Bears Lose 2-1, Okuliar Scores Two For Checkers

In a game that saw many chances for both sides, the Bears narrowly missed out on a victory, falling 2-1 to the Charlotte Checkers in Hershey on Saturday, December 14th, at GIANT Center. It had been an unfortunate loss for Hershey, as they had won their previous game on Friday 2-1 against the Syracuse Crunch after getting shutout 3-0 by the Hartford Wolf Pack. However, for the Checkers, this was a great second-straight win. The Checkers shutout the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins 4-0 on Friday before heading to Hershey to secure a 2-1 victory. Brennan Saulnier scored for the Bears, and Oliver Okuliar scored twice for Charlotte. The Bears have a six-day break before hosting the Toronto Marlies on Saturday, December 21st, and the Checkers will be heading home to take on the Springfield Thunderbirds on Tuesday, December 17th.

Hershey Bears Lineup:

 Vecchione – Funk – Frank

Roe – Philp – Smallman

Cruikshank – Rybinski – Trineyev

Saulnier – Sutter – Strome

Ness – Iorio

Leivermann – Bear

McDonald – Priskie

Shepard

Stevenson

Charlotte Checkers Lineup:

Asplund – Criscuolo – Leonard

Steeves – Giles – Hughes

Vilmanis – Skoog – Dalpe

Vande Sompel – Okuliar – Bezeau

Carrick – Kiersted

Bjornfot – Alscher

Megna – Hovorka

Driedger

Appleby

   Brennan Saulnier opened the scoring early in the first period when he scored his third goal of the season with 13:58 on the clock. Henrik Rybinski got ahold of the puck on his way through the neutral zone when Aaron Ness drove up to the penalty box, hitting the puck out to Rybinski before Trevor Carrick could get to it. Heading up into Charlotte’s zone, Rybinski dropped to Vincent Irio, who just entered the zone, and he skated up to the right-wing circle, shot, and Saulnier deflected it in past Chris Driedger for the early 1-0 lead. Soon after Saulnier’s goal, he fought Riley Bezeau at 10:24 for his fifth fighting major of the season. Later in the opening frame, Oliver Okuliar tied it 1-1 at 1:33 to wrap up the first. Mitch Vande Sompel grabbed the puck along the left boards and passed it to Okuliar, who skated to the right side of the ice and shot from the blue line to find the back of the net.

   After a scoreless second, Oliver Okuliar untied the knot to give the Checkers a 2-1 lead early in the third at 15:08. The puck was shot out of the neutral zone, heading along the boards and behind the Bears’ net, and Okuliar got ahold of it in the left corner before Ethan Bear could get it, carried the puck around from behind the net, firing it from the right past Hunter Shepard for his second of the night and for the game-winning goal.

Notes:

– Hunter Shepard: 21-for-23. …The Bears had been outshot throughout all three periods. Hershey: 19, Charlotte: 23

– Garrett Roe skated in his 600th pro game.

– Zac Funk, Bears rookie, had been a late addition to the lineup because Michael Sgarbossa was ruled out following warmups with an upper-body injury. This is Sgarbossa’s first game of the season where he has been listed as unavailable due to sustaining an injury.

– Chris Driedger: 18-for-19

– PP: Hershey – 0-for-4, Charlotte – 0-for-1

– This had been Oliver Okuliar’s first multi-point game of the season, as well as his second multi-point effort.

– Mitch Vande Sompel recorded his first two points of the season, picking up a pair of assists.

– The Charlotte Checkers wrapped up this road trip with a 2-1-0-0 record, moving into a tie with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins for second place in the division.