April 13, 2010
HERSHEY’S second season officially kicks off Wednesday night, as the BEARS host Game 1 of the 2010 East Division Semi-Finals. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the fourth seed in the East and the 16th overall in this year’s Calder Cup playoffs, provide the opposition in round one.
In terms of standings points, the BEARS begin the 2010 Calder Cup playoffs as the number one overall team in the tournament, posting 123 points during the regular season. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers enter the field of 16 as the lowest seed in the tournament, with 86 points. For the Tigers to pull an upset of HERSHEY in the first round of the tourney, they would have to tie an AHL record for the biggest underdog in terms of points to post a series victory. The 1992-93 Rochester Americans hold the record currently, having finished 37 points behind the Binghamton Rangers. Rochester defeated Binghamton in the second round of the 1993 Calder Cup playoffs to post the upset.
HERSHEY split two games in Norfolk this past weekend to become the first team in AHL history to reach the 60-win plateau. The 60 wins represents a new AHL record, besting the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers, who won 57 games.
HERSHEY center Keith Aucoin and left wing Alexandre Giroux ended one-two in scoring in the AHL for the second consecutive year. Aucoin won the league scoring title for the first time in his career with 106 points, and Giroux finished runner-up in the AHL scoring race with 103 points. Giroux did claim the league’s goal scoring title this season, picking up his 50th goal of the year this past Friday in Norfolk against the Admirals. Over the last two regular seasons, Giroux has scored 110 goals, and picked up an additional 15 during the 2009 Calder Cup playoffs. The 15 postseason goals last year established a new HERSHEY BEARS record for the most goals in one postseason by a single player.
Bridgeport, who shifted from the East Division to the Atlantic prior to the 2009-10 season, finds itself back in the East Division for the Calder Cup playoffs due to the Atlantic Division crossover. The Tigers finished with two more points than the fourth place Norfolk Admirals in the East, earning the playoff spot. Defenseman and former Washington Capitals defenseman Brendan Witt is on indefinite leave (personal) and not currently with the team. Goaltenders Nathan Lawson and Scott Munroe each finished the regular season with a 2.52 goals against average. Both goaltenders however fared much worse against the HERSHEY offense in the two-game season series. Lawson was 0-1 in two appearances with a 5.72 goals against average and an .808 saves percentage. Munroe was 0-1 in two appearances as well, but posted a much higher 8.92 goals against. Alexandre Giroux led all HERSHEY scorers against Bridgeport this season with three goals and seven points.
Three other Calder Cup playoff series begin on Wednesday night, including the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Albany River Rats at Times Union Center in Albany. The Rats are the number two seed, and have home ice in the best-of-seven series. Face-off is at 7:00 p.m. The winner of that series will face the winner of HERSHEY/Bridgeport in the 2010 East Division Finals. Elsewhere, Lowell kicks off a best-of-seven Atlantic Division Final with the division champion Worcester Sharks at the DCU Center at 7:05 p.m. The West Division champion Chicago Wolves will also take on four seed Milwaukee at Allstate Arena on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday’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 has the call of the action.
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