Hershey, PA-With the Hershey Bears meeting up with the Toronto Marlies for the first time this season. Before the game, it was a very special night, because it was the Hall Of Fame night here in Hershey. Four people got inducted into the Hall of Fame as the class of 2023, and the class of 2023 was Bruce Cline, Tony Cassolato, Don Scott, and Mark Lofthouse. The Bears record so far is 33-7-0-2 while the Marlies record for this season is 17-14-5-1. The Marlies are 6th in the North Division while the Bears are still on top of the Atlantic Division. The goalie match-up for the game is Hunter Shepard vs Dennis Hildeby. Shepard is 16-2-1-1 this season so far with a 2.23 Goals against average and a 0.912 save percentage. Hildeby has a record of 9-7-3-3 with a 2.42 Goals Against Average and a save percentage of 0.909. The first period was kept scoreless until 19:28 in the first period. The goal was scored by Chase Priskie with Hedrick Rybinski and Riley Sutter assisting him on the goal. The Marlies didn’t like them having a lead and tied it up 16 seconds later with Logan Shaw scoring the goal, and Roni Hirvonen and Nick Abruzzese assisting him on the goal. Early into the second period the Bears struck back and took back the lead at 5:05 in the second period with Jimmy Huntington scoring the goal and an assist by Chase Priskie and Jake Massie.
The rest of the second period would then stay quiet with no other goals. The Marlies will fight back in the 3rd period trying to tie up the game and make the Bears lose their lead. It would end up working and the Marlies tied it up at 10:02 with Blandisi scoring the goal and Nick Abruzzese and Max Lajoie assisting the goal. An important note about that goal was Hunter Shepherd lost his stick and only had his blocker, glove, and pads to try and defend the net. About a minute and a half later the Marlies struck again and gained the lead at 11:21 in the period. Kieffer Bellows scored the goal with Joseph Blandisi and Ryan Tverberg assisting the goals. With 19.8 seconds left in the 3rd period, Jimmy Huntington scores his second of the game. He ties up the game forcing it to head into overtime Ivan Miroshnichenko and Mike Vecchione assist the goal. With 1.2 seconds left in overtime, the Bears win with Joe Snively’s 9th goal of the season with Chase Priskie assisting the goal.
Game Penalties-
Period 1:
HER: Hendrix Lapierre: Tripping
TOR: Marshall Rifai: High-Sticking
HER: Ethan Frank: Interference
Period 2:
HER: Ivan Miroshnichenko: Interference
TOR: Zach Solow: Hooking
HER: Jimmy Huntington: Holding
Period 3:
Her: Bogdan Trineyev: Tripping
3 Stars of the game:
1st Star: Joe Snivley (HER)
2nd Star: Jimmy Huntington (HER)
3rd Star: Chase Priskie (HER)
