(Cory Lyons)
A low-hanging mist clouded the ice at Hersheypark Stadium. The Hershey Bears did almost everything right in the Outdoor Classic: outshoot the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, take few penalties, and limit their best players. None of it worked.
Hershey ended the week with one standings point, falling further behind the pack in the Atlantic Division.
Phantoms’ goaltender Alex Lyon allowed two goals in Lehigh Valley’s 5-2 win outside, with only Nathan Walker‘s rebound goal coming at five-on-five. He made 41 saves on 43 shots, a season-high in shots-on-goal for the Bears.
Travis Boyd scored with the extra-attacker to pull the Bears within one late in the third. Lehigh Valley added two on the empty net afterward to put the game out of reach.
After the game, fans stuck around for a chance to take home game-worn jerseys from their favorite players. Walker’s sweater fetched the most money, $4,000, while suspended Colby Williams had his non-game-worn jersey go for $900.
In a remarkably different feel, the Hershey Bears Alumni (including Ray Bourque) creamed the Philadelphia Flyers Alumni 9-5 the night before. Graham Mink electrified the crowd with two goals, and a fight broke out in the latter stages between Dennis Bonvie and Riley Cote.
The Alumni also sent their jerseys to the auction block, with Bourque’s brown jersey grossing $1,700 to lead all players. Philly’s Eric Lindros, who had his #88 retired by the Flyers this week, saw both his jersys get $1,650.
The active players raised $29,125, while the Alumni raised $37,800 in jersey auctions.
The Bears managed their only standings point against the Springfield Thunderbirds on Wednesday night, falling 5-4 in the shootout.
The Bears have seen the skills competition decide four games this year, and won one (November 5, 3-2 over Wilkes-Barre). Stretching back to 2015-16 when the Bears needed 13 shootouts, the Bears have six wins in 20 tries.
NEXT WEEK
The last weekend of January sees three Atlantic Division matchups: home against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Wednesday), and away against Providence (Friday) and Bridgeport (Saturday).
CURRENT STANDING
6th in Atlantic Division, 17-18-3-4 (W-L-OTL-SOL), .488 points percentage, 41 points
Check out more photos on Flickr.
Here are the outdoor masks for Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek:
