Bears Shoot Down Comets

By: John Sparenberg
jsheynow@gmail.com

Entering Saturday night's game at Giant Center against the Utica Comets, the Hershey Bears knew who their playoff opponents would be, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. They also knew there was virtually no chance chance of overtaking Bridgeport due to the fact that they were playing just up I-81 at the same time against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins who had virtually nothing to play for, having no chance to reach the post-season.

So, that left the only certainties to be great opportunities for the home club to improve on personal career highs at the expense of the visitors who will not be reaching the post-season, and an opportunity for some new faces to find their way into the lineup.

Bears netminder Vitek Vanecek, who played in his 100th AHL contest in March in Providence,and entered the game with a career high 20 wins, found himself in the thick of things early in the game, starting with a penalty being whistled against him for delay of game when he played the puck in the no-play zone. Showing an obvious objection to the call, not in a verbal manner, but with his play and aggression which featured him utilizing some of his goaltending paraphernalia to whack at the back of a Utica player who took up residence in front of his crease on the subsequent power play, Vanecek went on to stop all eight shots he faced in the frame, several of which were high quality chances.

"I thought he was, and a tough situation too, said Bears head coach Spencer Carbery, when asked if he could sense from the bench that his goaltender was tuned in early. "If you think about Vitek, he hasn't played back-to-back in a long time, especially with travel. We get in a t 3:30 in the morning yesterday travelling from Hartford. So it was a little bit of a situation he hadn't seen in a few months at least. I thought, I knew it was going to have to dig in a little bit today and really battle. There were some scrambles at the net front, there was some traffic there and he was getting bumped around. You could tell he was really battling tonight."

Nathan Walker tallied the only goal of the first period, providing "thunder from down under", when he launched a shot from an "extreme Australian angle" that somehow eluded Utica goalie Ty Reichenbach. Walker's goal was his 17th of the season, which matched his career high set with the Bears in 2015-16.

In the eight minute of the second stanza, Jayson Megna reach the 20-goal plateau for the second time in his career to give the Bears a 2-1 lead when he tallied on the power play, eventually converting a sensational, but sizzling pass from Mike Sgarbossa for an easy lay-up goal at 8:03.

"It was a great play by him, said Megan of Sgarbossa, who being the goal scoring threat that he is forced Reichenbach to contest what he thought would be a shot, but was cleverly disguised as a pass. "It actually hit the toe of my skate and then it kind of settled there for me, and it's tough to miss on opportunities like that, and Mike has made plays like that all year on the power play."

Rookie Shane Gersich added the 8th goal of his rookie season at 10:44 of the third period, assisted by Aaron Ness, who mesmerized the Utica defense with his stick-handling prowess to run his career high assist total to 50. Chris McCarthy, who was making his Bears debut, collected the secondary helper on Gersich's goal.

Lucas Johansen went on the add an empty net goal to finish out the scoring, giving the Bears back-stooped by Vanecek's 31 saves, a 4-1 victory.

Megna, who played for the Comets last season when he was property of the Vancouver Canucks, spoke after the game in the dressing room area after being warmly greeted by many of his former teammates, on whether he had a little extra incentive to score against them.

"Yeah, said Megna, whose previous 20-goal season was with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2014-15. "Obviously even more against this team due to me playing for them just last year, there are a lot of familiar faces on that squad. It's a good rivalry, and you always find yourself up and ready to go for these types of games."

Note- Defenseman Bobby Nardella also made his pro debut for the Bears. Nardella finished with two penalty minutes, and came within inches of netting his first goal when his third period shot rang off the post.