Recap: Pens vs. Hershey

Talk about a great game -- for Baby Pens' fans, that is. Wilkes-Barre finished up their 3-in-3 with a 6-2 win over the first place Hershey Bears. It was my first time seeing Hershey play this year, but everyone had been warning me about how good they were. I got to see a bit of this in the first period. When Hershey gets down into your zone, they look like they're on an endless power play. They constantly cycle and pass the puck. And wow those boys are quick. The Bears are stacked with talented forwards like Chris Bourque, Keith Aucoin and Alexandre Giroux -- not to mention their defense and goaltending. Simeon Varlamov has certainly seen better nights than he did tonight. He had great movement, but he got caught up when anything got too busy around the net. I realize I'm giving Hershey a lot of credit here, so I'll add this: Hershey is beatable. If you start throwing bodies on those guys, their game takes a hit. Plain and simple. To do that, however, you have to be able to catch them. After WBS notched their second goal, they were unstoppable. They worked hard and were rewarded for it. I'd like to see a seven game playoff series between these two. It would be some great hockey.

I snapped some pictures from the game. They're cell phone pictures, so bear with me. Just click to enlarge.

Pre-game. They actually have a really cool overhead projector that plays videos on the ice. Obviously it's not the only rink to have one, but it's pretty cool for Wilkes-Barre.

Opening face-off.

The 2007-2008 Eastern Conference Championship banner. The one thing I don't understand is why they keep the AF2 Pioneers (that's Arena Football 2) up there and tuck all the Pens banners away in the far upper corners of the rink. You can't even see them. It's stupid if you ask me. Penguins > Pioneers.

The boys congratulating John Curry after the win. Kudos to him on a huge shorthanded breakaway save he made in the third.