Ivan Miroshnichenko is back in the Hershey Bears’ lineup after spending the end of 2023 in the NHL with the Washington Capitals. The 19-year-old Russian has played in two AHL contests since being returned to Hershey. The second came on Saturday night against the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Miroshnichenko made his impact felt almost immediately, assisting on Garrett Roe’s first period tally. Unfortunately, that helper wouldn’t be the storyline of the night for the young winger as later in the game, he was taken out of action by a hard, borderline hit from Hartford’s Mac Hollowell.
The play, which happened with 6:30 left in the final frame, saw Miroshnichenko pick up a loose puck at the Hershey blueline and try to carry it to center ice for a dump-in attempt. As he went for the clear, Hollowell stepped up, caught Miroshnichenko off balance, and sent him flying hard into the boards by the Bears bench.
No penalty was called for the hit and Miroshnichenko stayed down on the ice, needing head athletic trainer Shawn Fliszar to help him back onto the bench.
Miro got decked near the benches in the third period and did not return to the game pic.twitter.com/3DxUPzf2NC
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 7, 2024
Bears head coach Todd Nelson gave a short update on Miroshnichenko’s status in his postgame press conference.
“Lower-body injury, he’s questionable for tomorrow,” Nelson said. We play right away again so there’s not a lot of treatment that we can do. Right now he’s getting treatment and tomorrow morning we’ll see how he is. It’s an injury where we’ll have to wait and see how it affects him.”
Miroshnichenko has skated on the team’s third line with Roe as his center in both of his games back in the AHL. Overall on the season, the 2022 first-round draft selection has recorded 16 points (8g, 8a) in 29 games.
Hershey had their nine-game win streak halted by Hartford in a 5-3 loss. The Bears will be right back in action on Sunday against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The 3 pm puck drop is Hershey’s Teddy Bear Toss Game this season.
Screenshot via AHLTV
