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Hershey Bears Week Preview: Worcester Game One & Two

By Tori Hartman

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The Hershey Bears and Worcester Sharks face off. Photo Credit: Tori Hartman

The race to win the Calder Cup begins Wednesday this week (full schedule). Here are the teams that are in the race as the #QuestForCalder beings:

In case you haven’t read on social media yet, the Hershey Bears will play the Worcester Sharks in the best-of-five first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Here is the Bears’ schedule:

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  • Game One – Friday, April 24, 7:00 PM – Hershey at Worcester (DCU Center)
  • Game Two – Saturday, April 25, 7:00 PM – Hershey at Worcester (DCU Center)
  • Game Three – Wednesday, April 29, 7:00 PM – Worcester at Hershey (GIANT Center)
  • Game Four – Friday, May 1, 7:00 PM – Worcester at Hershey (GIANT Center) *if necessary
  • Game Five – Sunday, May 3, 5:00 PM – Worcester at Hershey (GIANT Center) *if necessary

So, the first two games will be away in Worcester this coming Friday and Saturday. To me, it doesn’t make much sense to have home ice advantage and have the first two games of a five game series be away. Worcester will be motivated by their home crowd and could go up with the first two wins and only need one more to go. I guess the mentality is that the Bears will win the first two and move on to the next round with the third win in front of their home crowd. They could also think that if Hershey is down the from the first two games, then they will be encouraged at home to win the next three. I don’t know, but I’m not really a big fan of how the schedule is or how the first round is only a best-of-five series.

 Hershey Bears vs Worcester Sharks 

Worcester Sharks’ record: 41-29-4-2 in 76 GP, 7th seed

Sharks PP%: 17.4%, 12th in the AHL

Sharks PK%: 84.5%, 13th in the AHL

Hershey Bears regular season record vs Sharks: 2-1-0-1

Previous match-ups:

Series goal totals: 10 HER, 10 WOR

Series shot totals: 104 HER, 145 WOR

Worcester Goalies: 

  • Aaron Dell (2.06 GAA, .927 SAV%, 4 SO in 26 GP) – 5th in GAA, 4th in SAV%, 7th in SO in the AHL
  • Troy Grosenick (2.63 GAA, .906 SAV%, 1 SO in 36 GP)
  • J.P. Anderson (2.71 GAA, .900 SAV%, 1 SO in 16 GP)

The Hershey Bears have never faced J.P. Anderson, yet. Anderson was the backup goalie for the first two match ups in November, but he hasn’t played a game with Worcester since January 30th. Grosenick played on April 18th, and Dell last played on April 19th, so they have been the active goalies. Dell has the best numbers out of the three goalies, and he is a rookie so the playoffs will be new to him. Grosenick won the game against the Hershey Bears on November 1st and lost to the Bears on March 18th. Dell split a win and loss in the two games he faced the Hershey Bears, as well (Nov. 22- loss, April 1- win).

Reassignments: San Jose is not in the playoffs so they sent some guys back to the AHL to help out Worcester. 

  • RW Barclay Goodrow (2-4-6 in 7 GP)- played 60 games with San Jose, 12 points
  • D Taylor Fedun (6-28-34 in 65 GP)- played in 7 games with San Jose, 4 points
  • D Karl Stollery (7-13-20 in 60 GP)- played in 5 games with San Jose, 0 points
  • C Chris Tierney (8-21-29 in 29 GP)- played in 43 games with San Jose, 21 points
  • LW Bryan Lerg (17-28-41 in 68 GP)- played in 2 games with San Jose, 1 point

Players to watch:

  • D Matt Taormina (11-27-38 in 76 GP) – played all games this season, 12th in scoring amongst defensemen, three assists in the four regular season games against the Hershey Bears
  • C Evan Trupp (16-24-40 in 76 GP) – 17th amongst rookie scoring
  • LW Bryan Lerg (17-28-41 in 68 GP) – fresh off his first NHL recall and NHL goal, leads Worcester Sharks in scoring, has two goals and one assist in regular season against the Hershey Bears

Washington Capitals’ recalls:

  • Philipp Grubauer: Grubauer was recalled due to a Braden Holtby illness. Grubauer played Game 2 for the Caps and helped them defeat the Isles. However, Holtby is back to health and played in Game 3, but Grubauer wasn’t sent back. Instead, he was the backup for Holtby, and Justin Peters was a healthy scratch. As much as I’m excited for Grubauer, I’m truly hoping he will be sent back in time for the trip to Worcester. Pheonix Copley is very talented, but I don’t know that we could solely rely on him and who would be backup? Keegan Asmundson? who is an ATO and hasn’t even played an AHL game. Brandon Anderson? who, last I heard, went home for family reasons. Anyone other suggestions? We need the team MVP back to finish off the season and win the cup.

Game Highlights: (highlights from the 11/22 game weren’t uploaded)

November 1, 2014: 5-4 WOR

March 8, 2015: 3-2 WOR

April 1, 2015: 3-2 WOR

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