Bears Skate Past Crunch, 2-1

March 9, 2018

Aaron Ness scored late in the third period, and Pheonix Copley stopped 29 shots to backstop the Hershey Bears to a 2-1 win over the Syracuse Crunch on Friday from the War Memorial Arena.

Hershey opened the scoring in the middle stanza and cashed in on their fourth power play chance at 2:51. Wayne Simpson unloaded on shot from the right face-off circle which glanced off Dustin Gazley's stick en route. After the puck hit the outside of the net, Tyler Graovac was in the right place for an opportunistic shot to the top corner. The goal was Graovac's 12th of the season.

Syracuse drew even with a power play goal of their own at 7:56. Following a two minute boarding minor assessed to Garrett Mitchell, Mathieu Joseph beat Copley with a quick shot to the top shelf from the right wing. Shots after 40 minutes were 21-12 Syracuse in the 1-1 deadlock.

The defensive battle continued, but the Chocolate and White capitalized on their best scoring chance of the third period. On the transition following a neutral zone turnover, Graovac dropped a pass to Ness. He fired a quick shot past former Hershey Bears' netminder, Peter Budaj, for the eventual game-winning tally at 13:22.

Copley stopped 29 shots and collected third star honors in the victory to open Hershey's current three in three stretch. Final shot totals were 30-18 for the Crunch.

The Bears conclude the road portion of this weekend's games with a 7:05 p.m. tilt tomorrow in Binghamton. Hershey visits the Binghamton Devils for the first time in franchise history, and for the only time this season. Voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch has the call on the Bears Radio Network.