December 17, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 17, 2010
CONTACT: John Walton – HERSHEY BEARS –
PHANTOMS RALLY TO DOWN INJURY-RIDDLED HERSHEY FRIDAY NIGHT IN GLENS FALLS
SOURAY, YEO BOTH INJURED IN SETBACK, BEARS RETURN HOME SATURDAY TO WELCOME PROVIDENCE TO TOWN
HERSHEY scored first Friday night, but watched Adirondack score three unanswered to fall to the Phantoms 3-1 at the Glens Falls Civic Center. The win for the Phantoms was just the fifth of the season for the East Division cellar dwellers, who took advantage of a short-handed visiting team. With Andrew Gordon, Jay Beagle on recall to Washington, Boyd Kane back in HERSHEY with his wife close to giving birth, and Patrick Wellar and Phil Oreskovic out due to injury, the roster woes were only exacerbated Friday in upstate New York.
The BEARS took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal from Brian Willsie on the power play, assisted by Keith Aucoin and Lawrence Nycholat. But even as HERSHEY took a lead early Friday, Sheldon Souray suffered a lower body injury behind his team’s net along the boards. Souray would leave and not return. In the second period, Denis Hamel and Shane Harper scored goals midway through the frame to give Adirondack a 2-1 lead. Before the period came to an end, another defenseman would fall due to injury, as Dylan Yeo suffered a lower body injury after getting clipped by a shot. Both Souray and Yeo will be reevaluated Saturday in HERSHEY, but neither of them are expected to be available for Saturday or Sunday’s home game.
Hamel made history in the third period, scoring his second of the game and the 300th of his AHL career. HERSHEY could not muster any more offense, and the BEARS fell to the Phantoms 3-1. The loss was the first against the Phantoms in four games this season, as Dany Sabourin suffered the setback.
BEARS Radio Network Three Stars of the game:
1. Denis Hamel (Two goals, 300 for his AHL career)
2. Shane Harper (First goal of the year a game-winner)
3. Brian Willsie (Scored the only goal for the visitors)
Notes: Aucoin’s appearance was his first since being injured on November 7 in a game at Charlotte, a span of 16 games. Patrick McNeill skated in a game for the first time all year, and for the first time since scoring two goals in HERSHEY’S Calder Cup clinching Game 6 against Texas this past June. The BEARS are home Saturday and Sunday against Providence and Charlotte to conclude the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule. The Bruins skate at
Giant Center Saturday night at 7:00 p.m., and the Checkers come to down Sunday night at 5:00 p.m. Tickets for both games are on sale at the
Giant Center box office, or by calling (717) 534-3911. Following Sunday’s game, the BEARS will be off until December 26 when the Norfolk Admirals come to
Giant Center. “BEARS Saturday Night Rewind” with John Walton will air after the Fairview Golf Course postgame show Saturday night until 11:00 p.m., taking your phone calls after the BEARS and the Bruins play along HERSHEYPARK Drive. Friday’s game in Adirondack was one of 10 games carried by the Washington Capitals Radio Network on Federal News Radio WFED-AM 1500. The next game to be carried in our nation’s capital will be January 7 at Manitoba.