Thus Passes the AHL Regular Season. Cheer Up, It’s Playoffs!
Today marks the end of the AHL’s regular season. It also makes Scott Greenham‘s first start with the Hershey Bears, following his third-period substitution for Daren Machesney last night (in the 5-1 loss to Manchester). In honor of Greenham’s start, a memory from his playing career at University of Alaska – Fairbanks:
Today’s 3-2 loss to the Worcester Sharks was much less traumatic on the whole, which was a relief. The Sharks quietly closed out their season on a win (they’re currently ranked 13th in the East, possibly falling to 14th if Albany wins this evening – they’ve been out of playoff contention for over a week). It featured the professional debut of recent Boston College forward Barry Almeida, who scored his first professional goal 2:57 into the game.
The loss is the eighth in a row for the Bears, who have been suffering badly from roster depletion due to injury and call-up. The silver lining on the rough stretch is that they came into it with a strong enough record to clinch the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Starting Over:
The Bears face off against the Wilkes-Barre Penguins next Friday in Penguin Territory, starting a best of five series. The first Bears home game will be at Giant Center on Wednesday, April 25, at 7:30 (third in the series). Tickets can be purchased from the Giant Center Boxoffice – 717-534-3911
Roster Note: Due to the Capitals victory yesterday over the Bruins (forcing a Game 5), no call-ups from Hershey will return to the Bears’ lineup until at least Game 3.