Petr Sikora had another game to remember in the Hershey Bears’ 4-3 overtime victory against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Friday.
The 20-year-old Czech centerman showed off his physicality once again during a rowdy second period which saw 24 penalty minutes get doled out, many of which went to him.
After getting struck in the face by a Penguins player’s stick earlier in the period that went undetected by officials, Sikora returned the favor like only he can. As he went for a loose puck in the offensive zone, he cross-checked Harrison Brunicke to the ice. After his centering pass got blocked to the sideboards, he got in a footrace for the loose puck and then crumpled Atley Calvert to the ice with a huge hit. Sikora then appeared to stop playing knowing what would come next.
Petr Sikor’s big hit and fight
Penguins forward Avery Hayes immediately skated over to Sikora to drop the gloves and fight they did. Hayes landed several early punches, but Sikora wrestled back control of the bout with his strength and perhaps something more — “there’s some anger in this fight,” observed Zack Fisch — landing some blows of his own before earning the takedown.
Sikora, a Washington Capitals‘ sixth-round draft pick from the 2024 NHL Draft, earned seven penalty minutes on the play: a five-minute major for fighting and a two-minute minor for an illegal check to the head. Minutes earlier, he had just completed a two-minute minor for roughing as he got in a fracas with Lucas Ciona.
Sikora’s feistiness against the Pens comes nearly a month after he had his first AHL fight against Providence Bruins captain and longtime pugilist, Billy Sweezey.
“It’s great to have a guy like that,” Bears coach Derek King said. “You don’t know what you’re getting. You see these players in development camp, and you watch them, and you wonder how they’re going to be. Because the American League is a good hockey league. There’s a lot of good players. Obviously, they’ve got a lot of good players out there.
“But for him to step up like that since the start of the year, it’s fun to watch. Hopefully, he’s just going to keep growing and growing, (become) a better player, and he’ll get his shot in the NHL someday.”
