Bears claim 3-1 series lead

HERSHEY, PA – Hershey Bears took one more step towards claiming their tenth AHL title by hanging on to defeat the Manitoba Moose 2-1 in Game 4 of the 2009 Calder Cup finals. The Bears now take a 3-1 series lead heading into Tuesday night’s potential series clincher in Game 5 at home.
 

After the Bears had an early edge in play in the first period, the Moose got on the board first when Manitoba won a face-off at the right face-off circle. Jason Jaffrey had the puck along the boards and fired a pass in the slot to Raymond Sawada who one-timed his shot past Hershey goaltender Michal Neuvirth for a 1-0 lead at the 11:37 mark.
 
In the second period, the Bears got even when Hershey went in on a 3-on-2. Andrew Gordon made a drop pass to Kyle Wilson near the left wing boards and went in on Manitoba goaltender Cory Schnieder. Wilson then took a wrist shot that fooled Schneider stick-side to tie the game at one 5:11 into the period.
 
Both teams played a physical game and it was reflected by the fact most    of the penalties were either roughing calls or sticking infractions. However, it was a penalty for too-many-men that would do the Moose in. With two seconds left on a 5-on-3 power play, Alexandre Giroux’s point shot missed the Manitoba net wide right, but the puck came back to Keith Aucoin who was to the left of the net. Aucoin gathered the puck and quickly shot the puck past Schnieder for a 2-1 lead at 7:17 of the third period.
Down by a goal Manitoba put up a ton of pressure on the Hershey net, especially in the last five minutes of the game. Hershey almost allowed Manitoba to tie the game in the last two minutes of the game by taking the games last two penalties. The Moose would have a three man advantage with the goaltender pulled and just 30 seconds left in the game. The Moose barely had a good shot on goal until the last five seconds in the game but Neuvirth was there once again to stonewall Manitoba, and once again earned the games first star of the night.
 
After the game, Neuvirth talked about the sequence at the end of the contest.
 
“Yeah, that was a crazy five minutes,” said Neuvirth. “Probably the longest of my career. My teammates, they did a great job. They blocked shots and they paid the price.”   
 
“We don’t want to have to go back to Manitoba,” Bears head coach Bob Woods said. “We want to take care of business right now. I told the guys in the locker room, right now is probably going to be the toughest game you’ve played in your career.”
Come Tuesday night, that will become the toughest game his club will have to win. The old hockey cliche about the last game of a series is always the hardest won to win will surely be put to the test. The Bears will look to win the teams 10th Calder Cup. If they achieve the feat it will set an AHL record for most titles by an AHL franchise.  A win Tuesday night would mark the first Calder Cup title won on home ice for the Bears since 1980.
 
For Manitoba, the task is daunting but not impossible. Only three times=2 0has a team come back from 3-1 to win a series, but Hershey is 9-1 on home ice and the Moose has not scored a power play goal in their last 10tries. The Bears penalty killing was an issue going into the playoffs, but appears to have stumped Manitoba for the time being. They will most likely have to stay perfect if Hershey wants to win the title on home ice. If not, it will be a long trip back to Manitoba.
 
NOTES – Attendance for Game 4 was 10,739, bringing the series total up to 51,175. Sunday’s game was the 100th game of the season for both clubs.
 
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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