Kyle and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

Kyle Wilson scored two goals on 5 shots to lead the Hershey Bears to a 6 - 3 victory over the Tigers.

The Tigers showed flashes of brilliance in their loss to the Bears tonight at the Harbor Yard Arena. Despite never having the led the game, the Tigers appeared as though a comeback and a victory was possible through most of the game. With the Bears up 3 - 1 (the first Tiger goal put up by Frans Nielsen) Drew Fata and Jason Pitton scored to tie the game at 3 - 3. This, however, is where it all seemed to come apart. It should be noted that even though the score shows a somewhat lopsided victory, the Bears could not be accused of blatantly outplaying the Tigers. In fact, the Tigers looked strong in their passing game with the real weakness still being on defense.

One big thing that raised an eyebrow was the pulling of Billy Thompson with 3 minutes to go in the first period after the Bears had only three points on the board. I would question the judgement of Marshall on this one as two of those goals were clearly slips in the defense and only one could be shown to be a misjudgement by Billy. Many hanging in the same tree with me agreed that this was uncalled for, and probably not a real ego booster for Billy. I fully understand why one pulls a goalie, but there were two periods left, only three points for the opposing team and it could have easily waited until the intermission.

In the end, I think some things are still clear. First, the defense still needs work to keep pressure off the goalie. Thompson was pulled tonight and Mole didn't do much better. Who can expect them to when they are at the wrong end of a shooting gallery? Two, the offense seems to be getting better. They are passing better, showing hustle and they did keep the puck in the Hershey end for a commendable period of time. It's ironic how we do well against top ranked teams, yet do not against the bottom rung. My coach used to call that 'playing to the level of your opponent'. Three, there is too much talent to have this little unity this far into the season. The chants of "Dan must go" were heard at the end of the game and I agree. Perhaps he is the one who should be sent to Pensacola.

On a final note, we did not see Koalska tonight. He was released by Hershey and we probably won't be seeing him anytime soon. It's too bad. He was a solid player, a genuine person and great with kids. Good luck, Matt, we'll miss you.