BEARS MUSCLE PAST AMERKS

November 15, 2015

HERSHEY, Pa. – Paul Carey snapped a long Hershey Bears team goal drought, Garrett Mitchell broke a late tie and Dan Ellis made 25 saves to help the hosts defeat the Rochester Americans by a 3-1 score on Sunday evening at GIANT Center.

The Bears came out and played their most dominant period of the season without scoring.  Nathan Lieuwen made all 12 saves in the opening frame, many in scrambling fashion, to keep the Bears off of the scoreboard.  Hershey would not allow a shot on goal until 1:58 was remaining on the clock.

Carey would finally break the Bears’ goal drought of 199:14 when he collected a perfect head-man pass from Aaron Ness, skated in and shot off the crossbar and down behind Lieuwen at 9:07 for his fifth of the season.

The Bears were headed for a clean sheet, but the Amerks got a gift when William Carrier’s backhand pass attempt from the inside of the left circle deflected off of the skate of Travis Boyd and into the net at 6:54 of the third period.

Mitchell erased that memory by holding the puck on a two-on-one rush and picking the upper-left corner with a snap shot with 3:46 left in regulation.

Zach Sill capped off the scoring with an empty-net goal at 19:14.

Ellis improved to 4-3-1 with the win, while Lieuwen stopped 28 of 30 shots faced in a strong effort but fell to 4-3-0.  Hershey finished perfect on seven penalty kills and was 0-for-3 on the power play.

The Bears are home again on Friday, November 20 for a 7:00 PM faceoff against the Portland Pirates. Individual tickets for this and all Bears home games are on sale at the GIANT Center box office, by calling 717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES: ; The Bears scratched RW Chris Brown, RW Caleb Herbert, LW Liam O’Brien, D Ryan Stanton and LW Jakub Vrana…The Amerks scratched D Brady Austin, LW Jerry D’Amigo, D Matt Garbowsky, RW Patrick Kaleta and C Allan McPherson…The Bears improved to 3-1-0-3 on home ice with the win…The Bears and Amerks met for the first time at GIANT Center since a 5-1 Hershey win on January 4, 2014… Former Bears and current Amerks assistant coach Paul Fixter returned to Hershey for the first time since serving as head coach in the 2004-05 season.