December 25, 2009
HERSHEY resumes the 2009-10 season Saturday after a five-day break for Christmas on Saturday night, welcoming the Syracuse Crunch to town at 7:00 p.m.
Following a 5-1 win over the Toronto Marlies, the BEARS find themselves at the top of the American Hockey League. With a winning percentage of .710 heading into Saturday’s action, HERSHEY has the top points percentage in the AHL. The club is also tied for the most wins in the circuit with three games remaining in 2009. The Chocolate and White have also won four straight games heading into Saturday’s action with Syracuse.
Defenseman John Carlson has been reassigned by Washington to play for Team USA in the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championships, beginning Saturday in Saskatoon, SK. Team USA opens the tourney against Slovakia. The USA squad, coached by Dean Blais, will have the Red, White and Blue playing in four games between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, with the quarterfinals of the tourney slated for January 2. Should Team USA advance to the championship round, the finale of the competition will be January 5. Carlson will return to HERSHEY after USA has played its last game in the tournament. Team USA is scheduled to play Canada on December 31.
Syracuse begins its post-Christmas schedule Saturday, trailing first place HERSHEY by a full 20-points in the East Division race. A break for the holidays came at a good time for the Crunch, with the team currently mired in a four-game losing streak. The Crunch have allowed the most goals (121) in the AHL entering action at
Giant Center Saturday night. Syracuse has also scored 36 fewer goals than the BEARS with the same number of games played in 2009-10.
Saturday’s game can be heard via the BEARS Radio Network (100.1 FM and www.Sportsjuice.com) beginning at 6:40 p.m. John Walton, Ed Coffey and Jim Jones have the call from
Giant Center.
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