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Hershey Bears Week Preview: March 24

By Tori Hartman

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Photo Credit: Tori Hartman

The Hershey Bears worked out three wins last week. On Wednesday it was a 3-2 win against the Worcester Sharks followed by two straight overtime wins over the Portland Pirates. Here are some of the Hershey Bears hot players:

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  • Tim Kennedy is on a six game point streak with three goals and three assists. Kennedy now has 55 points (10 goals and 45 assists) in 64 games.
  • Jim O’Brien returned to the line-up this week. O’Brien had one goal on Wednesday and two assists on Sunday.
  • Both of the Hershey goalies reached a season high in saves this week. Philipp Grubauer made 44 saves on Wednesday, and Pheonix Copley made 42 saves on Saturday. I also noticed that neither Grubauer nor Copley were pulled this season. The only times the goalies didn’t finish a start was on December 31 when Grubauer suffered an injury against WBS and on February 21 when Pheonix Copley got kicked out of the game for fighting Bridgeport’s goalie, Kevin Poulin. The Hershey Bears goalies have definitely put in the work this season.

Check out some more on Hershey Bears records in the Bears’ Weekly Release

While the games last week were important for the Hershey Bears to get back into the win column against some very talented teams, this upcoming week is even more essential in the Bears’ chase for the first position in the Eastern Conference.

Hershey Bears vs Manchester Monarchs

Hershey Bears record against the Monarchs: 1-1-0-0

Monarchs’ record: 41-15-6-2 in 64 GP

Monarchs in the standings: 90 points, 1st in the Eastern Conference

Recalls: Mike Richards was recalled by the LA Kings on Sunday. I’m sure this is upsetting for some of the Hershey Bears fans who are also Flyers fans (yuck). I highly doubt he will be back with Manchester for their games against the Hershey Bears on Friday and Saturday or that he will return at all with LA trying to make the playoffs, and Richards being pretty seasoned in that regard.

The Hershey Bears games against the Monarchs on Friday and Saturday are the last times these two teams will meet during the regular season. These games are pretty big for the Hershey Bears who are only trailing Manchester in the standings. The Monarchs are on a four game win streak and have gone 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 games. The Hershey Bears will have to watch taking too many penalties against this Manchester team that leads the AHL on the power play at 21.1%. They also have AHL All Star and fifth ranked goalie in the AHL, Jean-Francois Berube (2.08, .917). Oh, we can’t forget the man known more for his Twitter antics than his on-ice play, Paul Bissonnette, also plays for the Manchester Monarchs. I’m actually pretty excited to see BizNasty play.

Who to watch: RW Brian O’Neill (22-48-70 in 60 GP)

Brian O’Neill had a great four seasons playing hockey at Yale. When he graduated, he was second in all-time scoring at Yale with 163 points and earned a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Kings. The native of Yardley, PA is putting up an outstanding season, already registering 70 points and totally demolishing his previous season high of 47 points. His 70 points places him at first in the AHL scoring race. O’Neill is averaging an outstanding 1.17 points/game, and in his last 10 games, he has five multi-point games.

 Hershey Bears vs Bridgeport Sound Tigers

Hershey Bears record against Bridgeport: 3-0-0-0

Bridgeport’s record: 24 -33-6-1 in 64 GP

Bridgeport in the standings: 55 points, 14th in the Eastern Conference

This is also the last time the Hershey Bears will face the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. In the previous three match-ups between these two teams, the Hershey Bears outscored the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 15 to 7. David Leggio started those three games and didn’t exactly have his best outings against his former team. Kent Simpson and Kevin Poulin will take over in net since Leggio was traded to the Portland Pirates at the NHL trade deadline. From February 8th to March 6th, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers were on a 10 game losing streak. Since that streak Bridgeport has gone 3-4-0-0. Most recently they beat the Binghamton Senators 7-1, so this team definitely has ability and shouldn’t be underestimated.

Who to watch: C Dustin Jeffrey (21-32-53 in 57 GP)

Dustin Jeffrey has had his share of being traded around. He was drafted by Pittsburgh in 2007 and would split some playing time between WBS and Pittsburgh for several seasons. Jeffrey earned a permanent stay in Pittsburgh, but hardly made it into the lineup and was put on waivers were he was claimed by Dallas. Eventually, Dallas sent him to the AHL where Jeffrey went on to win the Calder Cup with his Texas Stars teammates. In 2014, Jeffrey signed with Vancouver where he put up 41 points with the Utica Comets before being traded to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for Cory Conacher. Jeffrey has a lot of AHL experience and can really add to a lineup. So far, Jeffrey has played eight games with Bridgeport and is 4-8-12 in those games. In Bridgeport’s 7-1 win over the BSens, Jeffrey assisted on five of the goals.

NOTES:

–Playoffs: The Hershey Bears magic number to clinch the playoff is now down to the single digits at 9! The Hershey Bears are only trailing the number one seeded Manchester Monarchs by three points which means Hershey could slide into first with two wins against Manchester on Friday and Saturday. The Bears also stretched their lead against the fourth place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to six points. If the playoffs would start today, the Hershey Bears would face the Portland Pirates in the first round.

–Reassignments: It looks like the Hershey Bears could be receiving some help on the back end from the Washington Capitals:

With Schmidt and Orlov back, the Hershey Bears will have nine healthy defensemen on the roster. Orlov only seems to be down for those three games and should be brought back up after his conditioning assignment. Schmidt seems like a general reassignment. So, who will be the three men out on defense? My guesses would be Tomas Kundratek, Jon Landry, and Erik Burgdoerfer. I sincerely hope that Landry isn’t a permanent scratch with Schmidt returning.  Helmer and Mann will have some decisions to make with so many left shooting defensemen. I’m sure the pairings will flipped around quite a few times. My guesses for the d-pairings for the weekend:

Schmidt–Olesky

Orlov–Moore

Schilling–Carrick

–ECHL Affiliate: The South Carolina Stingrays are continuing on their win streak which now extends to 21 games. Their last game against the Cincinnati Cyclones was won by Washington Capitals prospect Caleb Herbert in the fifth round of a shootout. Jeff Jakaitis has definitely provided a way to win for the Stingrays. The 31-year-old recorded four straight shutouts and set the second longest shutout time in all of professional hockey going 321 minutes and 46 seconds without allowing a goal. Brian Boucher still holds the longest shutout streak at 332 minutes and 1 second, so close Jakaitis! This Stingrays team is only the second team to win at least 20 games in a row in hockey history. – all information per @ECHL

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