Hershey Bears Sweep Playoffs, Face Penguins

0:00On April 29th, the Hershey Bears, Washington's top minor league hockey team just powered through the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs, with a say-jacket, clean sweep over the Bridgeport Islanders. They took game 1-2 goals to nothing and game 2-5-2. Thanks to strong goal tending from Clay Stevenson and timely scores from guys like David Guciardi, Ilya Protis, Andrew Kristall, and Bob Dan Trinnev. Since linking up with the capitals back into 2005-2006 season, the Bears have grabbed five championships, including, back-to-back wins in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Earlier this week, that momentum carried them straight to the Atlantic Division semi-finals. Stevenson was lights out, posting a shutout in the opener with 18 saves, and backing it up with 22 more in the second game. Fowards like Kristall lit it up with a pair of goals, while the whole squad fired off plenty of shots to keep the pressure on. Fans are buzzing about the fresh talent bolstering the roster for this deep run.

1:02They added hot shot prospect, Tariq Paraskak, who dominated Junior Hockey with 79 points this season, plus big Swedish defenseman Aaron, and Dogvist at 6 foot 4 to crash the blue line. Protis, Stevenson, and Ivan Miraschenekenko round out the key call-ups, bringing regular season stats like Protis' 66 points and Stevenson's solid 2.62 goals against average. Now they gear up for a familiar foe, the Wilkes-Barris Granson Penguins, Pittsburgh's affiliate after going just 3 and 6 against them in the regular year. It's rivalry time, with game 1 hitting April 30th, then May 2nd, May 5th, and possibly May 7th or 9th if it goes long, all streamable. On A-H-L-T-V via Flowhockey, with this stack line up and playoff fire, the bears look prime to defend that crown and climb even higher, keeping Capitals fans hooked on the farm. System Magic, I'm Cory with the story that's your NHL News Today update, AI-powered and always on.