Hershey Spoils A Furious Cleveland Comeback, Takes Game One In OT

Hunter McKown, Alex Whelan, Trey Fix-Wolansky, and David Jiricek provided the offense for the Monsters, while Jet Greaves made 30 saves as Cleveland fell in overtime to the Hershey Bears on Thursday night at Giant Center. 

Hershey dominated this game for the majority of the night, despite the score. After two periods the Monsters only had 8 shots on goal, but would find the back of the net twice in 1:21 early in the second. Hershey would answer with a pair of their own later in the period to take a 3-2 lead into the third period. The Monsters had also given the Bears five power plays that ended in only one goal through two periods. The Monsters were extremely lucky to only be down a single goal.

The Bears would add a second power-play goal midway through the third to make it 4-2. The game seemed out of hand at that point simply because they had been held down defensively for most of the game. But with just under a minute and a half left in the game, Trey Fix-Wolansky scored a power-play goal to make it 4-3. And then, with just 20 seconds on the clock, David Jiricek let a shot go that beat Hershey goalie Hunter Shepard. A game that seemed like a lost cause would end up going to overtime. The crowd inside Giant Center was stunned.

Mike Vecchione would score the game-winner 7:58 into the OT to put the Bears up 1-0 in the series. The Monsters staged a huge comeback but couldn't quite finish it off. Game two will be Saturday in Hershey at the Giant Center. 

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