Press Release Details

TONIGHT'S GAME PREVIEW: BEARS at SHARKS

01/16/2013 -

TONIGHT’S GAME NOTES

HERSHEY BEARS at WORCESTER SHARKS
Wednesday, January 16, 2013 - 7:00 PM
DCU Center

REFEREES: Tim Mayer (#19) & Mark Lemelin (#41)
LINESMEN:  Chris Millea (#33) & Jack Millea (#23)

BEARS vs. SHARKS: The HERSHEY BEARS are on the road for a mid-week matchup against the Worcester Sharks, the club’s second visit to the state of Massachusetts this season. The BEARS and Sharks meet up for the second time in 10 days, and for the third of four regular-season contests. Worcester is the top AHL developmental affiliate of the San Jose Sharks.

 

ALL-TIME: The two teams clash tonight for the 15^th time in history. The BEARS have an all-time record of 4-7-3 (W – L/OTL – T/SOL) against the Sharks. HERSHEY posted a record of 0-1-0-1 against Worcester last season.

 

THE LAST TIME: The BEARS and Sharks faced off against each other at GIANT Center on January 6, with the Sharks pulling out a 2-1 victory. Both goaltenders – HERSHEY’s Braden Holtby and Worcester’s Alex Stalock – played a solid game, but the Sharks’ power play became the difference once again. Matt Tennyson struck first for the visitors, cutting down the slot and one-timing a pass from Jon Matsumoto past Holtby with 1:41 left in the first period. Matsumoto expanded the Sharks’ lead to 2-0 at the 6:22 mark of the second period, rifling a drop pass from Brodie Reid over the glove of Holtby. James Sheppard earned assists on both Worcester goals. The BEARS then finally solved Stalock, who turned aside all 21 shots through the first two periods, with a tally early in the third. Jeff Taffe scored from the slot, one-timing a pass from Jon DiSalvatore over Stalock’s blocker. The BEARS still had 15:12 worth of time to get the tying goal, but Stalock stayed sharp – particularly when Worcester’s Mike Brennan took a holding penalty with 1:41 left. The BEARS pulled Holtby for a sixth attacker and applied relentless pressure, but Stalock and the penalty kill held the fort for the win.

 

2012-13 SEASON SERIES:

Sat. December 15, 2012	WORCESTER	GIANT Center	3-4 SOL
Sun. January 6, 2013	WORCESTER	GIANT Center	1-2 L
Wed. January 16, 2013	@Worcester	DCU Center
Sun. March 24, 2013	@Worcester	DCU Center

 

RECENT RECAPS: The BEARS are coming off of their most successful weekend at home, having defeated the Connecticut Whale both Saturday and Sunday. After a 4-3 shootout win on Saturday, which gave Philipp Grubauer his first AHL victory, the BEARS’ offense erupted in the opening period in Sunday’s rematch. Cam Talbot faced 17 HERSHEY shots in the Connecticut net, and was beaten on four of them. Barry Almeida started things off, firing a low shot off of a Whale turnover low to Talbot’s glove side just 42 seconds into the game. The Whale then got themselves into serious penalty trouble, giving the BEARS four consecutive power plays in the final nine minutes of the period. HERSHEY made them pay, scoring on three of the four chances. The first opportunity was a two-man advantage that could have lasted for a span of 1:29, but the BEARS made quick work of the chance. Tomas Kundratek one-timed a pass from Zach Hamill past the stick side of Talbot at 11:58 to open up a 2-0 lead. Despite not converting on the second part of the five-on-three, Jon DiSalvatore backhanded a shot from the slot over Talbot’s glove at 15:39 while Connecticut blueliner Dylan McIlrath was serving a kneeing minor. Michael Haley then applied a hit from behind on T.J. Syner, earning a boarding penalty late in the period. The newest member of the BEARS – defenseman Tom Poti, an 808-game NHL veteran making his AHL debut on a conditioning loan – then tapped a third chance past Talbot at the top of the crease, giving the BEARS a 4-0 lead. Dany Sabourin, who stopped all four shots he faced, left the game with a minor injury and was replaced by Grubauer in the second. Grubuaer would stop all 23 shots sent his way, Garrett Mitchell added a third-period goal for good measure, and the BEARS cruised to a 5-0 victory. It was the first team shutout in modern-day BEARS history.

 

Worcester is coming off of their fourth straight loss against the Portland Pirates, a 3-1 setback on Sunday at DCU Center. Harri Sateri played a strong game in goal for Worcester, stopping 38 of 40 shots to keep the Sharks in the game. Brett Hextall opened the scoring at 17:24 of the first, but Worcester’s Brodie Reid tied the game at 12:58 of the second with his eighth goal of the season. Chris Conner ended up netting the eventual game-winner just under three minutes later, and Jordan Szwarz hit the empty net with 29 seconds left to seal the win. The Sharks are 10-8-0-1 in their last 19 games, with four of the losses coming against division-rival Portland.

 

EAST DIVISION STANDINGS (as of January 16):

POS	TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	PTS	WIN%	GF	GA
1.	Syracuse	37	24	8	2	3	53	.716	131	100
2.	Binghamton	35	23	8	1	3	50	.714	113	86
3.	HERSHEY	38	19	17	1	1	40	.526	100	92
4.	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton	38	18	17	2	1	39	.513	91	96
5.	Norfolk	36	14	19	2	1	31	.431	89	111

 

HEAD TO HEAD: Worcester’s Jon Matsumoto has enjoyed his two games against the BEARS, scoring twice and setting up three other goals for the head-to-head scoring lead. Forward James Sheppard (2-2-4) and defenseman Matt Tennyson (1-3-4) have four points each. For the BEARS, Jeff Taffe (1-1-2) and Jon DiSalvatore (0-2-2) lead the way.

 

POTI POTS PPG IN AHL DEBUT: Defenseman Tom Poti, loaned by Washington for conditioning earlier in the day, netted a power-play goal and three shots on goal in his AHL debut. Poti was a third-round selection of the Edmonton Oilers in 1996.

 

HE WAS BARRY GOOD: LW Barry Almeida was summoned from the ECHL’s Reading Royals on Saturday morning and immediately contributed, leading the BEARS with five points (1-4-5) in two games.

 

KUNDRATEK CLIMBING: D Tomas Kundratek scored his team-leading 12^th goal of the season and sixth power-play goal of the campaign on Sunday against Connecticut, his former team. After coming to the BEARS last November, Kundratek recorded (12-11-23) in 55 games. He has matched those exact numbers at the halfway point of this season.

 

TEAM RECORDS SHUTOUT: For the first time since modern records were kept, a pair of HERSHEY goaltenders split duties in the team’s 5-0 win over Connecticut on Sunday. Dany Sabourin stopped four shots in the first period, and was replaced by Philipp Grubauer – who turned aside all 23 shots he faced.

 

GRUBAUER SHINES: Goaltender Philipp Grubauer posted a save percentage of .948 over five regulation periods and an overtime this weekend (55 saves on 58 shots), winning his first career AHL game on Saturday against Connecticut in a shootout and taking over for Dany Sabourin for the final two periods in Sunday’s rematch.

 

SET AND MATCHED: The BEARS set one season high and matched two others this weekend. On Sunday, the BEARS recorded their largest margin of victory in 2012-13 with a 5-0 win over Connecticut. The team also matched two season highs on Saturday: most goals scored in a period (4) and most shots recorded in a period (17).

 

INSTANT CLASSIC: The BEARS and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will take to the elements at HERSHEYPARK Stadium in just five days in the Capital BlueCross AHL Outdoor Classic. The two team’s alumni will face off on Saturday, January 19 at 3:00 PM, with the Classic puck drop slated for 5:00 PM on January 20. It will be the second consecutive season that the BEARS will play outdoors, and the first time in team history at home.

 

BEARS vs. SHARKS – TEAM LEADERS:

	HERSHEY	Worcester
Games Played	Garrett Mitchell, Tomas Kundratek (38)	Freddie Hamilton (37)
Goals	Tomas Kundratek (12)	Tim Kennedy (12)
Assists	Jeff Taffe (27)	Tim Kennedy (18)
Points	Jeff Taffe (35)	Tim Kennedy (30)
PIMs	Steve Oleksy (111)	Matt Pelech (133)
Plus/Minus	Garrett Mitchell (+12)	Tim Kennedy (+5)
Power-Play Goals	Tomas Kundratek (6)	Bracken Kearns (6)
Shorthanded Goals	Garrett Mitchell (2)	Yanni Gourde (1)
Game-Winning Goals	Zach Hamill (3)	Jon Matsumoto (3)
Wins	Dany Sabourin (6)	Alex Stalock (12)
Goals-Against Average	Philipp Grubauer (1.77)	Alex Stalock (2.78)
Save Percentage	Philipp Grubauer (.940)	Harri Sateri (.909)

 

BEARS vs. SHARKS – SPECIAL TEAMS:

	HERSHEY	Worcester
Power Play	27-for-178 (15.2%) –20th in AHL	30-for-179 (16.8%) – 17th in AHL
Penalty Kill	142-for-169 (84.0%) – 15th in AHL	138-for-169 (81.7%) – 20th in AHL

 

BEARS RECENT TRANSACTIONS:

1/15/13	ADD	D	Cameron Schilling	Returned on loan from Washington (NHL)
1/15/13	ADD	G	Drew MacIntyre	Signed to PTO
1/14/13	DEL	RW	Alex Berry	Returned on loan to Reading (ECHL)
1/14/13	DEL	D	Brett Flemming	Reassigned by Washington (NHL) to Reading (ECHL)
1/14/13	DEL	RW	Stanislav Galiev	Reassigned by Washington (NHL) to Reading (ECHL)
1/13/13	DEL	G	Braden Holtby	Recalled from loan by Washington (NHL)
1/13/13	DEL	D	Cameron Schilling	Recalled from loan by Washington (NHL)
1/13/13	ADD	D	Tom Poti	Conditioning loan from Washington (NHL)
1/12/13	ADD	LW	Barry Almeida	Recalled from loan to Reading (ECHL)
1/12/13	ADD	RW	Matt Pope	Recalled from loan to Reading (ECHL)
1/12/13	ADD	RW	Alex Berry	Recalled from loan to Reading (ECHL)

 

SHARKS RECENT TRANSACTIONS:

1/15/13	ADD	D	William Wrenn	Signed to PTO
1/14/13	DEL	LW	Andy Bombach	Released from PTO
1/14/13	ADD	C	Michael Pelech	Signed to PTO
1/13/13	ADD	LW	Andy Bombach	Signed to PTO
1/13/13	DEL	C	Bracken Kearns	Recalled from loan by San Jose (NHL)
1/13/13	DEL	LW	Frazer McLaren	Recalled from loan by San Jose (NHL)
1/13/13	DEL	LW	John McCarthy	Recalled from loan by San Jose (NHL)
1/13/13	DEL	D	Matt Irwin	Recalled from loan by San Jose (NHL)
1/13/13	DEL	D	Matt Pelech	Recalled from loan by San Jose (NHL)
1/13/13	DEL	D	Matt Tennyson	Recalled from loan by San Jose (NHL)
1/12/13	ADD	D	Sacha Guimond	Signed to PTO
1/9/13	ADD	LW	Patrick Rissmiller	Signed to PTO

 

BEARS AMONG THE AHL:

C Jeff Taffe: T,3^rd – assists (27); T,8^th – scoring (8-27-35).

RW Garrett Mitchell: T,3^rd – SH goals (2).

D Tomas Kundratek: 3^rd (D) – goals (12); 3^rd (D) – power-play goals (6); T,8^th (D) – scoring (12-11-23).

D Steve Oleksy: 5^th (D) – PIM (111).

 

SHARKS AMONG THE AHL:

C James Sheppard: T,1^st – shootout goals (4).

G Alex Stalock: T,3^rd – shootout wins (3).

D Matt Tennyson: T,2^nd (R) – power-play assists (11); T,4^th (R) – PP points (2-11-13).

D Matt Pelech: 2^nd (D) – PIM (133).