HERSHEY, PA – The Hershey Bears lost an opportunity to win their tenth AHL title on home ice as goaltender Cory Schnieder sent Bears fans home wondering what might have been. Schneider, the AHL Goaltender of the Year helped extend the series by making 31 saves in the Manitoba Moose’s 3-2 win in Game 5 of the 2009 Calder Cup Finals.
Photo by Lwis Bleiman
Neither team scored in the first period, but Hershey controlled the game putting up the game’s first eight shots and had Manitoba on their heals for the first 15 minutes of the game. The Bears outshot the Moose 12-4 in the period.
The second period picked up where the first left off with Hershey continuing to pressure the Manitoba net but goaltender Schnieder held the Bears in check.
Than the game changed on a dime with 3 minutes left in the period. Hershey held a 21-8 shot advantage, but on Manitoba’s ninth shot Guillaume Desbiens took the puck behind the Bears net did a spin-a-rama and took a shot that was saved by goaltender Michal Neuvirth. The rebound came back out in the slot to Michael Grabner who put the puck past Neuvirth for a 1-0 lead.
Than, 53 seconds later, Jason Jaffray came across the blueline along the left wing boards and sent a nice cross-ice pass to Cody Hodgson who blasted a shot in the upper right corner of the net for a 2-0 lead.
Photo by Lwis Bleiman
The Bears bounced back early in the third period when Alexandre Giroux sent the puck behind the Manitoba net. Keith Aucoin looked for someone to pass to in front of the net and found Graham Mink in the slot. Mink out-waited a fallen Schnieder and roofed a shot past him to get the Bears on the board and close the gap at 2-1.
The Bears caught a break with 3:32 to play when they were awarded a power play, oddly enough it was only their first power play of the game. However, Schnieder would once again beat back the Bears chances. Manitoba took advantage of Hershey’s misfortune when Jason Krog scored an empty-net goal with 1:21 left to play in the game.
The game appeared lost but John Carlson scored for Hershey with 30.9 seconds left in the game to get the Bears back to within one. Schnieder would once again beat back the Bears late onslaught to win Game 5 and sent the series back to Manitoba.
There were only three power plays in Game 5 with neither team scoring. With Referee Frederic L’Ecuyer didn’t award either team a man advantage in the first 43:58 of play. It left many a scar in each locker room after the game.
“All of a sudden, it’s not being called and everybody starts to push it a little bit. It’s the old Hudson Bay rules,” said Manitoba Head Coach Scott Arniel “A lot of dirty stuff happened tonight.”
Photo by Lwis Bleiman
Hershey Head Coach Bob Woods echoed Arniel’s sentiments after the game as well.
“It was old-time playoff hockey out there. I think the way he called it, it plays more into their hands. I think we’re a quicker team, more of a finesse team. They’re a bigger, stronger team.”
Still, after the first period, it was clear until the first goal of the game was scored that Hershey was the better team. Had it not been for Schneider who won the award for the AHL’s top goaltender during the regular season, a return trip to Manitoba is probably not necessary tonight. He was clearly the first star of the game and showed all night why he won the award.
“He’s the best goalie in the league. He won that award for a reason. We had a lot of shots at him the first two periods and he did what he did all year. It was their night,” Hershey forward Alexandre Giroux said.
“We have a guy in our room there, that goaltender, that was just absolutely outstanding,” said Arniel “While we were standing around being a little bit of spectators for two periods, he was putting on a one-man show.”
Photo by Lwis Bleiman
NOTES – Attendance for Game 5 was 10,860 bringing the series total up to 62,035. Hershey outshot Manitoba 33-26 and have outshot the Moose in three of the five games so far in the series.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com Contact the photographer at lewis.bleiman@prohockeynews.com Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
