In their final week of the regular season, after breaking the AHL’s win record in the 72 game format, the Hershey Bears continue to push and make history. With their 4-3 victory over the Charlotte Checkers, the Bears’ 2023-24 team clinched the best single season points percentage in the franchise’s 86-year history.
With 111 points through 71 games and a current points percentage of .782, the Bears are guaranteed to pass their previous franchise high of .769 percentage from the 2009-10 season.
The Bears got started scoring early with Joe Snively finding the net just 2:08 into the game. Matthew Phillips raced to win a puck battle behind the net and passed to Snively in front, where he buried the puck past Checkers’ netminder Magnus Hellberg.
Dmitry Osipov would take a hooking penalty 26 seconds later, putting the Bears on the penalty kill. After a giveaway by Ben Steeves at the blue line, Matt Strome took off on a breakaway where he was hooked on his way to the net, earning the Bears a penalty shot.
Looking like brother Dylan, Strome skated up the slot for his shot and fired it past Hellberg’s blocker, givng the Bears their first successful penalty shot in over five years.
The last Bears’ player to score a penalty shot was Riley Barber on October 28, 2018.
Charlotte would find life in the second half of the period, also scoring twice. Wilmer Skoog buried the puck in front of the net and Mitchell Vande Sompel found the net from the right circle on a Charlotte power play. The teams headed into the second tied 2-2.
The Checkers would complete on the power play again with a rocket from Skoog at the left circle, his second goal of the night. Although the Bears put up 14 shots in the second, Charlotte would carry their 3-2 lead through the period.
Hershey grabbed momentum back in the third with a goal from Alex Limoges. Ethen Frank fired the puck from the right circle, and Limoges redirected the shot into the net. It’s his 24th goal – a new career high for the 26-year-old.
Pierrick Dube’s speed helped push the Bears atop to their victory. Dube stole the puck in the defensive zone and took off on a breakaway, where he chipped the puck past Hellberg to take the 4-3 lead and his 28th of the season.
With their final game of the season Saturday April 20th being a rematch against Charlotte, the Bears have the chance to continue to shatter record. A win or an overtime loss in the game for Hershey will be enough for Hershey to surpass the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers’ .775 winning percentage for the highest in AHL history.
Her were the lines from the victory:
Below is the full press release from Hershey:
BEARS ROAR BACK FOR 4-3 WIN OVER CHECKERS
Hershey guarantees it will finish 2023-24 season on Saturday with best points percentage in franchise history
(Hershey, PA – April 17, 2024) – A timely goal challenge and a third-period comeback sparked the Hershey Bears (53-13-0-5) to a 4-3 win over the Charlotte Checkers (38-25-7-0) on Wednesday night at GIANT Center.
With two points earned from the win, Hershey has guaranteed it will finish the 2023-24 regular season on Saturday with the best single-season points percentage in franchise history, besting the 2009-10 team’s mark of .769 (80-game schedule). The Bears need to earn at least one more point in their rematch with Charlotte on Saturday in the season finale to surpass the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers’ American Hockey League points percentage record of .775 (80-game schedule). Hershey has also continued to add to its win total for the second-most wins in a single season in club history, behind only the 2009-10 team’s league mark of 60.
Hershey improved to 5-2-0-0 against the Checkers this season, setting a new club record for most wins against Charlotte in a single season.
Joe Snively opened the scoring with his 13th of the season at 2:08 of the first period as he took a pass from Matthew Phillips and threaded it past Magnus Hellberg. Jake Massie earned a secondary assist.
Matt Strome was awarded a penalty shot just over a minute later at 3:13 after he was hooked by two Charlotte players on a breakaway, and the forward converted for Hershey’s first penalty shot goal since Riley Barber scored vs. Lehigh Valley’s Alex Lyon on Oct. 28, 2018 by snapping a shot past the blocker of Hellberg for his seventh of the season.
The Checkers responded with a pair of goals to the contest, as Wilmer Skoog struck at 12:33, and Mitchell Vande Sompel put a power-play goal behind Clay Stevenson at 16:42.
Skoog then scored with the man advantage at 6:27 of the second period to give Charlotte the lead for the first time.
The Checkers appeared to widen their lead to 4-2 at 9:36, but a successful challenge by the Bears took the goal off the board after video review by the officials determined the puck had been kicked into the net, returning the score to 3-2.
That successful challenge kept the Bears in striking distance, and Alex Limoges redirected a shot from Ethen Frank at 5:04 of the third for Limoges’ 24th of the season, a new career high. Mike Vecchione also assisted.
Hershey got the game-winning tally when Pierrick Dubé recovered the puck at his own blue line and skated in on a breakaway to beat Hellberg for his 28th of the season at 10:28.
Shots finished 30-26 in favor of the Checkers. Stevenson went 27-for-30 in the victory for Hershey to earn his 24th win of the season; Hellberg took the loss for Charlotte with a 22-for-26 effort. The Bears went 0-for-3 on the power play; the Checkers went 2-for-4 with the man advantage.
