The Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ rivalry has gone to another level this season and that was further evidenced in their game against each other on Saturday.
Hendrix Lapierre was briefly knocked out of/ru the game after a late hit to his knee by Emil Bemstrom (he returned and later scored the overtime game-winner).
Pierrick Dubé also absorbed a cheap shot from the Penguins’ Vasily Ponomarev with 7:29 remaining in the third period that ended up receiving supplemental discipline from the AHL on Sunday.
The incident was posted by Bears Hockey Nation on X.
During a scrum after a whistle, Dubé and Ponomarev exchanged a few gloved punches before being broken up by an official. As Dubé turned to look over at the rest of the fracas, Ponomarev sucker punched Dubé in the face, sending him tumbling to the ice. Ponomarev received a five-minute major for fighting and a match penalty (15 PIMs total) and got a two-minute minor for roughing, giving Hershey a rare three-minute major power play. Hershey would not score on the man advantage, but would win later in overtime 4-3.
Sunday, the AHL announced that Ponomarev was suspended one game for his actions. He did not suit up in the team’s game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Vasily Ponomarev has been suspended for one game as a consequence of a match penalty received last night vs. Hershey.https://t.co/vADGjHn6PO
— AHL Communications (@AHLPR) February 16, 2025
The punch was especially mean-spirited considering Dubé lost five or six teeth during the 2024 playoffs after taking an Ethen Frank shot to the mouth.
Hershey now leads their season series with WBS 4-3-0. The two teams will next meet on Saturday, March 1 at Giant Center.
