The first-place Hershey Bears welcome the Laval Rocket to town for their lone visit of the 2023-24 season, as Hershey hosts Pepsi Hunter Shepard Bobblehead Night.
Hershey Bears (20-6-0-0) vs. Laval Rocket (7-12-3-2)
December 16, 2023 | 7 p.m. | Game 27 | GIANT Center
Referees: Jim Curtin (22), Graedy Hamilton (41)
Linespersons: Tommy George (61), Bob Goodman (90)
Tonight's Promotions:
Broadcast Information
Voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch, AHL Hall-of-Famer Mitch Lamoureux, and in-arena host Jim Jones on the call
RADIO: WFVY-100.1 FM, Fox Sports 1460-AM, In-Arena on 88.9 FM
WATCH LIVE: AHLTV
LISTEN LIVE: Fox Sports AM-1460 Stream
Radio pre-game coverage starts at 6:30 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT:
The Bears hosted the Providence Bruins on Wednesday. After Ivan Miroshnichenko scored on Hershey's first shot of the contest just 59 seconds into the game, the Bruins scored twice in the second period to take a 2-1 edge. Pierrick Dube tallied a power-play goal at 6:38 of the third period to tie the score at 2-2. Vincent Iorio scored at 3:48 of overtime to lift the Bears to a 3-2 victory; Hunter Shepard made 24 saves to earn his 10th win of the season. Laval is coming off a road contest last night at Lehigh Valley, in which the Rocket twice trailed but rallied for an eventual 4-3 win. It took until 10:05 of the second period with the Rocket trailing 2-0 for Laval to get on the board, when Brandon Gignac netted an unassisted shorthanded goal, then Lucas Condotta scored 66 seconds later to level the score. After falling behind 3-2, Jan Mysak scored the tying goal midway through the third, and Riley Kidney netted a power-play goal with 1:07 remaining. Goalie Jakub Dobes made 42 saves to get the win for Laval.
COMEBACK KIDS:
Hershey's win against Providence on Wednesday marked the Bears' first victory this season when trailing after two periods, matching their total number of wins last season when trailing opponents after 40 minutes of play. The Bears have also earned three victories when trailing after the first period, one away from their total of four from last season.
MILESTONE ACHIEVED, ON TO THE NEXT:
Wednesday's win for the Bears over Providence gave Hershey its 20th victory of the season in its 26th game, matching the franchise mark originally set by the 2008-09 Bears team for the fastest 20 wins to start the season. The Bears' next major milestone will be the club record for fastest 30 wins, currently held by the 2009-10 team, which earned a 10-4 win at Albany on Jan. 15, 2010 in its 41st game of the season; in order to match or best the current mark, Hershey must win 10 of its next 15 games.
ROCKET STRUGGLING TO LAUNCH:
Laval makes its way to Hershey this week near the basement of the league standings, and currently occupies the cellar of the North Division with a 7-12-3-2 record. The Rocket recently ended a nine-game winless skid (0-5-2-2) with back-to-back wins and are 3-6-2-1 on the road this season. The Bears own a lifetime 3-1-0-0 record at home against the Rocket, and last hosted Laval on Nov. 13 last year, when Hendrix Lapierre scored the opening goal for Hershey and assisted on Bobby Nardella's game-winner in an eventual 4-1 victory. Brandon Gignac paces the Rocket this season with 23 points (8g, 15a) in 24 games, while Joshua Roy is fourth in the AHL's rookie scoring race with 21 points (8g, 13a). The Rocket are averaging the second-most penalty minutes per game this season at 16.96, but despite that time in the box, they lead the AHL with eight shorthanded goals, with Nathan Legare entering the week tied with Springfield's Nathan Walker for the league lead with three shorthanded markers.
MAILLET MAKES RETURN:
Former Bears forward Philippe Maillet is expected to make his return to Hershey tonight as a member of the Rocket, after the 31-year-old signed a one-year, two-way contract with Laval's NHL affiliate, the Montreal Canadiens, this past summer. The Montreal native spent the past two seasons in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where he led his team to within one win of a Gagarin Cup championship in 2021-22 and led his team in scoring during the 2022-23 campaign. Maillet played parts of two seasons for the Chocolate and White from 2019-21, collecting 65 points (23g, 42a) in 77 games, and appeared in a pair of games with the Washington Capitals in the 2020-21 campaign, his only NHL action to date.
800TH REGULAR-SEASON HOME GAME FOR GIANT CENTER:
Tonight's contest marks the 800th regular-season game hosted by the Bears at GIANT Center since moving into the venue at the start of the 2002-03 season. In that time, Hershey has played all but two of their home games at the 10,500-seat venue, enjoying a 488-212-10-41-48 (.672) record at GIANT Center during the regular season in front of over 6.96 million fans, along with an additional 89 postseason contests in which Hershey has a record of 57-32 (.640), including six runs to the Calder Cup Finals, claiming four championships.
BEARS BITES:
The Washington Capitals announced on Thursday the recall of forward Joe Snively...Hershey leads the AHL with 15 regulation wins, and 19 regulation + overtime wins...Hershey is 16-3-0-0 when scoring in the first period this season...The Bears are 15-0-0-0 this season when leading after the second period...Hershey is 10-1-0-0 this season in games decided by one goal...The Chocolate and White have gone 6-for-19 (31.58%) on the power play and 22-for-25 (88%) on the penalty kill in their last six games... Rocket head coach J.F. Houle previously served as an assistant coach with Bakersfield during Bears defender Logan Day's tenure with the club from 2017-20...Pierrick Dube has eight goals in his last 11 games and six in his last seven; the Bears are now 10-0-0-0 when he finds the back of the net...Mike Sgarbossa has nine points (2g, 7a) in his last eight games, and Hershey is 17-1-0-0 this season when he records a point...Ethen Frank has 11 points (5g, 6a) in his last eight games; the Bears are 9-0-0-0 this season when Frank records a multi-point game.
ON THIS DATE:
Dec. 16, 1989 - Ross Fitzpatrick and Don Nachbaur each scored three goals apiece en route to an 8-3 Bears win over the Binghamton Whalers at Hersheypark Arena. Nachbaur's first two goals of the game and goals by Blair Atcheynum and James Black for the Whalers left the score tied at 2-2 early in the second period, before Hershey broke the game open with six goals, as Nachbaur completed his hat trick to put the Bears ahead to stay. Mark Freer followed with a breakaway goal before Fitzpatrick scored twice within 44 seconds, leaving the count 6-2 after 40 minutes of play. Fitzpatrick had his third of the night early in the third, and Brian Dobbin closed the scoring for the Bears, while Atcheynum scored again late for Binghamton.
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