Bears Pounce Upon Pack in Overtime

By: John Sparenberg 

Like the world record-breaking 45,000-plus teddy bears that bounced upon the ice at Giant Center Sunday and then were pounced upon and bagged by the volunteers who collected them, the Hershey Bears bounced back from a couple of deficits and pounced upon four rebounds that they converted to goals to bag a 4-3 overtime win over the Hartford Wolf Pack.

It took the Bears nearly 500 seconds of play to score the goal that signaled the start of the teddy bear launching festivities, but for the multitude of charities and children who will ultimately benefit from the thousands of the furry friends tossed onto the ice in celebration of Christian Djoos’ goal, it will be well worth the wait.

Djoos’ goal was tallied after he crashed the crease and pounced upon Joe Snively’s point blank chance and occurred at 8:11 of the first period. This led to a 40:02 delay due to the cleanup of the bears.

After the cleanup concluded, the visitors tied the game when Pennsylvania native Steven Fogarty nearly went to coast-to-coast and struck with a power-play goal, beating Pheonix Copley low to the stick side on a semi-breakaway after skillfully eluding the Bears defense with some slick stick handling moves.   

The Wolf Pack then took their first lead of the game midway through the second stanza when Vincent LoVerde capitalized to give the visitors two goals on two extra-man chances, but the Bears responded to tie the game at 15:16 on a goal by Shane Gersich. Gersich’s goal started with him actually losing a faceoff in the Hartford zone, but thanks to some hard work at the point by defenseman Tyler Lewington and his linemates Liam O’Brien and Brett Leason, the puck stayed in the Hartford end where it was eventually controlled along the right half-wall by Leason. Leason then proceeded to toss a puck toward the net where O’Brien managed to get a piece of the disc despite being entangled with a Hartford defender, with Gersich eventually garnering the biscuit and beating the sprawling Hartford goaltender, Ryan Huska.

Beck Malenstyn, returning to the Bears lineup after a recall to the Washington Capitals, put the Bears back in front with another rebound goal at 5:08 of the third, with Leason and Eddie Whittchow picking up the assists.

It then looked like the Malenstyn marker would end up as the game-winner when the Wolfpack took a minor penalty with just over two minutes left in regulation time, but on the ensuing faceoff, Bears centerman Mike Sgarbossa was cited for a cross-check violation which led to a four-on-four situation. Because of that, the Wolfpack tied the game when Copley tried to guide Vinni Lettieri’s weak backhander to the corner instead of holding on for a faceoff, and Fogarty took advantage of Pheonix’s faux pas and converted the rebound to tie the game at 17:57.

In the overtime, the Bears registered all of the shots on net, and the final one was off the stick of Leason who took a pass from Djoos and then skated down the left wing on a mission to end the game and garner his first professional goal, and it was a mission on which he would not be denied as he netted his own rebound to end the game 2:21 into the extra session.