The Bears defeated the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in four games to move on to the third round
The Hershey Bears advanced to the third round of the Calder Cup Playoffs Saturday night with a 5-3 victory in Game 4 over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
After ending the Phantoms' season, the defending Calder Cup champions are now set to take on the Hartford Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division Finals.
With the series starting off on May 1, the Bears took the first two games of the series (by scores of 2-1 and 5-1 respectively) before the Phantoms took home Game 3 with a convincing 2-0 win this past Wednesday.
Needing a win to keep their season alive, the Bears proved to be too much for the Philadelphia Flyers' affiliate. Thanks to multi-point efforts from Ivan Miroshnichenko and Hardy Haman Aktell as well as a 29-save performance from Hunter Shepard, the Phantoms couldn't keep up.
As they get set to take on Hartford, the Bears will continue to rely on the play of Ethen Frank and Hendrix Lapierre who have both played to a point-per-game or better pace through the playoffs so far. Hunter Shepard will also be one to watch as he has been the best player for Hershey throughout the playoffs, putting up a 1.75 GAA and a .940 SV% through four games.
The defending champs will certainly be in tough against the Wolf Pack but if the past has proven anything, the Bears will be the team to beat.
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