Hershey Bears sweep Hartford to advance to Eastern Conference Finals
HARTFORD, Ct. (WHTM) – The Hershey Bears completed a three-game sweep of the Hartford Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division Finals with a 4-1 victory on Wednesday night.
The Bears will now compete in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive season, taking on the Cleveland Monsters beginning Thursday, May 30 at the GIANT Center.
Garrett Roe was the leader of the series in points (3 goals, 2 assists) and had a three-point night to lead the Bears to the series sweep last night. Goaltender Hunter Shepard was 3-0 in the series with a 1.33 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.
Hershey outscored Hartford 14-4 in the series, with the Bearss’ four goals allowed being the fewest in a playoff series decided in game three in Hershey’s history. The previous record was five goals allowed.
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After Hartford opened the scoring in Wednesday’s game in the first period, the Bears lit up the board and denied the Wolf Pack any more goals. Roe scored twice in the second period with Matt Strome and Mike Vecchione each netting one in the third period. Roe assisted on the final goal of the night from Vecchione.
The Bears now enter the Eastern Conference Finals: the final four of the Calder Cup Playoffs. The series schedule against the Cleveland Monsters is as follows (*if necessary):
Game 1 – Thursday, May 30 vs. Cleveland, GIANT Center, 7 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday, June 1 vs. Cleveland, GIANT Center, 7 p.m.
Game 3 – Tuesday, June 4 at Cleveland, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, 7 p.m.
Game 4 – Thursday, June 6 at Cleveland, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, 7 p.m.
*Game 5 – Saturday, June 8 at Cleveland, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, 7 p.m.
*Game 6 – Monday, June 10 vs. Cleveland, GIANT Center, 7 p.m.
*Game 7 – Wednesday, June 12 vs. Cleveland, GIANT Center, 7 p.m.
This is the first playoff series between the Monsters and Bears since they met in the 2016 Calder Cup Finals when the then-Lake Erie Monsters were in the Western Conference.
The Bears will try to advance to the Calder Cup Finals for the 25th time in franchise history. Winning back-to-back Calder Cup titles would mark the first time a team has done so when the Bears did it in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
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