The Hershey Bears are winners of three-straight games after taking a weekend back-to-back against the Springfield Thunderbirds, the AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, on Saturday and Sunday. The Bears won both games 3-2.
Saturday, Hershey was lifted by a game-winning goal by defenseman Ethan Bear, one of the Washington Capitals’ final Training Camp cuts.
The goal was assisted by young star Ivan Miroshnichenko.
Stopping along the side boards, Miro dished to a hard-charging Bear as he crossed the blue line. The rearguard then skated the puck behind the net and beat Thunderbirds goaltender Vadim Zherenko with a bank shot as he came around the other side.
The goal gave the Bears a 3-2 lead with 3:27 remaining and completed a comeback after going down 2-0. Hershey’s Brennan Saulnier (first as a Bear) and Henrik Rybinski also scored in the game.
Miroshnichenko notched two assists, while goaltender Hunter Shepard earned his seventh win of the season.
Sunday, 20 hours after puck drop of the previous game, the Bears took the ice again. The inventor of the ROAR, Vecchione, played the hero in overtime after Hershey gave up a 2-0 lead in the final minute of the third period. The tally marked Vecc’s first goal of the season.
The veteran forward found pay dirt after a Pierrick Dubé shot was stopped by Springfield’s Colten Ellis. Vecchione found the rebound and pushed it over the goal line.
Bear, who had played hero the day before, recorded the secondary assist on the goal. Riley Sutter and Spencer Smallman (first as a Bear) also recorded tallies in the victory.
“Obviously we want to do our best for Clay out there, but we played 58 minutes of good hockey and just kind of let our guard down, think the game was over, and let in two there,” Vecchione said. “But overall, we really liked our performance.”
Clay Stevenson earned his third win of the season after missing time due to injury. He stopped 19 of 21 Thunderbirds shots.
Hardy Häman Aktell and Matt Strome, Dylan’s younger brother, had an assist in both games.
During Sunday’s matchup, the Bears established a new season-high for shots on goal (43). Hershey’s 20 shots on goal in the first period also represented a season-high.
Hershey’s next game is on the road against the Bridgeport Islanders on Tuesday, November 12. Puck drop is at 10:30 am at Total Mortgage Arena.
