Bears Thump Senators, 4-1

January 17, 2025

Alex Limoges posted a goal and an assist, as the Hershey Bears (24-11-3-0) upended Belleville Senators (15-13-1-4) by a score of 4-1 on Friday night at GIANT Center, as the club continued its 2024-25 season, presented by Penn State Health.

The victory was Hershey's third consecutive win, and improved the club to 5-1-0-0 since the start of 2025. Friday's game was the first of four this season with Belleville, and the two teams will meet for a pair of games next weekend at CAA Arena.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• With the Bears on a 5-on-3 man advantage, Alex Limoges redirected Ivan Miroshnichenko's shot past Michael Simpson at 18:47 of the first period to give Hershey a 1-0 lead. The goal marked Limoges' ninth of the season; Hendrix Lapierre received a secondary assist on the strike.
• Hershey allowed only one shot on goal in the opening frame, establishing a new season-best for fewest shots allowed in an individual period.
• Mike Vecchione scored for the second straight game and gave Hershey a 2-0 lead with his ninth of the season at 13:14 of the middle period from Mike Sgarbossa and Limoges. The assist by Sgarbossa marked his 300th career AHL helper (173 with Hershey).
• After Belleville's Angus Crookshank scored at 17:20, Luke Philp restored the two-goal advantage for the Bears by potting his fourth of the season at 19:47 from Ethan Bear and Henrik Rybinski.
• Aaron Ness widened Hershey's lead to 4-1 at 7:35 of the third period with his third of the season from Brennan Saulnier and Matt Strome. The goal extended Ness' point streak to three games (2g, 1a). 
• Clay Stevenson earned the win in goal for Hershey with 14 saves to improve his record to 8-4-2 on the season. He has won his past four starts, surrendering just seven goals in that stretch. 

SHOTS: HER 35, BEL 15

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 14-for-15; BEL - Michael Simpson, 31-for-35

POWER PLAY: HER - 1-for-5; BEL - 0-for-2

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Todd Nelson on the team's performance:
"That's a pretty good 60 minutes we played; we let some bad details creep in a bit about maybe the last seven minutes of the second period. But we dialed it back in for the third. We had plenty of chances - we rang about six [shots] off the post tonight. I thought their goalie played really well, but it seemed like we couldn't buy a goal. And these games are kind of tough because you have momentum, you're getting chances, you're getting breakaways, and you're not finishing. And I've seen it many times where the ice is tilted in your favor and then all of a sudden they come down, they get a break off a stick or a skate or something like that, and all of a sudden you're behind the eight-ball. It didn't work out that way. But all in all, it was a good 60 minutes. I was happy with everybody's performance."

Nelson on if he's seeing the fruits of the team's labor:
"Yeah, I think so. I think when you look at the two games against Providence, those were tough. We didn't get that [Lehigh Valley] game - we allowed five goals that game. It wasn't a very good outing for our team, but we've played a lot of games, guys, and then went to Charlotte, we had a couple days off and we were able to work on a lot of things, and I like the way our team's trending right now. This is the team that I expected to have the first half and it wasn't that bad. Last time I checked going into Christmas, we were in first place. Maybe not win percentage, but we were at or near the top point-wise. But that's money in the bank for us, right? So, you know, we have some firepower outta the lineup. Dube suspended, you know, Smallman's out. The guys that went in did a really good job and performed. I thought the Cruikshank, Saulnier, Strome line was excellent tonight."

NEXT GAME:

The Bears continue the 2024-25 regular season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Rochester Americans on Sunday, Jan. 19 at 5 p.m. at GIANT Center for Toyota Poster Night. All fans in attendance will receive a throwback-inspired jersey poster, presented by Toyota, as the Bears will wear specialty throw-back inspired jerseys commemorating their three pairs of back-to-back Calder Cup championships, which will be auctioned off post-game. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.