The Hershey Bears take on the Laval Rocket as the team returns home to GIANT Center for its traditional Thanksgiving Eve game. It's a meeting of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, as the Bears sit atop the Atlantic Division standings, while the Rocket occupy first place in the North Division.
Hershey Bears (13-4-2-0) vs. Laval Rocket (13-3-1-0)
Nov. 27, 2024 | 7 p.m. | GIANT Center
Referees: Liam Maaskant (45), Mitch Hardy (53)
Linespersons: Tommy George (61), Bill Lyons (27)
Tonight's Promotions:
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Broadcast Information
Voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch, former Bears captain Garrett Mitchell, and FOX43 sports director Todd Sadowski on the call
TELEVISION: FOX43
RADIO: WFVY-100.1 FM, Fox Sports 1460-AM, SportsRadio 98.9-FM & WOYK 1350-AM, In-arena on 88.9 FM
WATCH LIVE: AHLTV on FloHockey
LISTEN LIVE: Fox Sports AM-1460 Stream
Radio pre-game coverage starts at 6:30 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT:
The Bears finished their road trip on Saturday at Syracuse. Grant Cruikshank scored his first goal as a Bear to give Hershey a 1-0 lead 5:06 into the first period, and Ethen Frank added his team-leading 12th of the season at 18:53 to put the visitors ahead 2-0. Nikko Huuhtanen scored his first of two goals at 15:59 of the second period. In the third, Henrik Rybinski scored at 2:01 to put Hershey ahead 3-1, but Huuhtanen answered at 11:59. Pierrick Dube netted a power-play marker at 13:58, but the Crunch erased the two-goal deficit with strikes from Tobie Bisson and Dylan Duke in the final six minutes of regulation to tie the game at 4-4. The game was decided in the fourth round of the shootout, when Frank beat Brandon Halverson and Hunter Shepard stopped Gabriel Szturc. The Rocket snapped a two-game winless skid on Saturday in a 3-1 win at Belleville, as Joshua Roy opened the scoring at 10:59 of the first period, then assisted on both of Jared Davidson's second-period goals to open a 3-0 lead for Laval.
TURKEY TALK:
The Thanksgiving Eve game has been a staple of the annual home schedule for the Chocolate and White since it was first played during the 1961-62 campaign. Since then, Hershey has hosted a total of 56 games the day prior to Thanksgiving, with the longest run of games in consecutive seasons being a 31-year stretch from 1987-2017. Hershey owns a lifetime record of 29-20-4-2-1 (.580) in home games played on Thanksgiving Eve. The Bears defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins by a 2-1 score in last season's Thanksgiving Eve game, and the club has played seven Thanksgiving Eve contests in the past 10 years, going 5-1-0-1. Wednesday's match also marks Hershey's first time facing a Canadian opponent on Thanksgiving Eve since the 2013-14 season, when the Bears fell 4-2 to the St. John's IceCaps.
LAVAL'S GOBBLING GOALIES:
Hershey's offense will be tested tonight against a stingy Laval netminding corps, as Connor Hughes (2.00) and Jakub Dobes (2.18) rank fifth and ninth respectively in goals-against average and both have posted save percentage at or above .920. The Rocket have defensively allowed the second-fewest goals in the league at 2.24.
OVERTIME STUFFING:
Thanks to all three of last week's games requiring more than 60 minutes of regulation hockey, nearly a third of Hershey's games this season have gone to overtime or a shootout. The Bears have skated to two overtime wins, two overtime losses, and two shootout victories; the club's six overtime games are tied for the third-most in the AHL. The game-winning goals in both sudden-death games won by the Bears this season have come via the stick of Mike Vecchione, who is one more overtime goal away this season from matching the franchise record for overtime goals in a single season, currently shared by Alex Limoges (2023-24), Eric Perrin (2003-04), Willie Marshall (1959-60), Dunc Fisher (1953-54), and John Sorrell (1942-43). Curiously, none of Sorrell's overtime goals were game-winners, as the AHL did not employ sudden-death in regular-season games from 1936-43. The last time Hershey played three consecutive games requiring overtime was Jan. 7-15 of the previous season, with Hershey earning one victory and two shootout losses; the franchise record for most consecutive games to go to overtime is five, set during the 2021-22 campaign from Oct. 23 - Nov. 5, with the club going 2-0-2-1.
BEARS BITES:
Ethen Frank is second in the AHL with 12 goals and is tied for seventh in overall scoring with 18 points...Alex Limoges is tied for third in the AHL with seven power-play assists and is two assists away from his 100th in pro hockey...Pierrick Dube is second in the league with 65 shots on goal...Garrett Roe is tied for third in league shooting percentage among qualified skaters at 3-for-8 (37.5%) and is three games away from his 600th pro game...Ethan Bear is tied for first in the league in plus-minus at +13 and is tied for ninth in league scoring among defensemen with 11 points...Brennan Saulnier leads the Eastern Conference with four major penalties for fighting and is one of three skaters to have converted on a penalty shot this season...Hunter Shepard is tied for the league lead with 10 wins and ranks third with 318 saves...Hershey has averaged the third-lowest penalty minutes per game this season (10.00)...The Bears and Grand Rapids share an identical and league-leading 10-0-1-0 record when leading after two periods...Hershey has a league-leading nine victories in games decided by one goal...Matt Strome's next game will mark his 100th as a Bear.
ON THIS DATE:
Nov. 27, 2009 - Defenseman John Carlson matched a franchise record for assists by a defenseman in a single game when he dished out four helpers in a 5-1 win over the Adirondack Phantoms at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Boyd Kane also scored twice and goaltender Michal Neuvirth made 20 saves in the victory, while current Bears assistant coach Patrick Wellar scrapped with Matt Clackson midway through the third period.
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