Bears Top Rocket 5-3

November 27, 2024

The Hershey Bears (14-4-2-0) returned home and picked up a 5-3 victory over the Laval Rocket (13-4-1-0) in a meeting of two first-place clubs on Wednesday night at GIANT Center, as the club continued its 2024-25 season, presented by Penn State Health.

The Atlantic Division-leading Bears improved to 4-1-1-0 against North Division clubs with the win; Hershey has gone 4-0-1-0 over its last five games and has won its last three contests. The Bears improved to 30-20-4-2-1 (.588 pct) in 57 career home Thanksgiving Eve games.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Spencer Smallman opened the scoring on Hershey's first shot of the contest just 2:14 into the opening frame after Henrik Rybinski stole the puck in the offensive zone and found Smallman, who beat Jakub Dobes for his third of the season.
• After Rocket players Laurent Dauphin and Tyler Wotherspoon were assessed penalties at 10:54 and 11:52, Hershey called a timeout, and on the ensuing 5-on-3 advantage, Alex Limoges buried a power-play goal for his fifth strike of the season, with assists from Mike Sgarbossa and Pierrick Dube.
• Dube's assist on Limoges pushed the forward's point streak to three games (1g, 2a).
• Chase Priskie put Hershey ahead 3-2 at 17:49 of the second period, with assists to Rybinski and Mike Vecchione for his fourth goal of the season. All four of Priskie's goals have come on the man advantage this season; he is tied with Charlotte's Trevor Carrick for the most power-play goals by a defender for the campaign.
• Vincent Iorio broke a 3-3 tie at 10:24 of the third period with a shot from the right point beating a screened Dobes.
• Ethen Frank added an empty-net tally at 18:44 for his 13th goal of the season to tie Calgary's Rory Kerins for the league lead.
• Hunter Shepard earned his league-leading 11th win of the season and improved to 6-0-1 over his last seven games with the triumph, and earned his 66th career victory as a Bear to pass Ed Chadwick for sole possession of 12th in franchise history.
• Forward Dalton Smith made his Bears debut. The veteran forward picked up two penalty minutes and was notably foiled on a breakaway in the second period with the score tied 2-2.

SHOTS: HER 22, LAV 25

GOALTENDING: HER - Hunter Shepard, 22-for-25; LAV - Jakub Dobes, 17-for-21

POWER PLAY: HER - 2-for-6; LAV - 1-for-4

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Todd Nelson's opening thoughts on the game:
"It was a really good hockey game. Two good teams going at it...I thought we had a strong first period and we came out of the period up 2-1, and then in the second I thought the ice kind of tilted in their favor at 5-on-5. They had us hemmed in quite a bit, but our special teams bailed us out, so we got a couple power play goals where our p PK was really good up to that point. And then we just found a way to get it done in the third period. That was a pretty evenly matched period. It was just a good hockey game. We expected a playoff-style hockey game tonight."

Nelson on facing an opponent such as Laval in a playoff-like matchup between two division-leading clubs: 
"That's what it felt like to me. They're a fast hockey team and they have good skill and they're a really well-balanced team. They've got both skill and grit, their defensemen are active and their goaltending's strong. There's not much missing on their team. And plus, they're well coached by Pascal Vincent. So that's a team that's gonna be there in the end for sure."

Nelson on what has allowed Chase Priskie to be an impact player on the power play: 
"I think just getting the opportunity for one thing, and we've moved him around quite a bit. We used him at the top [of the zone] on the power play and also on the flank for the one-timer, and also in the middle bumper. And he's played all three of those positions, and I think his versatility helps him stay on the power play for getting those opportunities."

Chase Priskie on the team's progress a third of the way through the season:
"Conditioning-wise, I think we're pushing the pace there and we're feeling really good. I think our coaching staff does a good job staying on top of it. It's not always the most fun to work on, but you have to do it if you want to be successful. But I think as a team we're not necessarily where we want to be yet. I think there's a lot of good and some bad with it; on the good side, I think we have another level to get to and I think just playing a little bit more cohesive and being on the same page, we're going to take a big step in our game, but on the the bad side, you know, like, we're 20 games in now, and we've got to start hammering down the details. We can't let this slide all season long and just say, 'well, we're winning, we're getting away with it.' So I think just looking on the bright side, we got more points tonight, which is huge against the first-place team in the North Division, and we've just got to continue to build on it and just, you know, work on our game."

NEXT GAME:

Hershey continues the 2024-25 regular season, presented by Penn State Health, when it visits the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday, Nov. 29 at 7:05 p.m. The Bears return home to host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center for Hockey Fights Cancer Night, when the players will take the ice in specialty Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys that will be auctioned off post-game. All fans in attendance will receive a Hockey Fights Cancer jersey rally towel courtesy of Penn State Health. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.