 14-10-1-2 31 points
standings ~ 2nd in East Division
most recent game ~ 4-1 Win vs Wilkes Barre, 12/6
last 5 games ~ 4-0-1-0
home record ~ 11-4-0-1
goals for ~ 75
goals against ~ 72
power play ~ 10.9% (28th)
penalty kill ~ 83.0% (18th)

last time teams met - Albany won 3-1 in Albany last Friday.


Players to watch:

Hershey:

LW Chris Bourque (17)- After spending the first couple months of the season in Pittsburgh with the Penguins he returned to Hershey last Saturday night and scored 3 goals and 2 assists in his two games last weekend.
LW Alexander Giroux (12) - Hasn't played in Hershey since before Thanksgiving but he was on a roll before heading to Washington. 3 goals and 7 assists in the 6 games before the call up.
RW Andrew Gordon (10) - Leading the team in goals (14) and points (30) he has been extremely hot as of late. He has scored in 6 of his last 8 and in those 8 games he has 7 goals and 5 assists.

Rats:

C Rob Hennigar (19) - Has only been playing for the Rats since Thanksgiving but in those 6 games he has 5 assists.
LW Jacob Micflikier (18) - Hasn't played too many games this season (8) but 4 of them have come in the past 2 weeks and he has 3 goals and an assist in those games.
C Stefan Chaput (15) - Tied for second on the team in points with 18 he has points in 4 straight games with 1 goal and 5 assists in those contests.


LET'S GO BEARS!!!

Welcome Back Mr. Bourque

Friday night the Bears couldn't get a puck past Albany goaltender Jason Peters. But Saturday and Sunday they didn't have that trouble. A 5 goal Saturday and a 9 goal Sunday resulted in 4 points and a 5 point lead in the division.

And to make the weekend even better a certain #17 returned to the lineup. Late last week the Penguins put the diminutive winger on waivers and the Capitals claimed him and sent him directly to Hershey.

He arrived in Hershey at 4:30 and scored his first Hershey goal on his first shot of the game and added the game winner in the 3rd period.

Not bad for your first AHL game of the season.

Then the Bears welcomed, quite rudely I might add, the Hartford Wolfpack to the Giant Center on Sunday evening. Earlier this year the Bears put a 6-0 beating on the Pack in their own building and then they followed it up with a 9-2 beating in Hershey.

Before the game was even 23 minutes old the scoreboard read Hershey 5 Hartford 0 and starting goalie Steve Valiquette was sitting on the bench. Unfortunately for Hartford backup goalie Matt Zaba didn't fare much better.

Overall the Bears took 35 shots and scored on 9 of them. Pretty good. And pretty even scoring too. Gavin Morgan scored his first of the year (and first for Hershey since 03-04), Andrew Gordon added 2 (13 and 14), Andrew Joudrey added his 2nd against Hartford this year (4th of the season), Michael Dubuc (9), Chris Bourque (3rd), Steve Pinizzotto scored twice late (4th and 5th), and Kyle Wilson (KYLE WILSON!!!!) added a Gordie Howe hat trick to the cause with his fight, assist, and 9th goal of the season.

Congrats to the Bears for rebounding from the 3-1 loss Friday night....and....
Congrats to Chris Bourque for making it back to Hershey and finishing the weekend with 3 goals and 2 assists.


Other Notes:

• Karl Alzner was reassigned by Washington as Shaone Morrisonn returned from injury.
• Expect Alexandre Giroux back in Hershey by the weekend as the Caps should be healthy enough then.
• When that happens players like Morgan, Dubuc, and Dylan Yeo could be headed back to South Carolina.

Norfolk Admirals visit Hershey Bears tonight

Tough even game last night against Albany. Unfortunately it ended in a 3-1 Albany win but for almost the entire game it was a 1 goal game until the empty netter with less than 10 seconds to go.

Hershey just couldn't beat goaltender Justin Peters although they sure tried as they fired 40 shots at him. Only Andrew Gordon (12th of the season) managed to get a shot by Peters.

Tonight Hershey welcomes Norfolk to town. This will be the third meeting of the season between the Admirals and the Bears. The first two were also in Hershey and the Bears won both, 3-1 and 5-3.

A couple weeks ago Norfolk was actually right along side the Bears at the top of the East Division but have since fallen all the way to 4th. Since their last trip to Hershey, on November 13th, they have won only 4 games and all 4 of those wins have come in either overtime or a shootout.

Included in that stretch is 7 losses, only one of those in extra time. So apparently this team is great when everything is on the line. In fact Norfolk has only lost one time when a game goes to OT or a SO (4-1 in those games). If Hershey can get a lead during regulation then they will probably win.


Hershey Bears
record ~ 15-7-0-2 32 points
standings ~ 1st in East Division
most recent game ~ 3-1 Loss @ Albany, 12/4
last 5 games ~ 2-2-0-1
home record ~ 6-3-0-2
goals for ~ 83
goals against ~53
power play ~ 14.8% (17th)
penalty kill ~ 94.0% (1st)


Norfolk Admirals
record ~ 12-13-1-0 25 points
standings ~ 5th in East Division
most recent game ~ 2-1 OT Win @ Adirondack, 12/4
last 5 games ~ 2-3-0-0
road record ~ 8-8-1-0
goals for ~ 64
goals against ~ 64
power play ~ 10.8% (28th)
penalty kill ~ 90.4% (5th)

last time teams met - Hershey won 5-3 in Hershey on November 13.


Players to watch:

Hershey:

C Keith Aucoin (11)- 8 goals and 12 assists in only 17 games with the Bears this season puts him 3rd on the team in scoring. Against Norfolk this season he has 1 goal and 3 assists.
RW Andrew Gordon (10) - Leading the team in goals with 12 and second on the team in points with 25 Gordo has been playing well lately with 5 goals and 2 assists in his last 6 games. He also has 3 goals against the Admirals this season (all coming in the opening game).
RW Francois Bouchard (22) - Was producing at a great pace back in the end of October into November but since the 8th of November (9 games) he has only 4 assists. Last season he slowed considerably after a hot start...is it happening again?

Admirals:

RW Brandon Bockenski (27) - Leading the team in goals with 12 and points with 21 he hasn't been producing as much of late. Only 2 goals and 3 assists in his last 11 games.
C Ryan Craig (23) - Probably the hottest player for the Ads right now. He has 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 games. That's following 7 straight games with no points. Overall he has 9 goals (2nd on team) and 4 assists this season.
LW Radek Smolenak (10) - Like Craig he is also playing well right now with 1 goal and 4 assists in his last 3 games. Has only played 16 games this season with the Ads and has 3 goals and 8 assists so far.


LET'S GO BEARS!!!

Bears at Rats tonight...Cops for KOPS tomorrow afternoon

The Bears kick off their 2nd straight 3 in 3 weekend tonight in Albany against the 3rd place River Rats. This will be the second meeting between the two teams with the Bears winning 4-1 in Hershey during October.

After tonight the Bears return home for games against Norfolk and Hartford.

But the big event of the weekend takes place at 1pm....the Cops for KOPS benefit hockey game. KOPS stands for 'Keep our Pipers Silent'. This event (the 4th annual) raises money for the children of police officers in Pennsylvania who were killed in the line of duty.

Previous years have raised about $50,000 in money that will be used to assist with education costs. In 2009 six officers were killed and they left behind 12 children.

For more on this years event you can find the flyer here and an article by WHTM here. For even more information including a list of the officers being honored visit John Walton Hockey.

Tickets to the game are $10 (children under 3 are free) and ALL proceeds benefit the children.

Hopefully everyone can get to the game...imagine 10,000 people showing up for PA officers vs NY City officers...that would be cool.

But if you can't be there consider donating anyhow....Additional donations can be mailed to the Derry Township Police Association, c/o Lt. Pat O'Rourke, 620 Clearwater Road, Hershey, PA 17033.



Hershey Bears
record ~ 15-6-0-2 32 points
standings ~ 1st in East Division
most recent game ~ 5-0 Win vs Wilkes-Barre, 11/29
last 5 games ~ 2-1-0-2
road record ~ 10-3-0-0
goals for ~ 82
goals against ~50
power play ~ 15.4% (14th)
penalty kill ~ 94.7% (1st)


Albany River Rats
record ~ 11-10-1-2 25 points
standings ~ 3rd in East Division
most recent game ~ 3-2 Win @ Norfolk, 11/28
last 5 games ~ 2-2-1-0
home record ~ 9-4-0-1
goals for ~ 64
goals against ~ 69
power play ~ 11.4% (25th)
penalty kill ~ 81.4% (21st)

last time teams met - Hershey won 4-1 in Hershey on October 31.


Players to watch:

Hershey:

LW Boyd Kane (28)- Has found his offensive touch the past 7 games with 7 goals and an assist. Including 4 goals in the past 3 games.
RW Andrew Gordon (10) - Leading the team in goals with 11 and second on the team in points with 24 Gordo has been playing well lately with 4 goals and 2 assists in his last 5 games.
C Kyle Wilson (18) - Only 7th on the team with 15 points but many of those have come recently with 3 goals and an assist in the last 3 and two more goals in his last 7 games.

Rats:

RW Pat Dwyer (24) - Leading the team in goals with 9 and second on the team in points with 15 he has been hot of late with 4 goals and 2 assists in his last 7 games.
C Zach Boychuk (11) - While he sports a team worst -9 rating he also has 6 goals and 9 assists which ties him for second on the team in points. With 1 goal and 2 assists in his last 3 games he is also one of the hotter Rats (they seem to be struggling with consistency).
LW Jiri Tlusty (20) - Could be making his Rats debut as he was recently acquired from Toronto. With the Marlies he had 8 goals and 7 assists but only 2 of those goals have come since October.


LET'S GO BEARS!!!