The Hershey Bears take the ice tonight against the Cleveland Monsters looking to close out the Eastern Conference Finals, as Hershey leads the best-of-seven series three games to none. A win would clinch the Richard F. Canning Trophy for the second time in as many seasons and send the Bears to a league-leading 25th appearance in the Calder Cup Finals, giving Hershey a chance to defend its 2023 championship.
Hershey Bears (9-1) at Cleveland Monsters (6-4)
June 6, 2024 | 7 p.m. | Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse | Hershey leads series, 3-0
Referees: Cody Beach (45), Graedy Hamilton (41)
Linespersons: Mitchell Hunt (62), Joseph Mahon (89)
Broadcast Information
Voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch, former Bears captain Garrett Mitchell, and FOX43 sports director Todd Sadowski on the call
TELEVISION: Antenna TV (WPMT FOX 43.2, Xfinity Ch. 247 and 1178, Verizon FiOS Ch. 463, Blue Ridge Ephrata Ch. 91, and Blue Ridge Newberry/Duncannon Ch. 88); Monumental Sports Network (Washington, D.C. market); NHL Network
RADIO: WFVY-100.1 FM, Fox Sports 1460-AM, SportsRadio 98.9-FM & WOYK 1350-AM (joined in-progress), Capitals Radio
WATCH LIVE: AHLTV
LISTEN LIVE: Fox Sports AM-1460 Stream, Caps Radio 24/7
Radio pre-game coverage starts at 6:30 p.m., Television coverage starts at 7 p.m.
WATCH PARTY:
Bear Nation can get together at The Bears Den at the Hershey Lodge for our Game 4 Watch Party presented by Labatt Blue, featuring a $5 Labatt Blue draft special!
LAST TIME OUT:
The Bears battled the Monsters to a 6-2 win on Tuesday, with Chase Priskie striking first for Hershey with a power-play goal at 12:43 of the first period. Ethen Frank then converted on the man advantage at 5:45 of the second period, before the Monsters stormed back with goals from Alex Whelan at 6:55 and Trey Fix-Wolansky at 12:17 to tie the score at 2-2. Alex Limoges beat Jet Greaves with the eventual game-winner at 17:14, igniting a firestorm of three goals in a span of 2:18, as Ivan Miroshnichenko scored at 18:23 and Joe Snively converted again on the power play at 19:32. Henrik Rybinski closed out the scoring in the third period with an empty-net goal at 15:54.
CHANCE TO ADVANCE:
The Bears enter tonight's game with a lifetime 21-1 series record when opening a best-of-seven with three straight victories. The most recent instance was the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals, when the Bears went up three games to none against the Toronto Marlies, ultimately claiming the Richard F. Canning Trophy for the Eastern Conference championship by defeating Toronto four games to one. Hershey's last four-game series sweep occurred in the 2010 East Division Finals against the Albany River Rats, in which the Bears out-scored Albany 21-15, with three of Hershey's four victories decided in overtime. Hershey's most recent sweep in the Eastern Conference Finals was in 2007, when the Bears were victorious over the Manchester Monarchs. Hershey has accomplished 14 total four-game sweeps in its playoff history; the club has an all-time playoff record of 79-67 when playing a potential series-clinching game.
FRANK ON FIRE:
Ethen Frank's power-play goal in the second period on Tuesday gave him his team-leading eighth goal of the postseason and extended his current goal-scoring streak to six games (6g), giving him Hershey's first six-game postseason goal-scoring streak since Ross Fitzpatrick netted nine in a six-game stretch for the Bears from April 27-May 12, 1988. So far this postseason Frank has collected three power-play goals (leads the AHL), four game-winners (tied for the league lead), and two first goals (tied for third). The Bears' playoff record for longest goal-scoring streak in a single playoff year is eight games, held by Harvie Pocza, who lit the lamp 10 times over eight consecutive matches during the 1981 playoffs from April 10-May 2.
HEAD-TO-HEAD BREAKDOWN:
So far in the series, the Bears have outscored Cleveland 14-8 and outshot the Monsters 95-90. Hershey's power play is operating at a 6-for-18 (33.3%) clip against Cleveland, and the Hershey penalty kill has gone 10-for-13 (76.9%) with the Monsters on the man advantage. After his two-assist outing in Game 3, Hendrix Lapierre has taken over as the leading scorer in the series with five points (1g, 4a), while Ethen Frank has the series' goal-scoring lead with three.
GREAVES OR SUBBAN FOR CLEVELAND?:
While Jet Greaves has started all three games for Cleveland in the series so far, the Monsters replaced him for the start of the third period in Game 3 with veteran netminder Malcom Subban, who stopped all four shots he faced in relief. During the 2023 playoffs, the Bears faced Subban when the goaltender was a member of the Rochester Americans, which pushed Hershey to six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. In seven career playoff appearances against the Bears, Subban has posted a record of 2-4 with a 1.78 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage.
BEARS BITES:
Hunter Shepard's 23 career playoff victories are tied with Bob Perreault for fifth in franchise history, and his next win will move him into a tie for fourth place with Gordon "Red" Henry...Chase Priskie carries a seven-game point streak (3g, 6a) into tonight's game. Hershey has posted a 9-0 record in games in which Priskie gets onto the scoresheet, and the defender's 11 total points lead all blueliners and is tied for third overall in playoff scoring...Hendrix Lapierre is second in playoff scoring with 11 points (4g, 9a), and leads the playoffs with seven power-play points...Hershey leads the playoffs with seven wins when scoring first.
ON THIS DATE:
June 6, 2009 - Graham Mink's power-play goal at 6:22 of the first period stood up as the game-winner - his third of the playoffs - as the Bears triumphed over the Manitoba Moose 3-0 in front of a crowd of 10,696 at GIANT Center in Game 3 of the Calder Cup Finals to take a two-games-to-one series lead. Alexandre Giroux netted another goal on the man advantage in the second period and Quintin Lang closed out the scoring with a shorthanded empty-netter in the third. Goaltender Michal Neuvirth picked up his 14th win of the playoffs with a 28-save shutout performance.
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