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ONE WIN AWAY: BEARS PLAY FOR CALDER CUP TONIGHT

June 9, 2009

It has been 29 years since the HERSHEY BEARS have won a Calder Cup on home ice, but the opportunity to end that drought exists Tuesday night. The BEARS, who hold a three games to one lead over the Western Conference Champion Manitoba Moose, can win the Calder Cup Tuesday with a victory at GIANT Center. Manitoba must win three straight games starting Tuesday to rally and win its first Calder Cup, but HERSHEY has zero margin for error if they are to win their AHL record 10th Calder Cup title on home ice. Down 1-0 on Sunday night in Game 4, Kyle Wilson tied the game with his third goal of the postseason midway through the second period. With the game and the balance of power in the series perhaps hanging in the balance, Keith Aucoin scored the game-winning goal on a power play in the third to lift the Chocolate and White to a 2-1 victory. Goaltender Michal Neuvirth won his 15th game of the Calder Cup playoffs, leaving him one win short of an AHL record shared by several goaltenders (including former BEARS backstop and Calder Cup champion Frederic Cassivi) for most wins in one playoff year. Alexandre Giroux enters Game 5 with numbers that may never be touched by another American Hockey League player ever. Giroux has scored 74 goals this season, regular season and playoffs, to set a new mark for most goals ever scored in one year combined. Giroux has perhaps one more bit of history to attain this evening. He is tied with former BEAR centerman Kris Beech for the most goals ever scored by a HERSHEY player in one postseason with 14. One more goal for Giroux would give him sole possession of another Chocolate and White goal scoring record. The last time HERSHEY won at home was on May 17, 1980. Jimmy Carter was the President of the United States. Gas was $1.05 a gallon. The next day, Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington state. Claude Noel scored the game-winning goal for Game 6 of the Calder Cup Finals, pushing the BEARS past the New Brunswick Hawks 7-4 at HERSHEYPARK Arena. With Gary Inness in goal, HERSHEY claimed the Calder Cup for the sixth time in franchise history. Not even longtime President/GM Doug Yingst, who has been on staff for every Calder Cup since, was on board yet under the legendary Frank S. Mathers. In an interesting bit of irony for the future, one skater for the New Brunswick Hawks who so desperately wanted HERSHEY to lose back in 1980 became later perhaps the most loved coach in Chocolate and White lore. Bruce Boudreau was denied a chance at the Calder Cup on HERSHEYPARK Arena ice that night, but would make up for it by leading the BEARS to its last AHL championship three years ago in Milwaukee. Tuesday night, after a 29-year wait, head coach Bob Woods, assistant coach Mark French and the players who don the Chocolate and White sweater, will try and win a championship on home ice again. Only three teams in AHL history have ever rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the Calder Cup Finals entering play on Tuesday night. The Moose with a victory would force a Game 6 Friday night at MTS Centre in downtown Winnipeg. Tuesday’s Game 5 can be heard via the BEARS Radio Network (100.1 FM, 1490 AM, Sportsjuice.com, AHLLive.com) beginning with the pregame show at 6:40 p.m. John Walton and Ed Coffey have the call of the action. Game 5, the final game of the season at GIANT Center, is sold out.


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