CARMAN STAYS HOT BUT BEARS COOLED BY ICECAPS

March 31, 2012

HERSHEY, Pa. – Patrice Cormier scored twice and goaltender Chris Carrozzi made 24 saves to help the St. John’s IceCaps snap the HERSHEY BEARS’ seven-game winning streak with a 3-2 decision on Saturday night at GIANT Center.

The BEARS would score first at the 12:36 mark of the first period, as Mike Carman continued his hot hand.  The IceCaps failed to clear the puck past the right point, and Sean Collins took the turnover and fired it toward the net.  An uncovered Carman deflected the shot high over Carrozzi’s blocker for his third goal in the last two games.

The BEARS then earned their second power play of the period with under five minutes remaining, but coughed up the puck in their own zone.  Carl Klingberg pushed the puck toward the slot, where Cormier waited and sent a wrist shot over Sabourin’s glove hand at 16:24.

St. John’s took the lead for good at 10:26 of the second period after a successful penalty kill.  Arturs Kulda jumped out of the box after serving a tripping minor, raced across the neutral zone and took the puck away from a BEARS forward.  He then broke in on Sabourin and beat the netminder with a high snap shot.

The visitors made it 3-1 when Cormier carried the puck down the left wing on an odd-man rush, made a pass toward a breaking Jason King but had the pass deflect off of a BEARS defenseman and into the net at 8:34.

Ryan Potulny scored with 13.7 seconds left in the game after burying a pass from Kyle Greentree, but the IceCaps held on for the win.

Sabourin drops to 18-10-4 with 22 saves.  Carrozzi earned his first AHL victory.

The BEARS finished 0-for-6 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

Despite the loss, an overtime loss by the Portland Pirates and a regulation loss by the Adirondack Phantoms helped the BEARS clinch a berth in the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs.

The BEARS remain in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 38-21-4-6 (85 points).

The BEARS remain home tomorrow to host the Binghamton Senators at 5:00 PM.  A limited number of tickets remain for the contest.  Tickets for this and all remaining regular-season home games are on sale by calling (717) 508-BEAR, or by visiting ticketmaster.com.

Game Recap:  http://theahl.com/stats/official-game-report.php?game_id=1009672

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