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Bears lose 4-1 to Phantoms on Hockey Fights Cancer Night

By Faith Harris

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November 12, 2023 11:06 pm

The Hershey Bears fell 4-1 against the Phantoms in the second game of a back-to-back between the two teams. The Bears are now 2-1-0 against the Phantoms and post a 9-4-0 record overall.

The Bears celebrated their annual Hockey Fights Cancer Night tonight, which featured a powerful tribute honoring forward Garrett Roe’s late mother who passed away from cancer.

Roe wears the number 65 because his mom passed away on June 5th.

The Phantoms opened scoring 13:46 into the first period with a wraparound goal after a faceoff beat Clay Stevenson on his glove side.

Bears forward and cancer survivor Ivan Miroshnichenko scored the only goal for Hershey. After a rush up the left wing, Miroshnichenko cut across to center ice and fired a shot past Phantoms’ goaltender Nolan Maier.

However, the Phantoms rallied with a goal of their own three minutes later. The Phantoms would then run away with the game, adding two more goals in the first five minutes of the third period.

The Bears notably struggled to convert on the powerplay tonight, going 0-7 with a man up. Head coach Todd Nelson addressed the issues postgame.

“The special teams were not good tonight,” Nelson said. “We had that many power plays. The positive thing about that is that we drew those penalties through hard work, but when we got the opportunity we did not execute at all.”

The Bears highlighted moments from the night on twitter and thanked fans for their continuous support towards Hockey Fights Cancer.

Notably missing from today’s lineup was team veteran Mike Vecchione. Originally announced in the lineup, the Bears later announced that Vecchione would miss today’s game due to an upper-body injury. The forward is listed as day-to-day. Below are the lines for today’s game.

Here are the video highlights of the game provided by the Hershey Bears:

And below is the full game recap for the Hershey Bears:

BEARS’ HOME WIN STREAK SNAPPED IN 4-1 LOSS TO PHANTOMS

Miroshnichenko scores lone goal for Hershey

(Hershey, PA – Nov. 12, 2023) – Ivan Miroshnichenko scored the lone goal for the Hershey Bears (9-4-0-0) as the hosts fell to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (5-6-2-0) by a 4-1 final on Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 9,310 at GIANT Center. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak on home ice for the Bears, as Hershey hosted its Hockey Fights Cancer game. Miroshnichenko himself is a cancer survivor after previously battling a diagnosis with Hodgkin lymphoma in the spring of 2022.

BOX SCORE

Lehigh Valley opened the scoring at 13:46 of the first period when Garrett Wilson beat Clay Stevenson shortly after a face-off when he stuffed in a wrap-around attempt at the right post.

Miroshnichenko tied the game 5:53 into the second period when he skated up the left wing and cut to the slot before ripping his third of the season past Nolan Maier, with Logan Day and Jake Massie receiving assists.

Rhett Gardner put the visitors up 2-1 at 9:17 with a shot from the hash-marks that beat Stevenson underneath the glove.

Stevenson however, kept the Bears within striking distance, notably denying the Phantoms on a 2-on-0 shorthanded breakaway opportunity with just under seven minutes remaining in the stanza.

Jon-Randall Avon pushed Lehigh Valley’s lead to two goals 2:06 into the third period when he hammered a back-door play past Stevenson, and Cooper Marody added a power-play marker at 4:06.

Shots finished 30-19 in favor of the Bears. Stevenson went 15-for-19 for Hershey in the loss; Maier went 29-for-30 in the win for Lehigh Valley. Hershey was 0-for-7 on the power play; the Phantoms went 1-for-2 with the man advantage.

Headline photo: Kyle Mace/Hershey Bears

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