Chris Bourque is looking to bring another Calder Cup to Hershey. (via the Bears)
For the first time since November 21, the Hershey Bears and the Portland Pirates will face off. Now, it is in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs and much has changed between the two teams since their last meeting.
PORTLAND PIRATES
For Portland, the main scoring threat in all four games against the Bears was Logan Shaw, tallying four goals. However, he is now up with NHL Florida, appearing in Game 3 against the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. His 22.4 shooting percentage in 19 games with Portland still leads the team and will be missed during his stay with the Panthers.
The Pirates concentrate their goals with three players: Rob Schremp (21), Kyle Rau (17), and Rocco Grimaldi (16). Grimaldi was sent down by Florida after playing the first two games against the Islanders in a swap with Shaw.
Schremp last played in the United States with the Atlanta Thrashers in 2010-11, the last year they played in Atlanta before relocating to Winnipeg. From there, he bounced around between the Swedish Elite League, the Kontinental Hockey League, Austria, the Swiss Leagues, then Sweden again, before returning stateside this season. In 75 games for the Pirates, he has 21 goals and 21 assists to lead the team in offensive production alongside 40 PIMs.
In net, the Pirates have a goaltending stable dominated by Mike McKenna. In 57 games played, the offseason signing by the Panthers is 33-17-2 (W-L-OT/SOL) with a 2.45 goals against average and 92.1 save percentage. His backup, Sam Brittain, has a 2.79 GAA and a 90.6 SV% in 25 games played.
The Pirates needed a 6-3-1-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) finish to the season to get into the playoffs as the four seed in the Atlantic.
HERSHEY BEARS
Hershey has a difficult question to answer in goal: who should start? Dan Ellis edged out Justin Peters in games played, 43 and 37, especially down the stretch. Peters showed flashes of his NHL-self, but ended the year with a 3.04 GAA and 89.6 SV%. Ellis is enjoying his first full season playing for just one team since 2009-10 with the Nashville Predators; he has a 2.38 GAA and 90.8 SV% in 43 games.
Head coach Troy Mann is not afraid to pull one goaie for the other if things are going south, last occuring when Ellis let in four goals against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton two weeks ago. Peters put out the fire, but the offense could only manage to crawl within one.
The offense is centered around Chris Bourque, the league’s MVP and best scorer at 80 points (30 goals, 50 assists), but rookies Riley Barber and Travis Boyd enjoyed 50-point seasons and 12 skaters currently on the roster scored between 20 and 40 points. Portland’s roster boasts 13 of those 20-40 point scorers, but none over 45.
On Wednesday, the Bears announced the signing of Domenic Monardo to a professional tryout. After starting the 2013-14 season with Bears training camp Monardo went on to record 46 points (27 goals, 19 assists) in 70 games with ECHL Reading in their last year of affiliation with Washington. Monardo played just over half the season with the Springfield Falcons, who missed the playoffs.
It is unclear if Washington will reach into Hershey’s defensive corps with the injury to Brooks Orpik, but Chandler Stephenson and Aaron Ness are the likely first call-ups. As for the other defenders, Madison Bowey fell +1 short of beating out the traded Connor Carrick for the team +/- lead (+23), but remains a consistent threat to pass at the blue line with 25 assists. The five-year Kelowna Rockets standout added four goals to lead all defensemen in points with 29. Elsewhere on the blue line, Christian Djoos played his best season of hockey thus far. The 21-year-old Swede scored 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) while sending in four shootout goals to tie the AHL lead.
NOTES
Each team is 2-2 against the other in the four games played this season, with the winner always playing at home.
Wayne Simpson caught fire last year for the South Carolina Stingrays once the Kelly Cup Playoffs started, leading the league with 38 points. He is fourth on the Pirates in scoring with 36 points.
Hershey led the AHL in overtime games with 23 and shootouts with 13.
The winner of this best-of-five series will face the winner of Providence versus Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Bears paced the league in attendance for the 10th straight season, averaging 9,790 people per game, 3,808 higher than the AHL average.
Game 1 – Friday, Apr. 22 – Hershey at Portland, 7:00
Game 2 – Saturday, Apr. 23 – Hershey at Portland, 7:00
Game 3 – Thursday, Apr. 28 – Portland at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 4 – Saturday, Apr. 30 – Portland at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sunday, May 1 – Portland at Hershey, 5:00
*If necessary… All times Eastern
