Hershey Bears Defeat the Manchester Monarchs

The Hershey Bears traveled to play the Manchester Monarchs on Saturday, February 18, 2012. The Bears were coming off of a 6-0 loss against the Providence Bruins and were hoping for a better game this night. This was the second game in a series of five away games before the team finally returns home on Saturday, February 25, 2012, for a game against the Norfolk Admirals. This will be the only home game remaining in February for the team and fans should be sure to come out and support their team.

In this game, the first goal came just one minute into the game. Unfortunately, it was a goal for the Manchester Monarchs. The players were likely remembering the last game they played where the Providence Bruis got a shutout victory of 6-0. Luckily, the team was not about to let that happen again. The rest of the game was all Bears. Though neither team would score for the rest of the first period, in the second period, the Bears managed to take advantage of two power plays. The first goal came just three minutes into the second. Ryan Potulny got his first goal of the night with the help of Patrick McNeill and Graham Mink. The power play came from a penalty on the Monarchs for unsportsmanlike conduct. The second goal, also from Potulny, occurred in the ninth minute. Potulny had help from Chris Bourque and Jacob Micflikier. This was also during a power play, which was due to a boarding penalty on a Monarch player.

The team managed to take the win without two of its tops players. Keith Aucoin was playing with the Washington Capitals. However, Aucoin has been returned to the Bears after the Capitals finished a road trip to Florida. He did not get any playing time in either of the two Florida games. Boyd Kane is currently serving a suspension due to a severe boarding penalty he got in the game against the Worcester Sharks on Saturday, February 11, 2012. The suspension will last for three games and expire after the Sunday game against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

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