Home / News / Aliaksei Protas was so excited about Logan Day’s Game One goal he accidentally tackled him: ‘The big man was coming at me too hot’

Aliaksei Protas was so excited about Logan Day’s Game One goal he accidentally tackled him: ‘The big man was coming at me too hot’

By Ian Oland

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May 13, 2023 3:19 pm

Despite massively outplaying the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Hershey Bears were facing a 2-0 deficit heading into the third period of Game One of the Atlantic Division Final.

The tenor of the game changed when during his first shift on the ice, Garrett Pilon threw two huge bodychecks in the defensive zone, drawing a roughing penalty on Will Blackwood and giving the Hershey Bears a power play.

“I’d say Pilon’s hit,” Henrik Borgstrom said when I asked what sparked the team. “I think that fired up the boys big time. Those are the plays that you need in the playoffs.”

On the resulting man advantage, the Bears’ second unit power play scored. Defenseman Logan Day took a pass from Aliaksei Protas along the sideboards and fired a shot from the point that hit the back of the net.

To say Protas was excited about Day’s goal would be the understatement of the century. As Protas skated over to Day, the six-foot-six, 225-pound forward tackled him to the ice.

Day got up, seemingly amused, and gave a huge ROAR — Hershey’s signature goal celebration — to the bench as he fist bumped his teammates.

Here’s the photo sequence from the Bears’ media team.

“I was just excited and I got took out by Pro,” Day said. “The big man was coming at me too hot.”

The goal was Day’s first goal of the year if you include the regular season with the playoffs — 40 games — and his first since April 22, 2022, when he was a member of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms during the 2021-22 season.

“I think Dazy’s goal was really big for us, got us going,” Garrett Pilon said. “I mean that first one always helps. I think we were playing really well the whole game, to be honest. And I think we were just a little snakebitten there and I think that goal really got us opening up for us a bit and got us the confidence [to] go get one more.”

Connor McMichael would tie the game late with about two minutes left and Henrik Borgstrom won the game in overtime.

In Hershey’s media room, the players admitted Day’s first goal and first ROAR as a Bear really got them going.

“I was really excited to see it,” Borgstrom said. “It was maybe a little smaller because I think he was just way too fired up about his goal but yeah, I think that was the ROAR of the night.”

“Oh, geez. I liked Dazy’s,” Pilon said. “I like when he just fell on the ice there and we kind of all went and bear-hugged him.”

Headline photo: Tori Hartman/Hershey Bears

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