Bears Ring in New Year with 4-3 Shootout Win Over Bruins

January 4, 2025

The Hershey Bears (20-10-3-0) built a 3-0 lead in the first period against the Providence Bruins (17-11-3-1), only to see their opponents storm back to force overtime before Hershey won its first game of the New Year by a 4-3 score in the shootout on Saturday night at GIANT Center, as the club continued its 2024-25 season, presented by Penn State Health.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Pierrick Dube opened the game's scoring with his seventh of the season from Aaron Ness and Mike Sgarbossa at 6:33 of the first period.
• Forward Hendrix Lapierre made his season debut for the Bears after last suiting up for Hershey in Game 6 of the 2024 Calder Cup Finals, where he was named the recipient of the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the MVP of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Lapierre received the primary assist on Spencer Smallman's fourth of the season at 13:09 of the first that gave Hershey a 2-0 lead, and assisted on Sgarbossa's goal that made it 3-0.
• Sgarbossa scored during a 4-on-3 man advantage at 15:39 for his fourth of the season to widen the lead to 3-0 and give Hershey its first power-play goal since Dec. 8 vs. Lehigh Valley, ending a stretch of seven games in which the club went 0-for-25. Sgarbossa finished the night with two points (1g, 1a).
• Forward Alex Limoges made his return to the lineup for Hershey after missing the previous eight games with a lower-body injury. Limoges assisted on Sgarbossa's goal.
• Providence's Patrick Brown scored at 19:12 in the frame at 5-on-3 to get the Bruins on the board, resulting in the Bears' first goal allowed on the penalty kill since Dec. 11 at Hartford, ending a six-game stretch in which Hershey had gone 17-for-17.
• Luke Philp scored the lone goal in the shootout, beating Michael DiPietro in the bottom of the fourth round.
• Hershey's record with Providence now sits at 3-0-0-0.
• Brennan Saulnier received 24 penalty minutes, a new single-game season high.
• Hershey improved to 3-0 in the shootout this season, to go along with a 5-3 record in the overtime period.

SHOTS: HER 35, PRO 28

GOALTENDING: HER - Hunter Shepard, 25-for-28; PRO - Michael DiPietro, 31-for-34

POWER PLAY: HER - 1-for-6; PRO - 1-for-5

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Todd Nelson on the team's play tonight:
"I thought we had a really good first period and then there were a lot of scrums after the whistle and a lot of penalties being taken on both sides. And so we kind of lost our intensity in the second period and they ended up coming back and tying the game up. But I thought our third was pretty decent. We had some good opportunities. Both goalies played well. It was a step in the right direction. I thought our adjustments we made in the D-zone worked better for us tonight. I liked that. Didn't spend much as much time in our zone and another plus: [our] power play scored a goal, so all in all, a pretty decent game. It was a big one for us - we've been kind of struggling here at home and it's nice to get a win to start off the New Year."

Nelson on the play of Hendrix Lapierre in the return to the lineup:
"I thought he was good - he's a talented player, he can skate really well and he set up Smallman on the one goal where he drove wide and found him in the slot. I thought as the game went on, he wasn't used to the minutes that he played tonight because in Washington, he was playing maybe seven or eight minutes; he played quite a bit tonight. So we knew as a coaching staff, that'd be a concern. But I thought he handled it fine. He played in overtime and I thought all in all it was a pretty good game for him to come get his confidence and he is only going to get better."

Nelson the reconfiguring of the team's forward lines:
"When you get stale with your offense, you have to kind of mix it up a bit and I thought the line changes we made were good; I thought especially if you look at the first period, we had some chemistry out there with all the lines and so we like what we saw for sure."

Luke Philp on the team persevering through the momentum swing of establishing a 3-0 lead to eventually winning in the shootout, along with describing his shootout goal:
"It was weird because [Providence] kind of chipped away at the lead, and then all of a sudden the score's 3-3. I thought we did a good job sticking with it, playing hard right until the end. And then the game ended up in OT, we had a few chances, [Hunter Shepard] made some huge saves, and we were able to finish it off in the shootout. I just kind of had a move set [in my mind] and my name was called, and I decided to stick to it. It worked out pretty good."

Hendrix Lapierre on how he felt playing in his first game of the season with Hershey:
"I felt really good. It's fun to get some minutes under me and puck touches and stuff like that. At the start, like the first like two or three shifts, it was a little shaky - it's a different league, different way of hockey - but after that I thought, obviously there's things we can work on, but it was pretty good. I feel like we generated a lot, missed a lot of chances, feel like we could have had a couple [additional] goals tonight and didn't give up much, except for maybe two or three shifts. So it was good to finally play and then win a game. I know the guys were eager to win a game, so it was really fun."

Lapierre on the team maintaining composure throughout the game:
"I thought we played a good first period, good game in general. I thought we came out pretty hard in the first, didn't turn the puck over a lot. We were smart with our puck touches and stuff, and then in the second maybe, we're up 3-0 and maybe tried a little extra play or something, then that kind of kicked our butt. I thought we came out pretty hard. Our first shift was really good with [Grant Cruikshank's] line setting the tone there, and then everyone kind of followed from there. And [Providence] is a really good hockey team. It's not gonna be easy, we knew we weren't going to win 9-0 tonight. We knew they were going to come back and give us a challenge, and we responded pretty well and found a way to win in the shootout."

NEXT GAME:

The Bears continue the 2024-25 regular season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Providence Bruins on Sunday, Jan. 5 at 3 p.m. at GIANT Center for their world-famous GIANT Teddy Bear Toss. All fans in attendance are encouraged to throw teddy bears onto the ice when Hershey scores its first goal. Limited tickets remain - purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.