Photo: Charlotte Checkers
The Hershey Bears downed the Charlotte Checkers, 5-2 Saturday night at Bojangles’ Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Aaron Ness scored his first of the season, Ethen Frank added three tallies and Joe Snively scored his seventh of the season in the victory. The win improves the Bears record to 18-4-0 on the season. They have won nine-straight games and have the best record in the AHL.
LINEUP
Clay Stevenson got the start between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Ludovic Waeber got the start in goal for the Checkers. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Mike Vecchione – Mike Sgarbossa – Ethen Frank
Joe Snively – Jimmy Huntington – Alex Limoges
Bogdan Trineyev – Garrett Roe – Pierrick Dube
Ivan Miroshnichenko – Riley Sutter – Matthew Strome
Hardy Haman-Aktell – Dylan McIlrath
Aaron Ness – Vincent Iorio
Chase Priskie – Logan Day
Clay Stevenson
Mitch Gibson
Scratches: Hunter Shepard, Jake Massie (lower body injury), Henrik Rybinski (upper body injury), Ryan Hofer, Dmitry Osipov and Colin Swoyer.
Recalls and re-assignments: Mitch Gibson was recalled from South Carolina on Saturday. Defenseman Nicky Leivermann was loaned to the South Carolina Stingrays on Tuesday.
FIRST PERIOD
The Checkers opened the scoring with a tally from Uvis Balinskis (1) at 6:12 of the first frame. This was Balinskis’ first game with the Checkers since being sent down from NHL Florida. Mackie Samoskevich (7) and Rasmus Asplund (7) had the helpers.
Welcome to the club! pic.twitter.com/uKEaIlmQSq
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) December 2, 2023
And that was it for the first 20 minutes. Charlotte led in shots 9-5. Both teams were 0 for 1 on the power play.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bears tied the game with a goal from Aaron Ness (1) at 4:41 of the second period. Joe Snively (12) and Alex Limoges (11) had the assists.
First of the season for @Aaron_Ness!
🍎Snively
🍏Limoges https://t.co/LlyVz1ZDaO pic.twitter.com/8VWlhGzlTC— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) December 3, 2023
The Bears took their first lead of the game on Ethen Frank‘s ninth goal of the season at 11:15 of the second period. Mike Sgarbossa (18) and Hardy Häman Aktell (2) had the helpers.
Double-digits on the season for @efrank_98!
🍎Sgarbossa
🍏Häman Aktell https://t.co/LUgZpxTUob pic.twitter.com/nwfARblXXH— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) December 3, 2023
Ethen Frank (10) made it 3-1 with his second goal of the game at 15:04 of the second period. Vincent Iorio (4) had the lone assist.
Top 🧀 for his second of the night!
🍎Iorio https://t.co/9IGzOaZeTv pic.twitter.com/hyyeUbbpAV
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) December 3, 2023
The Bears held the 3-1 lead into the second intermission. The Checkers led in shots 15-7 in the second period and 24-12 after two periods. Hershey was 0 for 1 and Charlotte 0 for 2 on the power play after 40 minutes of play.
THIRD PERIOD
The Bears made it 4-1 early in the final frame on Joe Snively‘s seventh goal of the season at 4:38. Jimmy Huntington (4) had the lone assist.
Right place, right time! Snives gets his seventh of the season!
🍎Huntington
🍏Limoges https://t.co/xLsCucvTda pic.twitter.com/ZMlAkBtpmd— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) December 3, 2023
The Checkers cut the Bears lead to 4-2 less than three minutes later with a goal from Lucas Carlsson (8) at 6:41. Skyler Brind’Amour (1) had the lone helper.
Needed that! pic.twitter.com/UUHvUfFMzn
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) December 3, 2023
Ethen Frank added an empty-netter to complete the hattrcik
Ethen Frank with an empty netter completes the hat trick. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/BfttyLTzv1
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) December 3, 2023
The Bears held on for the 5-2 win and two-game sweep in Charlotte.
SHAVINGS
- AHL box score
- Attendance: 6,502
- Clay Stevenson stopped 34 of 26 shots faced for the win.