Competing With Carbs

By: John Sparenberg

jsheynow@gmail.com

It's noontime on Friday downtown in Rhode Island's capital city of Providence. Most folks in the area who have put in a morning's worth of hard word are scurrying about and probably thinking about what they are going to have for lunch, what they can do to avoid working overtime, and what they are going to be doing to relax over the upcoming weekend.

However, that is definitely not the case (except for the lunch part) for the Hershey Bears' players who are mulling around their dressing room in the Dunkin' Donuts Center after the unofficial end of their workout. Many of them are busy catching up on social media on their electronic devices or texting friends or loved ones. Some are getting their sticks ready game, but all are in various stages of dress after working up a slight sweat in the short morning skate prior to that evening's encounter with the Providence Bruins. This game will kick off a stretch of three games in less than 44 hours, all to be contested away from the comfy confines of their home arena, the Giant Center.

There's feisty forward Liam O'Brien lingering about minus his jersey and shoulder pads on one end of the style spectrum, and on the other end, there's goaltender Vitek Vanecek, nattily attired in stylish threads and matching shoes, accessorized by a sharp-looking overcoat, looking like he could step right out onto the downtown streets around and blend right in with any other office worker.  But he wastes no time giving away the fact that he's a superstitious hockey player by giving the shush sign to the team broadcaster Zack Fisch when Fisch informs him that he will be playing in his 100th AHL game in a few hours as he takes the crease for his club.

Fast forward about a half hour after the morning workout has ended. Emerging from the "Dunk" ice surface and rounding the corner is a well-conditioned Bear attired in the teams practice sweats, a right curved stick in hand, and dripping with sweat after obviously putting in some overtime work. I greet him and shake hands and prepare to start my interview, and we get started with the inquisition.  However, we don't talk about this player’s scoring prowess, if he is playing injured, or something along those lines. Instead we talk about the teams amazing turnaround from a dismal start to the season, his career path through the low minors, a winding road that eventually brought him to Chocolatetown, and his compete level. But this man is not a player-he’s Hershey Bears head coach Spencer Carbery, a former player who was never drafted by an NHL club, but carved out four solid seasons of pro hockey, including the last two spent with the Bears' then and current ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays, before dipping his toes in the coaching pool.

After retirement, Carbery immediately became an assistant with the Stingrays and joined their head coach, former Bear Cail MacLean, behind the bench for a season before succeeding him in the head man role when he accepted an AHL coaching offer.

"Coaching in the ECHL, you have a lot of different stuff that you are dealing with that comes with running the entire hockey operations,” said Carbery, who is only 29, when asked about the differences between being the head coach in the ECHL and AHL. "At this level, there are a lot more resources, and there is a significant difference in ability and skill among the players,” he said, carefully choosing his words. “In this league, there is a lot more learning. They are young players, or prospects, that have a bright future ahead of them, or maybe have come from being the best player in major junior or the best college player in the nation, and now coming to the American Hockey League where it’s a difficult league and it’s a definite learning process. Guys think that they can just come in score right away, and it’s just not the case. For me personally, I love the development component of it; it’s so critical, and it happens every single day in the AHL. It also happens in the ECHL, but I think it's more in the AHL than the ECHL, and I think it's because of the age of some of the players. We don't get any 18-19 year old kids in the ECHL, we don't get that kid fresh out of junior on an NHL contract who was drafted 10th overall." 

Carbery cruises into position at
practice in Providence.

In Hershey, Carbery took over for Troy Mann who guided the club to a playoff berth in each of his first three seasons as coach, but failed to do so in his fourth and what turned out to be his last season in that role. In accepting the bench boss job in Hershey, Carbery did so knowing that he was taking over a team that was in transition.

Departures from the previous season included four of the their top five point producers with Chris Bourque, Wayne Simpson, Tyler Graovac, and Dustin Gazley moving on to other organizations or overseas. Travis Boyd graduated to full-time NHL status with the Washington Capitals, leaving Riley Barber as the only member of that fine fivesome returning to Chocolatetown.

Additionally, captain Garrett Mitchell and grinder Zach Sill also headed overseas, and goaltender Pheonix Copley graduated to an NHL job with the Caps as their backup to former Bear Braden Holtby, thus creating a bigger challenge for Carbery and his staff.

"We knew it was going to be a work in progress with the new staff. All of the coaches were not in the organization or with the team the previous year and hadn't seen many of the players. On top of that, we had a ton of new players and a tremendous turnover in personnel even for our veteran type guys,” said Carbery.

He continued, "For a few of them, it was their first time in the organization, first time in Hershey, getting used to each other, getting used to the coaches. So it took some time for us to get on the same page with our expectations and how we were going to play, practice, and prepare."

However, even with the realization that there would be some early bumps in the road, Carbery and company couldn't have envisioned all of the potholes encountered, including a five game losing streak to start the season, and the club unable to post better than a .500 record until game forty-three.

 "We obviously had a tough start to the year, but we never thought that even though we weren’t winning games, that we weren’t right there. Just a couple of tweaks, a bounce here or a read there, and those losses could have turned into wins. I think that’s what happened; we were right there, and we got a little bit of momentum, and we put a few wins together, and all of a sudden that belief in our room it just snowballed,”said Carbery, whose team went on a 17-game run in which they did not suffer a regulation loss around the midpoint of the season, and now find themselves well positioned for a return to the post-season.

Former Stingrays Carbery and Wellar.

Patrick Wellar, one of Carbery's assistants, and also a  former teammate in South Carolina where they  captured the Kelly Cup in 2009, said he considers  himself fortunate to be working with his friend, and that he could see the coaching qualities in Carbery when they were teammates, calling his boss a "spark plug player who did whatever it took to make himself an asset to his team.”

"Our relationship has been really good; we were great friends as teammates and we had a mutual respect for each other. I’m still green in the coaching game, but he’s been great to work with and I've learned a lot from him,” said Wellar, who may have had the best seat in the house when the Rays clinched their 2009 championship in the last minute of the third period, but it's highly unlikely that he was seated, as he was in the penalty box due to an infraction he had committed. "He's been very patient with this young group, and I don’t think you could have a better guy for this group with the patience that he’s shown and helping these guys stay focused."    

Getting back to the sweat thing, the reason that Carbery was perspiring when he and I started chatting was that he had just finished a mock game that he typically plays with his assistants and a few of the players after practices. Fisch had warned me when I had asked him about interviewing Carbery, saying, "He’s not like a lot of other coaches that leave the ice after practice; he stays out there for a while and skates with them.” I took that statement rather lightly, thinking he would just be leisurely skating around the ice conversing with a player or two. Much to my surprise, I witnessed a fast paced, and at times, intense session involving the players, the coach, as well as Wellar, and the other assistant coach, longtime NHL player Mike Eastwood.  

Carbery sees these scrimmages as another way to blur the line between management and the players, but he also has ulterior motives to stay out and engage with his charges whenever possible.

Carbery and Eastwood converge on one of their charges.

"We have a fun time and you get to know the guys a little more.  You get to have some competition, and it just helps overall in connecting with our guys. I think in a subtle way it shows our younger players how to compete and work hard, and it helps to show them that even though they might have the most talent or be the fastest guy, when you want to win and compete, you can overcome that. The other thing I like to show is that even though I’m now 38 years old and retired and have lost a couple of steps, not just one, that I can still compete,” Carbery chuckled.

Eastwood, who played for multiple Stanley Cup Champion coaches during his 13-year pro career, as well as John Paddock, who coached the Bears to the Bears to the 1988 Calder Cup, says that some of his coaches did engage in post-practice sessions like Carbery does, although it's highly unlikely they did so with the same intensity level.

"That’s something that Spence does, and he competes like hell,” said Eastwood, breaking into a smile that made it very apparent that he knows that his boss uses these occasions as a way to both satisfy and on some level relive the intense, competitive spirit he had during his playing days. Eastwood continued, “But you know what, it’s a lot of fun and I think the players enjoy it, and all of the coaches enjoy it as well. Guys that aren’t playing get to put in some extra work and they get to have a little fun while they do it. But make no mistake about it-- he competes his butt off, and that translates to the players. They see that and feed off that, and it resonates with them. They understand that Spence knows how hard you have to work and the dedication that you need to put into your game to make it better.”

A prime example of a player who works hard and has worked hard for everything he's achieved thus far in his pro career is Bears defenseman Tyler Lewington. Lewington, a 7th round pick of the Caps in 2013 NHL Entry Draft, who started his professional career in the ECHL with the Stingrays playing for Carbery in the 2015-16 season, has scratched and clawed his way to becoming an AHL regular with the Bears.  He also earned his first NHL recall this past December, making a solid account of himself and also netting a goal during the two-game stint in Washington, and also earned a subsequent recall late in March, but did not see any action before being sent back to Hershey.

"I was so proud, coming from Charleston, South Carolina and then to play in the National Hockey League. I talked to Tyler when he was going up, and I said to Lewy how crazy is it for you and me to think that when you came to me as a wet behind the ears from Medicine Hat to Charleston SC, and now for it to come full circle,”  said Carbery, reminiscing with a smile.

"It's not always a smooth path to get to play in the NHL. There are a lot of times where you start to doubt and ask yourself if your chance is ever going to come after year after year. You talk about how much he has put in and how hard he has worked and bided his time. He even confided in me that at times he even doubted himself and wondered if he would ever get that chance. This just goes to show you it’s not always the path that you envision, and it doesn’t always happen overnight, but if you stick with it and do the right things and put the time and effort in, good things will happen for you."  

That and a healthy dose of sweat.

Bears Tame Tigers

By: John Sparenberg

If the playoffs had started yesterday, the Hershey Bears would have faced the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who had "soundly" beaten them in their previous two meetings, but now, after their taming of the Tigers at Giant Center last night, they now have to feel much better about their chances should that post-season scenario occur.

The conventional thinking in hockey is that the visiting team needs to survive the first ten minutes of a big game on foreign ice, limiting the damage during that time frame, before settling into their own game. But with the Sound Tigers being well rested, having been idle since last Sunday and arriving in Hershey last night just as the Bears were finishing up an overtime setback in a hard fought battle against the Toronto Marlies, the roles were reversed.

The Bears survived the first ten minutes unscathed thanks to outstanding goaltending from Ilya Samsonov, who made two glittering glove saves to keep Bridgeport off the board.  The home team took a 1-0 lead  just under the 10-minute wire when Garrett Pilon potted his 9th goal of the season, and his third in four games, cashing in on a rebound of a Shane Gersich shot at 9:31.

Aaron Ness, a former captain of the Sound Tigers, gave the Bears a 2-0 when his shot from the point caromed past goaltender Christopher Gibson with Pilon providing an effective screen.  Ness' goal, his 4th of the season and 3rd on the power play, was struck with John Stevens, the son of the former Bears coach of the same name serving a slashing sentence. 

The visitors started out the second period with an advantage thanks to a carryover Pilon penalty, but that opportunity was short circuited by a too many on the ice bench minor penalty, and the Bears pounced upon their prey on the subsequent power play when Riley Barber's rooftop wrister made it 3-0.

"They block shots really well on that team, especially on the power play, so I just knew from the previous power plays that I had to get it off quick and not put as much on it and try to place it on the far side. The D (along with Devante Smith-Pelly) were screening their goalie," said Barber.

Steve Bernier's layup goal from the doorstep into a virtual empty net spoiled any hopes Samsonov had of a shutout, but Barber matched that marker with a layup goal of his own, converting a pretty pass from linemate Mike Sgarbossa.

"They turned the puck over in the neutral zone and we transitioned fast, making it a two on one, and I just tried to go as fast as I could to the back post.  He made an unbelievable play. Those are the easy ones," said Barber, whose multi-goal effort second period effort marked the fourth time this season he has accomplished that feat.

Unselfishly, Barber gave up a quality chance to rack up a hat trick later in period, electing instead to return the favor by dishing off to Sgarbossa who converting his own layup for his 27th goal of the season.

"The D went down early, so I knew if I could wait them out, I could get it over across the side. It was a mix of both," said Barber when asked if it was just instincts that guided him or the urge to payback his linemate. 

The Sound Tigers had a couple of more chances in the final frame to cut into their deficit, with the best being a breakaway attempt by Travis St. Denis thirty seconds in, but Samsonov stared down that attempt and every other Sound Tigers salvo on this evening and finished his night with 18 saves in backstopping the Bears to their 5-1 victory. 

"On those power plays they had earlier, those one timers from the flank, they may not seem that difficult, but when guys have elite shots and they're setting up for the one timers those are tough saves. He's gotta get over there, and they probably have 4 or 5 of those looks alone," said Bears bench boss Spencer Carbery of Samsonov's work. "Then he made a couple of saves when we turned the puck over in front of our net, and he had to be really sharp there. He wasn't tested a lot, but that's what you need. There are going to be breakdowns and things that happen. Their breakaway is another example where he did a really good job tonight making sure he's sharp in the limited chances that he's seeing."

Marlies Bizarrely Beat Bears

By: John Sparenberg

As we enter the final leg of the regular season in The American Hockey League, you could expect a game like Friday night's bizarre game between the Hershey Bears and Toronto Marlies at Giant Center that ended with the Marlies prevailing in overtime, That is, you could expect it if it were the third game of a 3-in-3 or Friday the 13th, but it was neither.

The visitors controlled the play in the first period by a wide margin, and they also doubled up the home club on the shot board, 13-6, with Hershey's sixth shot launched 190 feet from the Toronto goal by Aaron Ness. However, that missed it's intended target Riley Barber but found it's way on Toronto netminder Michael Hutchinson. Hutchinson's counterpart in the Hershey crease, Vitek Vanacek was razor sharp in the frame, quickly shifting for left-to-right to deny a partial 2-on-1 bid by Sam Jardine only 1:33 into the contest, and later brilliantly blocking away a shot by Chris Mueller.

The Bears quickly countered and tied it just over a minute later when outstanding defense led to offensive pay dirt.  Defenseman Tyler Lewington and Aaron Ness started the sequence in their own zone when they combined to thwart Nicholas Baptiste's breakaway attempt. Lewington then gathered in the puck and hit Garrett Pilon in the neutral zone. Pilon then proceeded to cross the blueline and  totally undress Vincent LoVerde  with some fancy before dishing off to Jayson Megna, whose one-time fade away shot from the left faceoff circled eluded Hutchinson, despite a desperate lunging attempt to stop the blast.

Jeremy Bracco, with another power play strike, gave the Marlies another lead, but the Bears countered to tie the game again when Nathan Walker lit the lamp. Walker started the play by connection with a long outlet pass to Devante Pelly-Smith that originated from his own zone,. Smith then banked a pass to Megna who centered to Walker who redirected it home while fighting off a defender in the slot.

A turnover by Ryan Sproul, who played junior hockey for Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe, a former Bears player, resulted in a goal by Michael Carcone, and the Marlies followed that one up less than a minute later with a 4-on-4 goal by Jordan Subban.  His shot was from the doorstep beat Vanacek, although he got a piece of it with his skate on what would have been a spectacular stop.

Early in third period, the Marlies looked like they were about to put the nail in the Bears' coffin when Pierre Engvall had a golden opportunity from close range, but Vanacek, in razor-like fashion kicked it out with his right pad. While the save undoubtedly was a dandy, it seemed like it might turn out to be  inconsequential as the Bears still faced a two-goal deficit midway through the period. 

Later though, Engvall's hooking infraction would factor mightily into the Bears' comeback. The Chocolate and White failed to convert on the power play and squandered away the opportunity without registering a shot on net. However, just as the power play was expiring, Walker slapped the puck in the direction of the net from the wing in what appeared to be more out of frustration than anything else, but Pilon was able to redirect it by Hutchinson.

Ninety-one seconds after Pilon's potting, the Bears tied the game at 4-4 when LoVerde had what could be politely called a "bad" shift. After fumbling the puck in the neutral zone, LoVerde was sent on his backside by a body check courtesy of Walker. After eventually retreating into his own zone, LoVerde controlled the puck and looked like he would safely exit the Marlies defensive zone. Not so fast though.  An ill-advised pass to a teammate was intercepted by Smith-Pelly, who fired a shot on net that a diving Loverde deflected, right into his own net. 

Megna had the game on his stick when he gathered in a turnover from a Toronto defense who was guess who, that's right, LoVerde but he sailed the disc wide left of an open target to send the game to overtime, where Mueller mercifully ended the game on a power play tally. 

"Our 5-on-5 play left a lot to be desired. A lot of people were out of our lineup, particularly on defense. Lately, we've been doing good things and just over time our team wears down and makes some big mistakes at bad times.  I think fatigue is a factor due to our depth and a lot of special teams play. I didn't hate our third period.  We gave up a power play goal and then had an unlucky bounce.  Then of course we got lucky on the open net that they missed. It's just way things are right now for our team right now. Until we get our team back, it's gonna look ugly," said Keefe in a classic understatement summing up this encounter.

Bears Burst By T-Birds

By: John Sparenberg

For 37-plus minutes, the Springfield Thunderbirds dodged a storm from the Hershey Bears on Wednesday night at Giant Center in Chocolatetown, but the Bears then struck for four unanswered goals in just under 12 minutes and then hung on for a 5-3 win.

After T-Bird goals from Sebastian Repo and Jean-Sebastien Dea, Repo on an open net turnover by goaltender Ilya Samsonov and Dea on a breakaway, Hershey started their four  goal run on a goal by Ryan Sproul at 17:18. Sproul's strike was assisted by Nathan Walker, and Jayson Megna, who won three successive offensive zone draws on the shift to allow for the goal.

Just over a minute later, Devante Smith-Pelly tied the game at 2-2 when from the doorstep, he guided a Mike Sgarbossa pass behind Springfield netminder Chris Driedger. Smith-Pelly, in his second game on home ice for the Bears, collected his first marker at the venue, and now has four goals in his last two games.

Sgarbossa himself lit the lamp exactly seven minutes into the third frame, adding another goal to his career high, which reached 25 with his tally. Sgarbossa's goal came on a nifty pass from "nimble" Aaron Ness, the Bears' leading point producer from the blueline. Ness, after taking a cross-point pass from his partner Tyler Lewington, swiftly skated down the left wing side and in the process drew Driedger out of his net to play the potential shot, but the crafty Minnesotan passed on the opportunity before passing to Sgarbossa sneaking in undetected through the back door.

Riley Barber had a frustrating evening in the shooting department on this evening, missing numerous quality scoring chances, that were either wide of the target, stopped by Driedger, or rang off the iron, but he contributed in a mighty way on what turned out to be the game-winning goal by Jayson Megna at 9:10. Barber, with dogged determination on the fore-check, stole the puck away from a Springfield defender and then found Megna who received the pass in full flight. Megna then proceeded to cruise into the slot and dented the twin by buzzing a wrist shot by the blocker of Driedger for his 16th goal of the season, and his third in three games.

Bobby Farnham's breakaway goal then got the visitors within a goal, but the Bears survived a late Springfield power play, and Sgarbossa scored into an empty net at 19:53 to finish off the T-Birds.






 ,.  ata nHershey Bears Springfield Thunderbirds at Giant Center.

Ryan Sproull, Mike Sgarbossa, Devante Smith-Pelly and and former Jayson Megna.

Hershey Halts Losing Skid In Hartford

By: John Sparenberg

Paced by Devante Smith-Pelly's hat trick, the Hershey Bears capped off their New England weekend road venture by garnering four out of a possible six points with a 5-3 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack at the XL Center on Sunday afternoon.

Vinni Lettieri, who also had a had trick in the game, gave the home club a 1-0 first period lead, but in the final minutes of the frame, Smith-Pelly tied it at 1-1 by skillfully deflecting an airborne Aaron Ness shot from the point by Hartford netminder Adam Huska, who was making his pro debut.

Lettieri lit the lamp only 30 seconds in the middle stanza, but Garrett Pilon struck on the power play, uncorking a one-time laser by a helpless Huska at 5:33 to tie the game again.

Early in the third period, Smith-Pelly on an odd-man rush with Jayson Megna, finished it off by rifling a wrist shot by the blocker of Huska to give the Bears a lead they would not relinquish.

Megna, who score 15 goals as a member of the Wolf Pack in 2015-16, matched that number at 8:53 by deflecting a Mike Sgarbossa shot by Huska with the Bears on the power play to make it 4-3 Bears.

Lettieri made it interesting by striking on the power play at 16:45 to complete his hat trick, but Smith-Pelly matched that feat by putting in the rebound of Nathan Walker's failed breakaway attempt at 17:29.

 

Carey Carries P-Bruins To Overtime Win

By: John Sparenberg

A shoulder injury that required former Hershey Bear Paul Carey to undergo the knife cut short his first season with the Chocolate and White a few years ago, but on Saturday night in Providence at the Dunkin' Donuts Center he carried his current club, the Providence Bruins, to an overtime victory over the Bears by shouldering the scoring load with a pair of late goals.

The Bruins carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, a lead that could have been a lot wider if not for some spectacular goaltending by Ilya Samsonov, who stopped 11 salvos in the frame, including a pair of stops within a matter of seconds, the first being a sensational toe save on Bruins captain Jordan Szwarz, and the second a sprawling effort that kept Karson Kuhlman from lighting the lamp.

Riley Barber, who established a new career high the previous night scoring by scoring the Bears' first goal, did the same honor again, tying the game at 1-1 early in the second period on a delayed penalty to Carey. Barber's tally had it's origins in the Bears defensive zone when Carey hooked down Mike Sgarbossa. Falling to the ice, Sgarbossa slid the puck to Barber, who realizing the impending situation, calmly passed the puck back into his own zone to defenseman Aaron Ness, who also showed no sense of urgency and retreated behind his own net as the Bears began their attack. Jayson Megna put a shot towards the net that a crossing Liam O'Brien deflected, but it never made it to the net, instead bouncing to Barber who banked goal number 28 on the season.

A bad bounce power play goal gave the Bruins another one-goal lead, but Barber was at it again before the end of the period, outracing a Bruins defenseman to a loose puck just inside the Province zone, and then brilliantly shielding off a defender to tie the game at 16:45 by beating P-Bruins netminder Dan Vladar through the five hole.

Megna, who missed a few golden opportunities on Friday, finally found the back of the net midway through the third period, wristing a shot from just inside the blueline by Vladar to give the Bears a 3-2 lead, a lead that held up until a defensive mix-up on the penalty kill allowed Carey to camp out in front of Samsonov, whom he beat with a slick skate-to-stick move to tie the game. 

 In overtime, the trio of Szwarz, Connor Clifton, and Carey combined made quick work of the Bears, with Carey capping off the game after receiving a pass from Clifton by buzzing a wrist shot that buzzed by the blocker of Samsonov, following a center ice faceoff win by Szwarz.

Bruins Best Bears in Shootout

By: John Sparenberg

It was anything but the "Battle of the Century on Friday night in Providence as the Hershey Bears and Providence Bruins battled at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, but it id turn out to be quite an interesting battle, one that saw the Bears and their all-star netminder, Vitek Vanacek, who reached the century mark by appearing in his 100th AHL game, fall to the Bruins in a shootout by a 3-2 score.

The Bears started the game firing on all cylinders and had numerous scoring chances thwarted by the Bruins' outstanding netminder Zane McIntyre. However the Bears eventually found pay dirt late in the frame when Riley Barber dented the twine. Barber's goal elevated his total for the season to 27 and eclipsing his previous career high of 26 set in the 2015-2016 season, which was his first in the American Hockey League.

Barber's goal was not a solo effort, but a true team one that took the collective effort of the entire on-ice unit, and actually started in the defensive zone where Tyler Lewington won a battle behind his own net before the puck eventually found it's way to the Bears goal crease where Lewington emerged from a scramble to lug it into the Providence zone, leading an odd man rush. That rush was stalled along the boards, but Lewington won another board battle, this one against former Bears teammate Paul Carey. From there, Barber found defenseman Aaron Ness at the point, and Ness circumvented the Bruins defense, finding his way behind their net before dishing a nifty backhand pass to Barber. Not to be overlooked on the play was Hershey forward Mike Sgarbossa, who never touched the puck in the sequence, but played a pivotal role by covering the point for Lewington, allowing him to continue his mission.

After failing on two power plays in the first frame, the third time proved to be the charm for the hometown Bruins, when their captain Jordan Szwarz seized a rebound, and from a prone position, pushed the disc into the cage to tie the game at 1-1 with Connor Hobbs watching helplessly from the penalty box serving a very questionable interference infraction.

Later in the stanza, a miscalculation by Bears defenseman Ryan Sproul, who inadvertently shot the puck into the Bears bench area, where it struck the skates of his partner Lucas Johansen gave the Bruins another power play and they capitalized on the gift with another extra man strike, with Carey lighting the lamp to give them a 2-1 lead at 17:17.

Seconds before his goal, Carey himself did the Bears a favor, inadvertently clearing the zone himself sending an errant pass out of the zone. However, defenseman Connor Clifton corralled it and led the charge into the Bears zone. Upon gaining the zone, Clifton dance around Lewington, and put a shot on net that was stopped, and Lewington gathered the puck and attempted to backhand it out of the zone, but it was intercepted Karson Kuhlman, who quickly passed to Clifton, who then feathered a pass through the five hole of Lewington and right onto the stick of Carey who stashed it home.

"Our first period was excellent, one of the best periods we've played in the last little bit", said Bears bench boss, Spencer Carbery. "The second was different though. We got away from that and started getting a little careless with pucks, and the momentum changed, and then obviously they got those two power play goals. But we kept pressing in the third and found the equalizer to get the game into overtime. Certainly we would have liked the extra point, but we'll take it and move on to tomorrow."

The Bruins maintained their lead until the 15th minute of the third period, when Johansen brewed up the game-tying goal by backhanding a shot from the left faceoff circle and right on the Dunkin' Donuts logo.

Vanacek finished the evening with 29 saves, and also stopped the first five shootout attempts he faced before Anton Blidh beat him to the blocker side for the decisive goal.

"Our special teams are in a bad spot right now, both the PK and the power play, and we just gotta get it sorted out", said Carbery. "Sometimes, you go through these stretches where nothing will go right on the PK, and the power play, maybe a little bit of urgency is lacking at times and maybe we are a bit too casual, but we have to get those right. You look at the gamesheet tonight, they get two on the power play and we get zero and it's a 2-2 game, that's why the game went to overtime."