A night after line-mate Mike Vecchione played the hero, Ethen Frank had some heroics of his own in Hershey’s 5-4 victory over the Syracuse Crunch.
Frank had two points during regulation, including his league-leading 12th goal of the season. He later scored the game-winner in the shootout. Hershey won despite giving up two different two-goal leads in the game (2-0 and 4-2).
Frank first lit the lamp 18:53 into the first period to give Hershey a 2-0 lead.
The Bears’ first-line right winger was the beneficiary of a bouncing, flubber puck that jumped over two Crunch defenders’ blades and right onto his own in the slot. Frank turned and fired the puck immediately, beating Crunch goaltender Brandon Halverson to the far side.
In the third period, Frank earned the secondary assist on a Pierrick Dubé power-play goal, Dubé’s fourth goal of the season, to put Hershey up 4-2 with 6:02 remaining in the game. The two points gave Frank 18 points (12g, 6a) in 19 games, good for sixth in the league.
The Bears could not close out Syracuse though, giving up two goals late and watching the game go to overtime and then the shootout. After each team’s first three shooters could not find the back of the net, Frank shot fourth for Hershey in the skills competition. He opted not to make a move and just wristed a huge shot past Halverson.
Frank explained later that “I had watched Sgarbs and Dubes go, and it looked like [Halverson] was pretty agile moving side to side. I tried to come in on the same angle that Dubes did, and it looked like [Halverson] was was getting ready to push off and wasn’t ready for a quick shot, so I just tried to shoot it low and hard, and it went in.”
Post-game, Hunter Shepard, the Bears’s victorious goaltender, was given the Bears Head as player of the game from Mike Vecchione.
Though, Shepard was still focused on Niko Huuhtanen’s third period goal that came after a turnover he made. “That’s why I don’t go behind the net,” he joked.
Huuhtanen and hollerin'!! pic.twitter.com/zOj0I33Tid
— Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) November 24, 2024
“Minus playing the puck, he was pretty good tonight,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said laughing per the Bears postgame. “He’s always there, he’s a winner. He finds how to get things done. Doesn’t matter if the score’s 5-4 or if it’s a 1-0 game or 2-1 game. He just finds ways to win.”
The Bears also got goals in regulation from Grant Cruikshank — his first as a Bear — and Henrik Rybinski — his fourth of the season.
Notes: Mike Sgarbossa started a fracas with Daniel Walcott after the Crunch forward levied a blind side hit on Frank.
Former Capitals forward Conor Sheary had a point in the game — a secondary assist on Dylan Duke’s game-tying goal with 2:26 left forcing overtime.
The Bears were without Hardy Häman Aktell (lower body), Spencer Smallman (lower body), Logan Day (upper body), Matt Strome (upper body, and Garrett Roe (upper body) due to injury.
