Press Release Details
TONIGHT'S GAME PREVIEW - SOUND TIGERS at BEARS
11/30/2012 -
TONIGHT’S GAME NOTES
BRIDGEPORT SOUND TIGERS at HERSHEY BEARS
Friday, November 30, 2012 - 7:00 PM
GIANT Center
REFEREE: Terry Koharski (#10)
LINESMEN: Ryan Daisy (#90) & Brian Oliver (#80)
BEARS vs. SOUND TIGERS: Tonight’s matchup between the HERSHEY BEARS and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers is the second of four between the teams. Bridgeport is the top AHL developmental affiliate of the New York Islanders.
ALL-TIME: Tonight’s game will be the 62
nd in regular-season history. The BEARS hold a slight edge against the Sound TIgers in the all-time season series, with a record of 30-23-8 (W – L/OTL – T/SOL).
THE LAST TIME: The BEARS and Sound Tigers met at Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena on November 3. The Sound Tigers, in front of a capacity crowd of 8,525, held on to defeat the BEARS by a 3-2 score. It was a night of firsts for the BEARS as Matt Clackson picked up his first goal of the season, while Kevin Marshall picked up his first helper of the campaign. Former Bridgeport defenseman and current BEARS blueliner Steve Oleksy picked up his first assist of the season on Boyd Kane’s second-period goal, but the BEARS fought a tough battle as they were sent to the penalty kill 11 times in the contest. Bridgeport struck for all three of their goals on the power play, getting tallies from Casey Cizikas, Brandon DeFazio and Brock Nelson. Braden Holtby, who was under fire for most of the game, turned away 39 of 42 shots in goal. Kevin Poulin picked up the win with 19 saves in the Sound Tigers net.
2012-13 SEASON SERIES:
|
Sat. November 3, 2012 |
@Bridgeport |
Webster Bank Arena |
L 2-3 |
|
Fri. November 30, 2012 |
BRIDGEPORT |
GIANT Center |
|
|
Tue. January 8, 2013 |
@Bridgeport |
Webster Bank Arena |
|
|
Sat. March 16, 2013 |
BRIDGEPORT |
GIANT Center |
|
RECENT RECAPS: The BEARS picked up their second consecutive win on Wednesday night, matching their largest margin of victory in the young season with a 5-2 decision over the Norfolk Admirals in Hampton Roads. It took until late in the first period for the first goal of the game, and it went to the BEARS courtesy of hard work by Zach Hamill and Mathieu Beaudoin. The two worked to get possession in the right circle, then Beaudoin sent a pass to an open T.J. Syner for a slam-dunk at the top of the goal crease of Norfolk netminder Igor Bobkov with 54.7 seconds remaining in the period. After Norfolk’s Kyle Palmieri tied the score with a goal similar to that of Syner, Jon DiSalvatore smacked his own rebound behind Bobkov to put HERSHEY back on top. Just 51 seconds later, Patrick McNeill took a pass from Dmitry Orlov and wired a shot through traffic for what turned out to be the game-winner. The Admirals’ John Mitchell deflected a shot from Gabe Guentzel behind Braden Holtby early in the third to cut into the BEARS lead, but Garrett Mitchell scored the insurance marker on a one-timer of a Boyd Kane pass with 3:37 left to play. DiSalvatore scored his second of the game into the empty net with 22 seconds left, capping the scoring.
Bridgeport, meanwhile, had a tough time with the Binghamton Senators on Saturday night in the Southern Tier, especially goaltender Robin Lehner. Lehner made 35 saves, allowing one goal to Sound Tigers winger Brandon DeFazio. The goal erased Lehner’s shutout bid with six minutes remaining in regulation, and came after the Senators rattled off six straight goals – one in the first period, three in the second and one early in the third. Eric Gryba, Cole Schneider, Derek Grant and Andre Benoit scored on netminder Kevin Poulin to chase him from the game. Anders Nilsson came on to stop 23 of 25 Senators shots over the last 31:24 of the game.
EAST DIVISION STANDINGS (as of November 30):
|
POS |
TEAM |
GP |
W |
L |
OTL |
SOL |
PTS |
WIN% |
GF |
GA |
|
1. |
Syracuse |
17 |
12 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
26 |
.765 |
65 |
42 |
|
2. |
Binghamton |
16 |
10 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
22 |
.688 |
45 |
38 |
|
3. |
W-B/Scranton |
18 |
11 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
.611 |
48 |
40 |
|
4. |
HERSHEY |
19 |
8 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
.447 |
49 |
55 |
|
5. |
Norfolk |
18 |
7 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
.389 |
50 |
63 |
CAPTAIN & TENURE: Captain Boyd Kane appeared in his 310
th game with HERSHEY on Wednesday at Norfolk. Kane now sits by himself in 39
th place on the BEARS’ all-time games played list. He needs just 17 more games to reach 900 in his AHL career.
GOLDEN GOALTENDING: G Braden Holtby picked up his 67
th career win in a HERSHEY uniform on Wednesday at Norfolk to move past Claude Dufour for eighth place all-time. He is four wins behind Phil Sauve for the seventh spot.
ONE DOWN, ONE MORE COMING: RW Jon DiSalvatore recorded his 500
th AHL point with his second-period goal against Toronto on Sunday. The next milestone on DiSalvatore’s watch list is just three games away – his 700
th AHL contest.
HAMILL TIME:C Zach Hamill added an assist on Wednesday at Norfolk, and shows (3-3-6) and a plus-6 rating over his last six games.
TAFFE TAKES OVER: C Jeff Taffe has picked up a pair of assists in each of his last two games, and now leads the team with 17 points (5-12-17).
PAIRS PLUS: The defense pair of Dmitry Orlov and Patrick McNeill have combined for one goal, two assists and a plus-11 rating in their last two games. Orlov registered a season-high plus-3 in both wins on Sunday against Toronto and on Wednesday at Norfolk.
SHOTS WILL COME: The BEARS outshot their opponent for just the second time this season on Wednesday at Norfolk (35-26), and are now 1-1-0-0 when outshooting their opponent.
YOU’D BETTER BEHAVE: The BEARS set a new season low for combined penalty minutes (10) with their opponent on Wednesday at Norfolk. Conversely, the BEARS and Sound Tigers’ 84 combined penalty minutes on November 3 matched the BEARS’ season high, as did Bridgeport’s 11 power play opportunities in the game.
BEARS vs. SOUND TIGERS – TEAM LEADERS:
|
|
HERSHEY |
Bridgeport |
|
Games Played |
SIX TIED (19) |
SEVERAL TIED (17) |
|
Goals |
Zach Hamill (6) |
Nino Niederreiter (9) |
|
Assists |
Garrett Stafford (13) |
Aaron Ness (10) |
|
Points |
Jeff Taffe (17) |
Nino Niederreiter (18) |
|
+/- |
Garrett Mitchell (+5) |
Matt Donovan (+6) |
|
PP Goals |
Tomas Kundratek, Jeff Taffe (3) |
Nino Niederreiter (3) |
|
SH Goals |
Garrett Mitchell (2) |
Brandon DeFazio, Brock Nelson (1) |
|
GW Goals |
Cameron Schilling, Zach Hamill (2) |
THREE TIED (2) |
|
PIMs |
Steve Oleksy (65) |
Brett Gallant (83) |
|
|
|
|
|
Wins |
Braden Holtby (6) |
Kevin Poulin (6) |
|
GAA |
Braden Holtby (2.57) |
Anders Nilsson (2.91) |
|
Save % |
Braden Holtby (.925) |
Anders Nilsson (.904) |
BEARS vs. SOUND TIGERS – SPECIAL TEAMS:
|
|
HERSHEY |
Bridgeport |
|
Power Play |
14-for-87 (16.1%) – 17th in AHL |
19-for-77 (24.7%) – 2nd in AHL |
|
Penalty Kill |
74-for-89 (83.1%) – 15th in AHL |
69-for-87 (79.3%) – 24th in AHL |
BEARS RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
|
11/25/12 |
ADD |
LW |
Evan Barlow |
Signed to PTO |
SOUND TIGERS RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
|
11/29/12 |
ADD |
D |
Jordan Hill |
Signed to SPC |
|
11/29/12 |
DEL |
D |
Jordan Hill |
Released from PTO |
BEARS AMONG THE AHL:
RW Garrett Mitchell:T,1st – SH goals (2).
D Garrett Stafford: T,4th (D) – assists (13);
T,3rd (D) – PP assists (7);
T,7th (D) – scoring (1-13-14).
D Tomas Kundratek: T,2nd (D) – PP points (3-6-9);
T,3rd (D) – PP goals (3).
SOUND TIGERS AMONG THE AHL:
LW Nino Niederreiter: T,8th – scoring (9-9-18).
LW Brett Gallant: T,1st – major penalties (11);
2nd – PIM (83).
C Brock Nelson: T,2nd (R) – SH points (1-1-2);
T,2nd (R) – SH goals (1).
Image updated every 10 minutes - 
