Bears Pick Up First Win of 2023 with 4-3 Victory Over Crunch

January 8, 2023

The Hershey Bears (23-8-2-1) rode a three-goal second period en route to a 4-2 victory over the Syracuse Crunch (13-13-2-3) on Sunday evening at GIANT Center. The triumph was Hershey’s first home victory against Syracuse since Nov. 3, 2019 (4-2 W), while moving the club once again into sole possession of first place in the American Hockey League.

BOX SCORE

Hershey opened the scoring on just its second shot of the game when Riley Sutter sent the puck from the left corner to behind the net, where Henrik Rybinski dished it into the slot for Beck Malenstyn to fire past Max Lagace for his first of the season at 4:19 of the first period.

Connor McMichael put the Bears ahead 2-0 early in the second period on a delayed penalty to Syracuse when he darted up the left wing before he cut to the right and slipped a low backhand shot around the pads of Lagace at 2:49 for his seventh of the season. Aliaskei Protas received credit for an assist on the goal.

Mike Sgarbossa nearly extended Hershey’s lead to three goals at 5:23, but the potential score was waived off due to goaltender interference committed by Ethen Frank.

The Crunch failed to convert on the subsequent opportunity with the man advantage, but Jack Finley eventually scored at 8:22 to cut Hershey’s lead to 2-1.

Sgarbossa found twine at 10:36 to restore a two-goal edge when he broke in up the right side and roofed a shot above the glove of Lagace for his 11th of the season, with Frank and Vincent Iorio receiving assists.

Mike Vecchione then put Hershey up by three with a power-play goal at 14:32, when Protas collected Frank’s rebound in front of the net and sent a no-look pass back to Vecchione, who found twine to make it 4-1 with his 13th of the season.

Gabriel Dumont buried a back-door tap-in at 8:37 of the third period to pull the Crunch back to within two goals of the Bears.

Syracuse continued to chip away at Hershey’s lead at the 13:03 mark when Shawn Element deflected a shot from the blue line by Darren Raddysh, making the score 4-3.

The Crunch attempted to pull Lagace for an extra skater in the final minutes of regulation, but the Bears protected their net and held the visitors at bay.

Shots finished 28-22 in favor of Syracuse. Shepard went 25-for-28 for Hershey to earn his ninth win of the season; Lagace was 18-for-22 for the Crunch. The Bears were 1-for-3 on the power play, while Syracuse went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

With the win, Hershey improved to 10-0-0-0 at home this season when not surrendering a goal in the first period and 11-0-0-1 on the season when Vecchione scores a goal.

Hershey continues the 2022-23 season, presented by Penn State Health, when the Chocolate and White host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at GIANT Center for Berks Dollar Dog Night (featuring Berks Dollar Dogs and $6 beers available at the Boulevard, Hot Shots, and Hat Trick concession stands) on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.