HERSHEY, PA — The Hershey Bears got big performances from Hunter Shepard (42 saves), Logan Day (1g, 1a), and Garrett Roe (OTGWG) in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. But the most courageous performance of the Bears’ 3-2 win came from Pierrick Dubé, who returned despite a painful mouth injury that he’s still struggling with.
Dubé went down in the first period of Game 3 after a shot from teammate Ethan Frank hit him in the face. He would miss the Bears’ next three games — adding to a mounting list of injuries — before rejoining the lineup Wednesday night. With Frank sidelined by an injury of his own, Dubé slotted into his spot on the first power play unit.
Wearing a bubble face shield to protect his swollen jaw, Dubé scored a huge goal on the man advantage 4:14 into the second period, giving the Bears a 2-1 lead.
“I was very very excited,” Dubé said of the goal postgame, mouth slightly agape. “First game back after missing a couple games like that, getting goals on our power play, it always feeling good. There were a lot of people in front of our net so I just took a corner and it went in, so I was pretty happy about it.”
Dubé’s tally looked like it would stand up as the series winner until Cleveland Monsters forward James Malatesta tied with 5:52 remaining in regulation to force overtime once again. There, local product Garrett Roe sent the Bears to the Calder Cup Finals after getting a fortunate bounce in the slot and beating Monsters’ goaltender Jet Greaves top shelf.
Inside the victorious locker room, Bears forward Alex Limoges presented Dubé with the Bears Head as player of the game. “This guy got us going. Stepped up. Welcome back to the lineup.”
The team roared and demanded a speech, but Dubé could only give them two words. “GO BEARS!” he said with a guttural shout.
The Capitals prospect was more elaborate with the media in the press room — though you had to listen closely to make out what he said. Dubé couldn’t enunciate his words due to his injury and spoke in what could only be described as an enthusiastic garble thanks to his missing teeth and a metal brace inside his mouth. “Are you sure you really want me to speak?” Dubé said as he walked to the podium, rocking one of the Bears’ “ALL IN” giveaway t-shirts from Game 7.
Dubé revealed that he lost “five or six” teeth when a Frank’s shot struck him in the bottom right part of his mouth.
“He’s got a pretty good shot, yeah,” Dubé joked.
“A couple teeth went down right away and there were some parts, so they had to pull a couple teeth and they had to add some bone, for after [my] career so I can put in implants,” he added. “I’m going to have, like, a flipper for a couple of years and then at the end of the day — because the thing with implants is if I get another puck, it’s going to just destroy my jaw.
“I had surgery last Wednesday, so a week now. It happens Tuesday, so I [was in] surgery for like an hour and a half the next morning.”
Dubé has struggled to eat and maintain his body mass in the week and a half since, losing 12 pounds from his already lean five-foot-nine, 172-pound frame.
“The next couple days were pretty hard,” Dubé said. “Even right now, I still have painkillers during the night. It’s a long process but [I’m] supposed to have new teeth, fake teeth, on Friday for a little bit and then after season I’ll do the hard job.”
While the injury was gruesome and the pain hard to bear (pun intended), Dubé admitted that the most difficult part of the process was sitting out and being unable to help his team as they struggled. The Bears lost three consecutive games after Dubé exited the lineup and faced a potentially historic collapse. Only three teams in AHL history have ever lost a series after going up three games to none.
“I mean, being in the stands and seeing all my teammates losing three games in a row probably was the worst thing in my life,” Dubé said. “You can’t control anything and every player on this team is a big part of a team and I scored a couple of those this year and I wanted to make a difference so yeah, I think as soon as we lost Game 6, I went in the medical room [and said], ‘I’m playing. I’ll do — no matter whatever it takes to play, but I want to play.’ We’re playing hockey for these moments.”
“He came to me [on Tueday] and says, ‘I don’t care what you think, because I’m playing tomorrow,'” Bears’ head coach Todd Nelson said. “He was that determined to play the game.”
The only way trainers would allow Dubé to suit up was if he wore a face shield that protected his mouth. Dubé wore the bubble during the morning skate and felt comfortable enough to play with it later that night.
“It’s a little weird, yeah,” Dubé said. “It’s like everything [that] happens in my skates or lower, I need to look up because — how it works, I don’t know — you can’t see much down there. I’ve been practicing since Monday with it, so getting used to it a little bit. I mean that’s only way I’m going to play, so I have to take it.”
Despite all the obstacles, Dubé had one of his best games of the postseason, posting five shots on goal and recording a critical goal.
“I thought he was really good,” Nelson said in amazement postgame. “Besides the goal, he was digging for loose pucks. He was battling hard. You’ve got to be proud of him. Some of these guys have never been in this position before, so it’s special for them. And he’s one of the guys.”
Even after the gnarly injury, Dubé was as happy as could be postgame and felt no need for pity.
“It happens, you know? We’re playing hockey for that and I’m going to have a new smile now, eh?’
