That was an impressive weekend of hockey from the Hershey Bears. On Friday they were in 3rd place in the East division...4 points out of first.
Today, they are leading the division, albeit tied in points with Wilkes-Barre and Norfolk.
In 3 games the Bears allowed 4 goals and scored 14. They out shot the opposition 115-82.
The power play went an amazing 4 for 9 on the weekend. That's 44.4%. Impressive.
Even better...the penalty kill successfully killed off 16 of 17 chances. 94.1%.
The goalies played great. The defense was stellar. And the forwards...wow.
The move the coaching staff made heading into the weekend (Mink down to the 3rd line) definitely paid dividends.
Matt Pope showed that he can produce at this level with 2 goals and 2 assists on the weekend. Ryan Potulny showed that he was a great addition this offseason and is back healthy from early season surgery with 2 goals and 3 assists. Matt Ford, also back from injury, scored 2 and added 2 assists. And Jacob Micflikier, who hadn't scored since November 11 finally got back in the goal column with 1 on Sunday and also added 3 assists.
And that was just the 2nd and 3rd lines.
Keith Aucoin had 2 goals and 4 assists on the weekend and Chris Bourque had 4 assists and has extended his points streak to 11 games.
From 4th to 1st in the division and from 8th to 3rd in the conference (3 points out of first) in one weekend. That was productive.
Next up is a true test though. Another 3 in 3 with games against Connecticut (2nd in the conference), Wilkes-Barre, and Norfolk.
This past weekend was great. This upcoming weekend will be the true gauge to show where the Bears are right now.
1 comment:
Matt Pope is a good player. What people forget is that he played for the Moose against the Bears in the 2009 finals. Pope played on the first line with Krog and Jaffary, the two leading scorers on the team. When you put Pope on a line with talented players like Bourque, Aucoin, MicFlikier, he WILL produce!
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