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BEARS AND STARS OPEN CALDER CUP FINALS THURSDAY

June 2, 2010

HERSHEY begins its fourth Calder Cup Finals in five years Thursday night, hosting the Texas Stars in Game 1. Faceoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. at Giant Center. It’s the first-ever meeting between the two clubs, with the Stars running its inaugural season all the way to the 2010 Finals. Boyd Kane scored what he called “the biggest goal of his life”, an overtime game-winner in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to give HERSHEY a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Manchester on May 22. The win clinched the series four games to two for HERSHEY, and eliminated the Monarchs from the postseason. Manchester led Game 6 by a score of 2-0 early in the third period when Alexandre Giroux and Patrick McNeill would pull the BEARS off the mat with two goals to force sudden death. The stage was then set for Kane, who scored the game-winner against AHL goaltender of the year Jonathan Bernier at 7:06 of OT. HERSHEY’S win in Game 6 over Manchester was the 58th Calder Cup playoff game win for HERSHEY since the beginning of the 2006 postseason. The BEARS won 16 games in 2006, 13 in 2007, 1 in 2008, 16 more in 2009 and have won 12 already this postseason. The Chocolate and White have also tied an AHL record by winning seven straight postseason series heading into the Finals. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is playing host to its seventh straight Calder Cup Final this spring dating back to 2004. (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2004, Philadelphia in 2005, HERSHEY in 2006 and 2007, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2008, and the BEARS again in 2009 and 2010). The BEARS are in the Finals for the fourth time in five years after knocking off Bridgeport, Albany and Manchester in their first three playoff series, but the road to the Calder Cup has been far from a smooth one. The Bears, whose 60 regular-season wins (60-17-0-3, 123 points) set an all-time league mark, have gone 12-3 in the playoffs but have needed nine third-period comebacks and an AHL-record seven overtime wins to capture the Richard F. Canning Trophy and the Eastern Conference playoff title. Hershey’s roster features 18 members of last year’s Calder Cup championship team including the most dynamic offensive duo in the AHL in Keith Aucoin and Alexandre Giroux â€" who have combined for 203 goals and 290 assists for 493 points in Hershey’s 197 regular-season and playoff games over the last two years. After a four-game sweep of Rockford in the first round, the Texas Stars ousted Chicago with a Game 7 overtime victory in the division finals before stunning Hamilton with road wins in Games 6 and 7 of the conference finals to claim the Robert W. Clarke Trophy as Western Conference champions. Texas, in its inaugural AHL campaign, was 46-27-3-4 (99 points) in the regular season and finished tied for second (with Hershey) in team defense allowing 2.48 goals per game. Jamie Benn has been the Stars’ offensive catalyst since joining the team from Dallas at the start of the postseason, leading the AHL with 14 goals and 24 points in 18 playoff contests. Game 1 can be heard via the BEARS Radio Network (Soft Rock 100.1 WQIC and www.Sportsjuice.com) beginning at 6:40 p.m. John Walton, Ed Coffey and Jim Jones have the call of the game from Giant Center. The game will also be carried in the United States and Canada on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio (XM channel 204 and Sirius 208) beginning at 7:00 p.m. All games of the series will be carried on Sirius/XM, with John, Ed and Jonesy on the call for games at Giant Center. Josh Fisher, the voice of the Texas Stars, will be at the microphone for Sirius/XM for all games played at Cedar Park Center. A limited amount of tickets remain for Thursday’s Game 1. Call the Giant Center box office for the latest tickets information at (717) 508-BEAR.


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