Ryan Hofer Scores Second Goal Of The Season, Bears Crunched By Syracuse, 4-1

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Jon Sorensen
Photo: x/@SyracuseCrunch

The Hershey Bears fell to the Syracuse Crunch, 4-1 Friday night at the Upstate Medical University Arena in Syracuse, New York. Ryan Hofer provided the lone goal for the Bears, his second tally of the season. The loss drops the Bears record to 18-5-0 on the season and ends the Bears winning streak at nine games.

LINEUP

Hunter Shepard got the start between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Matt Tomkins got the start in goal for the Crunch. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:

Mike Vecchione – Mike Sgarbossa – Ethen Frank
Joe Snively – Jimmy Huntington – Alex Limoges
Ryan Hofer – Garrett Roe – Pierrick Dube
Ivan Miroshnichenko – Riley Sutter – Matthew Strome

Hardy Haman-Aktell – Dylan McIlrath
Aaron Ness – Vincent Iorio
Chase Priskie – Logan Day

Hunter Shepard
Clay Stevenson

Scratches: Jake Massie (lower body injury), Henrik Rybinski (upper body injury), Bogdan Trineyev, Dmitry Osipov and Colin Swoyer.

Recalls and re-assignments: Mitch Gibson was recalled from South Carolina on Saturday. Defenseman Nicky Leivermann was loaned to the South Carolina Stingrays on Tuesday.

FIRST PERIOD

The Crunch opened the scoring with a power play tally from Waltteri Merelä (2) at 5:17 of the first frame. Sean Day (8) and Joe Carroll (3) had the helpers.

But the Bears answered a little more than four minutes later on a shot from the slot by Ryan Hofer, for his second goal of the season. The goal was unassisted.

The Crunch regained the lead with another power play goal, this time from Mitchell Chaffee (9) at 13:01. Gage Goncalves (14) and Jack Thompson (13) had the assists.

The Crunch held the 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Syracuse led in shots, 7-6 in the first 20 minutes. Syracuse was 2 for 2 on the power play while the Bears did not have a man advantage in the first frame.

SECOND PERIOD

The Crunch extended their lead to 3-1 with a tally from Tristan Allard (1) at 16:20 of the middle frame. Emil Lilleberg (9) and Waltteri Merelä (2) had the helpers.

And that was it for the second period, with the Crunch leading 3-1 after 40 minutes of play. Syracuse led in shots 10-4 in the second period and 17-10 after two periods of play. Hershey was 0 for 1 and Syracuse 2 for 4 on the power play after two periods.

THIRD PERIOD

The Crunch added an empty net goal with 2:36 left in regulation to make it 4-1. That would be the final.

Shots finished 22-21 in favor of the Crunch. Shepard went 18-for-21 in the defeat for the Bears, only his second loss of the season; Tomkins stopped 21-of-22 shots in the victory for Syracuse. Hershey went 0-for-3 on the power play; the Crunch went 2-for-4 with the man advantage.

Note: Ethen Frank left the game with an undisclosed injury and did not return. No update was immediately provided by the Bears.

SHAVINGS

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.
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