The Hershey Bears return home from a successful road trip as they get set to dig into a slate of five consecutive games on home ice, starting with tonight's clash against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Hershey Bears (6-1-1-0) vs. Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-3-1-1)
Oct. 30, 2024 | 7 p.m. | GIANT Center
Referees: Andrew Bell (6), Rob Hennessey (87)
Linespersons: Patrick Dapuzzo (57), John Rey (16)
Tonight's Promotions:
College Night - Fans with a valid college .edu email address can take advantage of discounted ticket pricing by CLICKING HERE.
Enck's Trophies & Screen Printing T-Shirt Giveaway - The first 500 college students in attendance will receive a free t-shirt, courtesy of Enck's Trophies & Screen Printing.
BUY TICKETS NOW VIA TICKETMASTER
Broadcast Information
Voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch, AHL Hall of Famer Mitch Lamoureux, and Jim Jones on the call
RADIO: WFVY-100.1 FM, Fox Sports 1460-AM, SportsRadio 98.9-FM & WOYK 1350-AM, Capitals Radio, In-Arena on 88.9 FM
WATCH LIVE: AHLTV on FloHockey
LISTEN LIVE: Fox Sports AM-1460 Stream, Caps Radio 24/7
Radio pre-game coverage starts at 6:30 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT:
Hershey rallied from a 1-0 deficit to Providence on Sunday when Ivan Miroshnichenko tied the game with his sixth of the season at 14:28 of the second period, and Ethen Frank scored the game-winning goal just 20 seconds into the third period. Hunter Shepard made 24 saves for his fifth win of the season. The Phantoms, meanwhile, hosted Grand Rapids on Sunday. and with Lehigh Valley trailing the Griffins 2-1 in the third, Alexis Gendron and Garrett Wilson scored 84 seconds apart to jump in front 3-2. A late goal by Sheldon Dries knotted the score at 3-3, and after a scoreless overtime, the Griffins' Amadeus Lombardi netted the deciding goal in the shootout.
SHEP-HERDING THE FLOCK:
Hunter Shepard is off to a 5-0-0 start, the best of his AHL tenure to open the season. In that time, the netminder has posted a 1.40 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage with one shutout, and his 147 saves are the most of any Eastern Conference goaltender (second only to Calgary's Devin Cooley). His 60 career victories with Hershey are now tied with 1980 Calder Cup champion netminder Dave Parro for 14th in franchise history.
ROCK-TOBER:
With a 6-1-1-0 record, the 2024-25 iteration of the Bears have already matched last season's win total for the month of October (6-2-0-0). A win tonight would make this season's squad just the ninth team in club history to record at least seven wins in October; the most recent team to do so was the 2009-10 team, which went 7-4-0-0 in the season's opening month, and four of the previous eight teams to do so went on to win the Calder Cup.
POWERED UP:
Tonight's matchup with Lehigh Valley features two of the top three teams in the league on the power play. Hershey ranks third at 27.5% (11-for-40), while Lehigh Valley ranks second at 28.6% (6-for-31); Hershey's penalty kill has also been making waves, going 29-for-32 (90.6%), good enough for fourth in the AHL.
PHANTOM MENACE:
The Bears face the Phantoms on Wednesday for the first of 10 meetings during the 2024-25 campaign. Last season, Hershey went 8-2-0-2 against Lehigh Valley in 12 contests, then defeated the Phantoms in four games in the Atlantic Division Semifinals. Hershey has earned at least five wins on home ice against the Phantoms in each of the last five seasons. Tonight marks the 306th meeting between the clubs since the Phantoms franchise began as an expansion member in Philadelphia during the 1996-97 season; Hershey owns a lifetime 154-104-8-22-17 record against the Phantoms in the regular season.
NELSON ON CUSP OF TOP 10 WINS IN FRANCHISE HISTORY:
Already seventh all-time in AHL history with 412 coaching victories between Oklahoma City, Grand Rapids, and Hershey, Todd Nelson is also moving up the franchise leaderboard, as the bench boss earned his 103rd victory with the Bears on Sunday, moving him into a tie with Bruce Boudreau for 12th in franchise history. His next win will move him into a three-way tie with Spencer Carbery and Gary Inness for 10th in club history.
BEARS BITES:
Ivan Miroshnichenko is tied for third in the AHL in shots on goal with 27, while Ethan Bear's 17 shots ranks fifth in the league among defensemen...Bear's plus/minus of +7 is tied for second among defensemen...Spencer Smallman needs two more points for 100 in his AHL career...Hershey is 4-0-0-0 to begin the year against Atlantic Division opponents...Since joining the Phantoms in the 2020-21 season, Phantoms captain Garrett Wilson's 568 penalty minutes leads all active AHL skaters.
ON THIS DATE:
Oct. 30, 1968 - Bob Leiter scored three goals on his first three shots of the game in the first period to record a natural hat trick in a span of 4:55, as the Bears took down the Springfield Kings by a 9-3 score at Hershey Sports Arena.
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