Bears Drop 4-2 Decision to Checkers

November 2, 2024

The Hershey Bears (6-3-1-0) suffered a 4-2 loss to the Charlotte Checkers (6-1-0-0) on Saturday night at GIANT Center, as the club continued its 2024-25 season, presented by Penn State Health.

The defeat, coupled with the Bears' 2-1 loss vs. Lehigh Valley on Wednesday, marked the first time Hershey had lost consecutive games in regulation in the regular season since April 11, 2023 vs. Charlotte (4-3 L) and April 14, 2023 at Bridgeport (5-1 L).

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Brad Hunt scored his second of the season off a face-off win from Henrik Rybinski at 2:30 of the first period.
• Pierrick Dube netted a power-play goal at 11:54 of the third period from Alex Limoges and Ethen Frank to chip away at a 3-1 deficit.
• Frank was awarded a penalty shot at 12:16 of the third period with Hershey trailing 3-2, but failed to score.
• Charlotte's top-ranked power play remained productive, as John Leonard buried the Checkers' first opportunity with the man advantage at 6:27 to tie the score at 1-1; the Checkers converted again at 4:32 of the third period to take a 3-1 lead on a goal from Kyle Criscuolo.
• Leonard finished the night with two goals and an assist for Charlotte.
• Luke Philp returned to the lineup for Hershey after missing the previous seven games with a lower-body injury.

SHOTS: HER 24, CLT 29

GOALTENDING: HER - Hunter Shepard, 25-for-28; CLT - Ken Appleby, 22-for-24

POWER PLAY: HER - 1-for-5; CLT - 2-for-2

THEY SAID IT:

"I thought we played a pretty decent game. We got hemmed in a couple times and in the second period they extended their shifts and they hung on to pucks. But all in all, I thought we played a lot better than we did Wednesday. Right now we're kind of snake-bitten a bit, some of the bounces aren't going our way, like the two games previous to this one. You know, the winning goal [Wednesday] was offside, the game before that [against Providence], there was a face-off mix-up. And so the bounces aren't going our way, so we just have to try to get through it. [Charlotte's] second goal went off our goalie's skate and in the net, and that is one of those things where we just have to fight through this. The previous couple of years, I've talked about adversity - well, we're going through some of it right now, and that's fine. We have guys that can score goals, but right now they're a bit snake-bitten and it's nice to see Dube get one tonight. We've just got to forge ahead and that's the bottom line. We're playing against a pretty good hockey team here, let's not forget that. You've got to give them a lot of credit. They play a very aggressive style, and you have to move pucks quickly. They were ready to play against the Bears tonight." - Todd Nelson providing his thoughts on the change from Wednesday to tonight.

NEXT GAME:

The Bears continue the 2024-25 regular season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Charlotte Checkers on Sunday, Nov. 3 at 5 p.m. at GIANT Center for Team Photo Night presented by David A. Smith. The first 6,000 fans in attendance will receive a 2024-25 Hershey Bears team photo, courtesy of David A. Smith Printing. Following the game, a 75-minute autograph session will take place. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.