HERSHEY, PA- On the 71st anniversary of the first game in the storied Hershey Bears franchise, it was the new faces of the team that provided the spark that propelled the club to a 7-3 win over the Philadelphia Phantoms at Giant Center.
Having been held pointless in the previous three games, Oskar Osala snapped his slump in a big way when he registered the team’s second hat trick of the season. Osala, who has previously commented that the game is very simple if one goes back to the basics, had a basic answer for tonight’s goal-scoring exploits.
“Word hard, that’s all. After I work hard, all the other stuff will come. For me, I have to work hard to get anything going,” said Osala, Hershey’s leading goal scorer. “That’s what I’ve learned during the last few years. When I try to go 95%, I’m awful. So that’s one thing for me, I just have to always work as hard as I can and after that, things start happening for me.”
In a game that had it’s share of controversy, including a questionable penalty shot and a combined 19 power plays, the Bears, led by head coach Bob Woods, decided to focus on what they could control in the situation, rather than what was out of their hands.
“I have no comment on that matter,” Woods said when asked his opinion on the officiating of referee, Nygel Pelletier. “Leaving our locker room between the 2nd and 3rd, I’d have bet a lot of money on our team. We were a motivated bunch and we didn’t care what obstacle we had to overcome. We were going to go out there and get it done.”
Hershey’s power play, which has struggled coming into this weekend, accounted for four of tonight’s seven goals, including Osala’s third period game-winning goal which capped off his hat trick. Defenseman Sami Lepisto, one of the quarterbacks of the unit, believes the struggles are a thing of the past.
“The last two games we got some goals in on the PP I think that’s keeping us rolling. We had a slump, but I think we’re back over it now,” commented Lepisto, who tallied on the power play in the second period.
With four points in the bank this weekend after back-to-back wins against the Phantoms, the Bears still face a tough opponent tomorrow when the Binghamton Senators come to town. After a physically grueling couple of games and spending a substantial time killing off nine power plays in Saturday’s win, a game in which their core group of veterans were forced to exert a tremendous amount of energy, tomorrow’s game will be a true barometer of both the physical and mental mettle of the club.