For Bob Woods’ Hershey Bears, the challenge is to make the “Sweetest Place on Earth” a place where visiting teams are not made to feel very welcome, particularly in the early minutes of the game. On Sunday, after once again scoring within the first three minutes and one second, as they have in 6 of 11 games at Giant Center, the Bears squeaked out a 3-2 win against the Norfolk Admirals.
“I think at home, you always want to put teams back on their heels. We want to be known as a tough place to have to come into,“ said Woods, whose team is a league-leading 9-2-0-0 at home. ‘I think it’s really a mental thing more than anything when teams come in here, they know they better be ready to play.”
After a pointless game against Philadelphia on Saturday night, Hershey’s rookie line, consisting of Oskar Osala, Francois Bouchard, and Matthieu Perreault wasted little time getting on the scoring sheet. The linemates combined to set up Osala for his 16th goal of the season at 3:01.
“Bouchard made the play in the neutral zone, and he somehow passed it to Perreault and this time I thought Perreault was going to shoot,” said Osala, the league’s leading rookie goal scorer. “But no, he didn’t shoot it; he gave me a nifty little pass and the goalie got a little bit caught (out of position). I had a sharp angle to get the puck in, and I was fortunate enough to find a little hole there.”
Hershey goalie, Simeon Varlamov, who was outstanding in the first period, stopping all eleven Norfolk shots, contributed to Norfolk’s first goal by committing a turnover. Varlamov, trying to clear the puck along the boards, had his attempt intercepted by the Admirals Brandon Bochenski, who quickly rifled a pass to and unattended former Bear, Grant Potulny. Potulny deposited the puck behind the victimized Varlamov at 4:11 of the second period.
Norfolk took the first lead 40 seconds into the third, when Matthieu Curadaeu stunned the Bears with an early strike. Curadaeu’s goal marked the first time in nine games that Hershey has allowed a third period goal. It took the Bears until just about midway through the period to counter Curadaeu’s marker, when Alexander Giroux scored a power play goal, tying the game at two.
Hershey buckled down defensively in the last half of the period, in no small part due to the superior work of Patrick Wellar, recently requisitioned from the Reading Royals of the ECHL. Wellar’s work has captured the eye of the Bear’s coaching staff, and has extended his stay in Chocolatetown which many thought would just last the weekend.
“He’s played unreal. He’s a big guy and he plays physical, keeps the game simple, and that’s what you really look for out of a defenseman,” said Woods. “He’s got a little experience; he’s been around. He played on a very good Toronto team last year for a majority of the year….I see no reason not to keep him around.”
With the outcome of the game still in doubt, with less than three minutes left in regulation, Hershey’s Andrew Joudrey, who scored his first goal of the season the night before, decided he liked his new-found offensive abilities and registered the game-winning goal at 17:50.
“I had the win there (on the face-off) and Gordon and Bourque kind of helped out,” Joudrey said. “The puck was bouncing around a little bit, and Chris pressured their winger to turn it over. I just went to the front of the net and knew he (Bourque) was going to make a play. I redirected it and tried to cause confusion on the goalie.”
For goalies across the league who have been victimized for a league-leading 107 goals by the Bears, the confusion is likely to continue.