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Hershey Bears advance to Eastern Conference Finals after sweeping Hartford Wolf Pack

By Chris Cerullo

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May 17, 2023 9:36 pm

The Hershey Bears are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bears completed a three-game sweep of the Hartford Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division Finals on Wednesday, winning Game Three by the final score of 3-1.

Hershey was led by a sparkling performance from goaltender Hunter Shepard and saw first career AHL playoff goals from defensemen Vincent Iorio and Lucas Johansen. Veteran forward Mike Vecchione also grabbed two primary assists.

The Bears will now play the Rochester Americans to determine who comes out of the East and plays for the Calder Cup.

Hartford came out with a fury against the Bears in the first period as they fought to stay alive in the series. Hershey could only muster one shot in the final 13 minutes of the frame while the Wolf Pack finished with 13 of their own.

Turner Elson opened the scoring with less than three minutes remaining before the first intermission. He slammed home a great feed from Ryan Carpenter who had wrapped around the Hershey net untouched and made things very easy for Elson to finish off.

Dylan McIlrath took his second penalty of the game in the ensuing celebration as he was whistled for roughing Anton Blidh. Blidh also sat for embellishment.

It took quite some time for the Bears to show an extended amount of life in the game but goaltender Hunter Shepard made sure to keep them in it until they did. With half of regulation gone, the shots were 21 to 6 in favor of the Wolf Pack but the score remained just 1-0.

That is until Vinny Iorio grabbed his first marker of the playoffs and tied the game up with less than five minutes in the second period. The 20-year-old rookie defender was fed the puck by Mike Vecchione at center ice and caught the Hartford defense napping as he rushed up into the play. One pinpoint snapshot to the top corner later and we had a new hockey game.

The strike was Iorio’s fourth point in seven postseason games and his first career professional playoff tally.

Despite still not racking up any volume in the shot category, Hershey had the first huge chance of the third period with the game locked up at one goal apiece. DMV local Sam Anas broke in alone and was fouled by a Wolf Pack defender before he could get a clean shot off. The closest ref to the play pointed to center ice and awarded Anas a penalty shot.

Anas came in slow on Hartford netminder Louis Domingue before bobbling the puck a little in the slot and then being robbed on the glove side as Domingue flashed his leather. It was Hershey’s first playoff penalty shot since Jakub Vrana was stopped by Toronto’s Antoine Bibeau in 2016.

It wouldn’t take long for Hershey to get another opportunity though as Vecchione tracked down a Wolf Pack defender, stripped him of the puck, and fed defenseman Lucas Johansen in the slot. Johansen made no mistake with his slick wrister, finding the corner past Domingue’s blocker and stick.

It was Johansen’s first goal since the 28th of October which coincidentally also came against Hartford. The clutch tally was Johansen’s first career Calder Cup playoffs goal.

If insurance was what Hershey was looking for after going up 2-1, insurance is what they got. Connor McMichael threw an innocent looking wrister on net from the top of the left circle off Domingue’s pad and the rebound landed right on Garrett Pilon’s tape.

Pilon made no mistake with the chance, blasting the puck into an almost empty net to give the Bears a two-goal advantage. The marker was Pilon’s second goal and sixth point in seven playoff games. McMichael’s assist was his first of the postseason.

Hartford would pull their netminder with five minutes remaining in regulation but found zero success as the Bears kept them to the outside and made things easy for Shepard to wrap up the victory. Hershey completes the three-game sweep and will move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Notes: The Bears scored their three goals on just 16 total shots. Hunter Shepard stopped 33 of 34 Hartford shots in the win, his sixth of the playoffs. Hershey swept the Wolf Pack while playing without top defenseman Aaron Ness and first-line center Michael Sgarbossa due to injury.

Headline photo: Hartford Wolf Pack

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