BEARS RALLY, BUT FALL TO PHANTOMS

November 2, 2008

OSALA RALLIES BEARS, BUT HERSHEY FALLS IN SHOOTOUT By: John Walton HERSHEY posed a furious third period rally to tie the game late Sunday in Philadelphia, but the Phantoms prevailed with a 4-3 shootout victory at the Wachovia Spectrum. David Laliberte got the scoring started on Sunday with a tip of a Danny Syvret shot. The goal at 9:16 was the first of the year for Laliberte, and the Phantoms led the game 1-0. Laliberte then blazed through the defense at the HERSHEY blue line and scored on a breakaway against Bobby Goepfert at 15:37 to up the Phantom lead to 2-0. HERSHEY managed just four shots on goal in the second period, and watched Philadelphia run its lead out to 3-0 when Boyd Kane scored his fourth goal of the weekend against the BEARS. A textbook give and go play with Claude Giroux put Kane behind the defense and he roofed it over Goephert to make the score 3-0 Phantoms after two. In the fourth game in five nights, and after firing a season low four shots on goal in the second period Sunday, the outlook looked bleak for the BEARS. But HERSHEY would rally with three goals in the final 10 minutes of play, led by Oskar Osala. Osala scored on a scrum in front of Phantoms goaltender Jean-Sebastian Aubin at 10:35 to get the BEARS on the board. Not quite four minutes later at 14:09, Osala rifled a shot from a sharp angle to bring HERSHEY within a goal at 3-2. With less than two minutes, left, the line of Osala, Francois Bouchard and Mathieu Perreault would strike again to force overtime with Perreault’s third goal of the season at 18:03. Neither team would score the rest of regulation, and the game went to overtime tied at 3-3. The Phantoms fired five shots on goal in overtime, but they couldn’t score against Bobby Goepfert. In six rounds of the shootout, Philadelphia would prevail and win 4-3. The three-goal comeback earned the BEARS a point in the standings, and three points out of a possible eight on the week. Notes: The BEARS continue on the current five-game road trip Friday night with a date in Albany with the River Rats. Face-off at Times Union Center is at 7:00 p.m. HERSHEY will visit Wilkes-Barre and Bridgeport as well next weekend before closing out the trip back in Philadelphia on November 14. The BEARS return home on Saturday, November 15 with a game against the Phantoms at GIANT Center. Tickets are on sale now at the GIANT Center box office, or by calling (717) 534-3911. The four shots in the second period for the BEARS tied a season low. The club also mustered just four shots in the third period on October 11 in a 4-3 shootout win in Norfolk. Bears Radio Network Three Stars of the Game 1. Oskar Osala (Three points, two goals in the third) 2. David Laliberte (Two goals in the first for the Phantoms) 3. Boyd Kane (Four goals in less than 24 hours against Hershey)