That was quite a week the Bears just finished. 7 games over 9 days in 5 different cities. In total Hershey spent 21 hours and almost 1200 miles just getting to and from each city. That is a long time to spend on the road.
But they came out of it with 8 of a possible 14 points. So it wasn't that bad. They went 3-2-0-2 over the 7 games which is technically a losing record but thanks to the overtime/shootout they come out getting better than 50% of the available points.
Most importantly they remain in 2nd place in the East Division. They sit 7 points ahead of 3rd place Norfolk and 5points behind first place Wilkes-Barre.
The last game of the trip was definitely a tough one for the team. It wasn't what I would call a 'boring' game but it wasn't exciting either.
The Admirals and Bears combined for a total of 10 shots in the first period. They equaled that number in penalties in the 1st period alone!
It wasn't entirely unexpected though. I think if you knew the schedule they were finishing up you probably weren't surprised by their effort on Sunday.
And don't get me wrong...they played well on Sunday. Not great but good enough to get a point and with the exception of a couple costly defensive letdowns they probably should have won that game.
But they didn't so now they move on.
These are strange times we are entering. For the last 6 weeks Hershey has played at least 1 weekday game and in 5 of the 6 weeks they played 4 (or more) games. But for the remainder of the season they play 0 weekday games.
It is the perfect time for a rest too. Players are starting to get healthy (more on that below) while others surely need a little break to refuel and heal up.
Hershey played 29 games over the last 50 days. Now they will play 11 games over the final 37. Shouldn't be too bad.
6 of those 11 are at home with 5 on the road. They play in Hershey twice every weekend except for the 2nd to last weekend of the season when they play twice in Norfolk.
Definitely a favorable schedule moving towards the end of the season.
INJURY UPDATES:
This is some good stuff here!
Andrew Gordon is hoping to begin practicing this week! That would be huge heading into the playoffs.
Keith Aucoin is also hoping to begin practicing but that is less certain.
Steve Pinizzotto will possibly be able to play on Friday.
Semyon Varlamov is hoping to return for the Caps soon too. While that obviously doesn't help the Bears directly it means that Braden Holtby would be returning to Hershey.
Now for the bad news...
Jason Arnott is hurt for the Caps. While there has been no recall as yet there is a possibility that Mathieu Perreault would be recalled to Washington. Stay tuned.
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