TORONTO – It took one more game then they had planned by the Hershey Bears will take it. The Bears defeated the Toronto Marlies 3-2 in Game Five of the AHL Eastern Conference Finals and earned another trip to the Calder Cup finals. The Hershey Bears will meet the Lake Erie Monsters, who reside in Cleveland, Ohio. Games 1 and 2 will begin Wednesday night in Hershey.
Games 3-5 have not been announced yet when they will be played in Cleveland due to the fact that that Monsters play in the same arena as the NBA’s Cavaliers play, the Quicken Loans Arena. Games 6 and 7 if necessary will be back in Hershey on June 14th and 17th. 
For the first time in the series the Bears got off to a good start to a game scoring all three of their goals early and by the 2:13 mark of the second period were off and running with a solid lead. Liam O’Brien, Christian Djoos, and Nathan Walker scored for Hershey. Jakub Vrana was given a penalty shot but missed.
Toronto Maple Leafs top prospect William Nylander picked up where he left off in Game Four when he scored a hat trick and got the Marlies on the board with his 7th goal of the playoffs. Nikita Soshnikov scored the only goal of the third period 5:11 for the game’s only goal of the period to close out the scoring. The Marlies went back to being their more dominant selves outshooting the Bears 11-4 in the third but once again goaltender Justin Peters was outstanding in net making 21 saves on 23 shots. Both teams only had one power play opportunity but neither team scored.
The Bears hold the record for the most Calder Cups since coming into the league in 1938 with 11. The Cleveland Barons, the cities original hockey team, are second in the league with 9 titles from 1936-1972. This is the first time in team history the Monsters will be in the finals. Only once in team history have the Monsters ever made it past the first round of the playoffs. This is the first time a team from Cleveland will be in the finals since the Barons did it in 1966. The Barons did win the title in 1964. This will be the 15th overall total appearances for Cleveland in the Calder Cup finals.
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