ROE AND BEARS THROTTLE ROCKET, 7-1
Hershey forward tallies first AHL hat trick, rings up four-point night
Garrett Roe scored his first three American Hockey League goals in over a decade and enjoyed his first career four-point night in the AHL to lead the Hershey Bears (21-6-0-0) to a 7-1 win over the Laval Rocket (7-13-3-2) in front of a crowd of 9,716 on Saturday night at GIANT Center. Hershey’s seven goals was the most scored by the club in a game this season and the six-goal differential matched the largest margin of victory by the Bears in a game in the campaign.
Hershey’s 21-6-0-0 record marks the best 27-game start in franchise history with respect to wins and matches the club’s 2006-07 team (18-3-3-3) with respect to points (42) earned.
Roe and Hendrix Lapierre broke into the Laval zone on a 2-on-1 early in the first period that ended with Roe burying a pass from Lapierre for his first goal of the season and his first AHL goal since April 14, 2013 as a member of the Adirondack Phantoms. Logan Day added a secondary helper on the tally.
Roe, a native of Vienna, Virginia, signed with Hershey during the offseason after spending the previous 10 seasons overseas playing for teams in Austria, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland, while also representing the United States at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Roe made it 2-0 less than four minutes later then banked the puck into the net off the right post and the skates of Mann at 6:11 for his second of the evening, with Aaron Ness and Vincent Iorio contributing assists.
Roe then helped set up Hershey’s third goal of the frame, holding the puck in the offensive zone off a Laval clearing attempt on a Bears power play. Roe then moved it along to Ivan Miroshnichenko, who found Lapierre at the left circle, where it was sent back to Miroshnichenko, who buried his eighth of the season at 19:16 to close out the stanza, in which Hershey out-shot its opponents by a 14-5 margin, tying for the team’s largest shot differential in the first period this season.
Riley Sutter knocked home his fifth of the season at 8:14 of the second period to match his career-high, with Chase Priskie and Day assisting on the goal.
William Trudeau stopped Hershey’s run with a sharp-angle shot from the left wing boards that beat Hunter Shepard above his right shoulder to get Laval on the board at 15:37.
Alex Limoges netted a goal with the man advantage for Hershey at 7:59 of the third period when he received a pass in front of the net and elevated a backhand shot underneath the bar at the right corner of the net to beat Mann for his seventh of the season, with Mike Sgarbossa and Day receiving for assists. For Day, his third helper of the night set a new personal single-game high for the defender and tied his single-game high for points.
Limoges tallied again on a delayed Laval penalty at 15:38, with assists credited to Sgarbossa and Pierrick Dubé.
Roe completed his hat-trick performance with a power-play tally at 19:30 when Lapierre moved the puck from the goal line up to Limoges, who fed it across the slot for Roe to slam home past Mann to cap the scoring.
Shots finished 35-15 in favor of Hershey; the 35 shots marked a season-high for the Bears. Shepard stopped 14-of-15 shots to earn his 11th victory of the season, tying him for second in the league; Mann took the loss for Laval with a 28-for-35 effort. Hershey went 3-for-5 on the power play; the Rocket went 0-for-1 with the man advantage.
The Bears continue the 2023-24 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Springfield Thunderbirds for Dreamer’s Hollow Children’s Night at GIANT Center on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 5 p.m. A variety of characters from Dreamer’s Hollow will be on-site for photo opportunities, interact with fans, and take part in game day activities. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.
