BEARS WIN FOURTH STRAIGHT, DOWN PHANTOMS 5-2

November 21, 2008

PHANTOMS POWERLESS IN 5-2 HERSHEY WIN FRIDAY By: John Walton The BEARS won its fourth game in a row, defeating Philadelphia 5-2 in front of a crowd of 7,005 at the Wachovia Spectrum. Alexandre Giroux opened the scoring midway through the first period Friday, putting home a rebound off a Keith Aucoin shot at 10:05. Just over a minute later at 11:16, Andrew Gordon scored his ninth goal of the campaign to give the BEARS a 2-0 lead. Philadelphia would rally to cut the HERSHEY lead to one after one with Patrick Maroon scoring a power play goal at 18:14. BEARS goaltender Simeon Varlamov and Phantoms backstop Scott Munroe each made 12 first period saves. Kyle Wilson came to life in the second period, scoring twice to increase HERSHEY’S lead. Wilson scored at 1:31 and again at 17:47, with Francois Bouchard scoring in between at 3:03 to lift the BEARS into a 5-2 lead after two. Claude Giroux scored the only goal for the Phantoms in the second, firing a power play goal past Varlamov at 12:10. Neither team would score in the third period as HERSHEY emerged with the three goal victory. Wilson’s two goals were good for number one star honors, with Mink picking up the second star. Notes: The BEARS will host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Saturday night at GIANT Center, with face-off slated for 7:00 p.m. Tickets for the game are on sale now at the GIANT Center box office, or by calling (717) 534-3911. Grant McNeill, Jay Beagle, Sean Collins and Dean Arsene were all injury scratches Friday. HERSHEY will visit the Spectrum just two more times in this final year for the venerable hockey facility. The BEARS visit south Philadelphia again on February 6 and finally on April 10. The Phantoms will again come to GIANT Center next Saturday, November 29. The game ended without an operational scoreboard, with Phantoms public address announcer Keith Jones counting down the time to 0:00. Bears Radio Network Three Stars of the Game 1. Kyle Wilson (Two goals to lead the way) 2. Graham Mink (Another multi-point game for the Stowe, VT native) 3. Simeon Varlamov (30 saves in earning another win in Philadelphia)