The Hershey Bears have more injury woes after their huge Game 3 win in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Hershey lost winger Pierrick Dubé and defenseman Aaron Ness during their 6-2 thumping of the Cleveland Monsters to go up 3-0 in the series. Neither player came out for the start of the third period and were ruled out for the rest of the game by the Bears.
UPDATE: Pierrick Dubé and Aaron Ness are both OUT for the remainder of tonight’s game.
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) June 5, 2024
Dubé’s ailment was an obvious one as he took a puck to the face in the first period and eventually made his way back onto the ice wearing a full bubble shield visor. The visor experiment didn’t last long though as Game 2’s overtime hero headed back to the locker room before the second period ended.
Ness’ injury came during the second period while in a battle in front of Hershey’s net. The veteran blueliner got twisted up trying to make a defensive play in front of Hunter Shepard and hobbled his way to the bench and then to the locker room.
“We’re going to reevaluate everybody tomorrow, we will have a better idea tomorrow,” head coach Todd Nelson said postgame. “Nothing was really said to me yet. I’ll find out more tomorrow and see how all the injuries are.”
Hershey was already dealing with injury concerns to defensemen Lucas Johansen, Hardy Häman Aktell, and Jon McDonald before puck drop on Tuesday. Nelson, according to Bears Hockey Nation, revealed pregame that Johansen’s “very unfortunate” injury will keep him out of action for “a while.”
The Bears have also seen Vincent Iorio, Riley Sutter, Logan Day, and Ethen Frank miss time this postseason due to injury. Hershey’s depth has been tested and the constant mid-game absences have forced Nelson to get creative.
“Yeah, we try to balance out,” Nelson said. “I was doubling up with Garrett Roe’s line so Miro and Veccs were doubling up with Jimmy Huntington and Limoges. They did a good job. They don’t kill penalties so they had some energy out there but it was a bit of juggling tonight. We lose Aaron Ness there and now we’re down to five defense, Dubé gets banged up, and we lost [Rybinski] for a while so it was kind of chaotic but we managed through it.”
Henrik Rybinski was elbowed in the head by Monsters defender Billy Sweezey and spent some time back in the locker room. Sweezey was given just a two-minute minor penalty for elbowing.
Up front, if Dubé is unable to dress, Nelson will likely go back to Phillips as he did when Frank had to miss a game earlier in the playoffs. Matt Strome and Ryan Hofer also remain options.
On defense, if none of the currently injured defenders can return for Game 4, the next man up will probably be Dmitry Osipov. Osipov got into 17 games for the Bears this past season. The only other healthy option would be Nicky Leivermann who has just three career games of AHL experience.
Cleveland will host Game 4 and need a win to stave off elimination. Puck drop is set for 7 pm on Thursday night.
