One of the highlights of the season. Photo by Kyle Mace.

Well, folks, it was an early exit from the playoffs this season. Something we aren’t used to seeing too often. With the end of the Bears season and the Capitals still playing, many players will still be eligible to be called up if needed by the Caps. Kyle put together a list of those players.

Tim Leone also had a list of the players contract status for next year. [PennLive]

On a positive note, John Walton got a nice write up on his rookie season with the Caps. [WashPost]

Former Bears making an impact for the parent club. [PennLive]

And that’s about all the news that I have. Over the off season I will try to get Chocolate Fix out weekly, but if there isn’t much news it might not be every week. Are there sites that cover the Bears that you know of and want to see linked here? Let me know in the comments below and I will add them to my list.

With the Hershey Bears season coming to a close, most Bears fans will be putting all of their focus on the NHL playoffs. One of those teams left in the NHL playoffs are the Washington Capitals, the Bears affiliate. Monday night the Capitals will face off against the New York Rangers in game two of their series, but you could see some recalls before that. Those recalls are called “Black Aces,” named after holding the “Dead Man’s Hand” (two black aces) in a game of poker. So who could some of those “Black Aces” be?

This is the list of players on Capitals contracts, the players who have been on the Capitals roster for at least one game this season are in bold.

• Patrick McNeill (inj.)
• Kevin Marshall
• Cameron Schilling
• Sean Collins
• Cody Eakin
• D.J. King
• Chris Bourque
• Jacob Micflikier
• Joel Rechlicz
• Christian Hanson (inj.)
• Ryan Potulny
• Zach Miskovic
• Mike Carman
• Tomas Kundratek (inj.)
• Dany Sabourin
• Garrett Mitchell
• Kyle Greentree

This does not mean all of these guys will be called up, but expect many to get the call.

The Caps and Rags face off Monday at 7:30pm.

After a rough start to the series, the Hershey Bears came back and won back to back game to send the series back to Wilkes-Barre. After a good first period, the Bears gave up two goals in seven seconds to the Baby Pens to drop the series in five game, losing by a score of 2-1.

The Bears came out rolling in the first, keeping the score even through almost 40 minutes of play. That would change when Kyle Greentree would get a four minute, double minor penalty for high-sticking Joey Mormina.

With time winding down in the penalty, Cal O’Riley would score his third of the playoffs to put the Penguins up 1-0.

Seven seconds later, Zach Still would put the Penguins up by two with redirect in front.

Ryan Potulny would try to start a come back 23 seconds into the third with a goal of his own. But the fact that the team that scored first in every game would win stayed true as Wilkes-Barre would win he game and the series.

“It was a good hockey game,” said coach Mark French. “Both teams put it on the line. Unfortunately that two minute span really hurt.”

“It turned into a great series,” Chris Bourque said. “I bet a lot of people thought that we would have gave up after first two games here.

“They got a couple of luck bounces and ended up winning. It kind of sucks but that’s the game.”

Ryan Potulny was thought this team’s effort was great. “We didn’t give up. It would be easy to give up when you’re down 2-0 in a series, but we didn’t want to do that. We wanted to battle right to the end. I’m proud of those guys. I’d go to battle with the same guys any day.”

Up next for Wilkes-Barre are the St. John’s IceCaps. Their series starts Tuesday.

Tonight’s Notes:

• Tomas Kundratek was out tonight with a hand injury.
• After a 9:4 penalty ratio favoring Wilkes-Barre last night, the penalty were an even 1:1 tonight.
• With the Capitals still in the playoffs, expect some call-up by them. Cody Eakin might be a lock to be a “black ace” for the Caps.

More photos from tonight’s game:
WBS scores their first of the game

Next season is the season…

There was a confidence among the Hershey Bears that we hadn’t seen in quite a while, on Friday night. It was a resolve to show their fans and themselves that this team wasn’t about to let the season end, as easily as it looked to be ending after the first two games of the series. The Bears beat the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins on Friday night 4-1 to even the best of five series at two games each.

Like they did in game three, the Bears scored the first two goals of the game. This time though they would never lose the lead. Late in the first period Cameron Schilling got his second professional goal in as many games, taking a Zach Miskovic pass to give Hershey at 1-0 advantage on the power play.

Just under eight minutes into second period, Boyd Kane picked up a loose puck in front of the Penguins goal and spun it home to give Hershey a 2-1 lead. It was the Bears second power play goal on their second power play opportunity.

Bears fans sensed a shift in momentum when the Penguins Jason Williams cut the Bears lead with just over two minutes left in the second period, to make the score 2-1.

Hershey rallied in the third, when Kane tallied his second goal off a Ryan Potulny drive to make it 3-1. Chris Bourque added an empty net goal to make the final 4-1.

“We know if we lose this one, we’re going home,” said Potulny. “We played with urgency and stuck with our game plan all night.”

Bourque was very pleased with his teams effort “That was our best effort in the last two and half months. That’s a really nice game for us going into the deciding game five”

Coach Mark French wasn’t pleased with his teams nine penalties, but was happy with a second straight victory. His team killed off every one of the nine penalties “We certainly came out with a purpose. We were certainly hoping that we had built some confidence from game three. It got us off to a good start and a good team wide start.”

The fifth and deciding game of the series will be played Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre starting at 7pm.

More photos from tonight’s game
Schilling scores his second goal of the playoffs

See you in Wilkes-Barre!

The Hershey Bears came into tonight’s game one loss from elimination and having their 2012 Calder Cup hopes come to a crashing ending. A loss would also be the first time in 46 years the Bears have been swept in a three game, first round series with the last happening in 1966. But after tonight’s game, we will have to wait until year 47 to see if that happens.

The Bears came out to a quick start, scoring 2 goals, but having Wilkes-Barre go toe-to-toe with them and tie it up ever time Hershey would take the lead, but when you go to overtime, you cannot come back and tie it up. And that is exactly what happened tonight. After 60 minutes of play, all Hershey would need is another 2:57 to cut Wilkes-Barre’s two game lead in half and stay alive in the Calder Cup playoffs, after a 4-3 win over the Baby Pens.

The Bears did get out to a quick start with back to back goals from D. J. King and Cameron Schilling. King’s goal would be his first as a Bear and first since the 07-08 season. Schilling’s goal would be his first Bears goal as well, but also his first ever pro goal.

But those moment’s would be ruined as the Penguins would tie it up with back to back goals of their own, knotting it at two apiece.

Hershey would take the lead back with a goal from Kyle Greentree, but that lead would only last 3:40 with the flightless birds tying it up at three-all.

Ryan Potulny would then become the hero, scoring in OT and giving Hershey a 4-3 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

More photos from tonight’s game
D. J. King scores his first goal as a Bear and first since the 2007-08 season

Game 4 is Friday, folks!

Photo by Kyle Mace.

Sorry that I missed last week. There was a lot going on and I couldn’t get to this, but fear not. Chocolate Fix is back this week in time for the first home playoff game. Things are looking a little grim for the chocolate and white after they dropped game 1 and game 2 to the baby Pens. The Bears were outscored in those games by a combined score of 10-3. Not good at all. Game 3 is tonight at Giant Center. Because the first round this year is a best of 5 series, the Bears can not lose to the Pens again. Come out to cheer them on tonight.

In what make winning a little more difficult, the baby Pens got three players back after their parent club was eliminated from the NHL playoffs. [CitizensVoice]

And Patrick Wellar will miss tonight’s game due to suspension. [AHL]

The Old Barn Hockey Show of course has their opinion on the current state of the Bears as well as NHL playoffs. [OBHS]

Time Leone has the latest update from practice on Tuesday. [PennLive]

There are a couple promotions for tonight. The first 1500 fans get a Reese’s t-shirt and the first 3000 get a fan clapper. The boys need your support, so come out and cheer loud.

Let’s at least end this post on the positive note. Former Bears bench boss Bob Hartley adds another championship to his resume. [NHL]

Down one game, the Bears had a chance to tie up the series before returning home.

…unfortunately it didn’t go quite as planned. I won’t upset you with the details, but the Bears left the first period down four goals. Between deflections, rebounds, and just plain getting out-worked, the Penguins owned Dany Sabourin and the first period and set the tone for the rest of the game.

The Bears scored twice in the second period to make sure the game didn’t get too painful. First Patrick McNeill scored unassisted. Garrett Mitchell also found the back of the net after deflecting a Julien Brouillette shot. Unfortunately, those goals sandwiched another Penguins goal that made it 5-2 after two periods.

Things went from bad to worse when Brian Street was hooked on a shorthanded breakaway. He was awarded a penalty shot and scored to make it a 4-goal lead once again. This was followed by a power play goal from Colin McDonald. Bears lose, 7-2.

It’s looking bleak, but don’t give up. The series comes to Hershey next.

Tonight’s Notes:

• A few line-up changes resulted in Barry Almeida getting a spot in his first professional playoff game.
• During the third period, Garrett Mitchell was boarded by Alex Grant. He was shaken up and Beaker had to come out and tend him to him. Thankfully, Mitchell returned a few minutes later.
• Something to keep an eye on: Patrick Wellar took out his frustration on a Penguin late in the game. He received five for fighting, two for roughing, and a game misconduct. The league might be looking into this one.
• The special teams were a bit of a bummer again tonight: Bears were 0-for-4 on the power play. Penguins were 2-for-6.

Lines and Pairings:

Greentree – Potulny – Kane
Micflikier – Eakin – Bourque
Almeida – Carman – Mink
Pope – Carroll – Mitchell

Marshall – Collins
McNeill – Wellar
Brouillette – Kundratek

Three stars of the game:

1. Colin McDonald (WBS)
2. Jason Williams (WBS)
3. Matt Rust (WBS)

More photos from tonight:

The quest for the 12th Calder Cup began tonight. Even though the Bears are viewed as the underdogs in the series, we know that they’re not going down without a fight (literally and figuratively).

It wasn’t a strong start for the Bears. After twenty minutes, they only had three shots on goal and were down one goal. It could’ve been worse, however. Dany Sabourin was back and doing his best to keep his team in it. The Penguin goal came from Colin McDonald just ten seconds into their first power play of the night.

The bad luck with the penalties continued into the second period. The Bears were in and out of the penalty box all night and it cost them. The Penguins took a two-goal lead on the power play and the Bears couldn’t counter on the rare power play chances they got.

The Penguins were strong from start to finish. They topped of the game with a third goal (second goal of the night for McDonald), this time at full strength. The small bright side was Mike Carman finding the back of the net, ensuring that the Bears wouldn’t be shut out. Bears lose, 3-1.

It’s not the way you want to start playoffs but it’s not the end. No rest.

Tonight’s Notes:

• Congratulations are in order for Keith Aucoin who earned his first NHL playoff point last night in a win against the Boston Bruins.
• Bears fans can breathe a little easier over the goaltending sitaution. Dany Sabourin was sent down from Washington this morning. Newly assigned to Hershey, Brandon Anderson took the back-up duties, sending Daren Machesney back to South Carolina.
• More good news for the line-up: Cody Eakin returned to Hershey from Washington. Additionally, Jacob Micflikier returned to the line-up after missing the last 16 games with an injury.
• Special teams: Bears went 0-for-3 on the power play. Penguins were 2-for-5. Ouch.

Lines and Pairings:

Greentree – Potulny – Mink
Kane – Eakin – Bourque
Pope – Carman – Micflikier
King – Carroll – Mitchell

McNeill – Marshall
Wellar – Kundratek
Schilling – Collins

Three stars of the game:

1. Colin McDonald (WBS)
2. Cal O’Reilly (WBS)
3. Alexandre Picard (WBS)

More photos from tonight:

Patrick Wellar and Alex Grant drop the mitts.

The Penguins pot their second power play goal.

Jacob Micflikier and the Penguins watch the puck fly by.

Tuesday night at the Harrisburg Senators game, Bears players Julien Brouillette, Andrew Carroll, Tomas Kundratek, and Garrett Mitchell participated in a dizzy bat race. If you have never seen a dizzy bat race, it is where you set a bat on the ground, spin around it 10 times, and then run to a finish line.

Many guys were at the Senators game, including Chris Bourque, who threw out the first pitch to teammate Boyd Kane.

Photos from the guy’s Twitter’s below the jump

Chris Bourque throws out the first pitch to Body Kane (photo via @kimberlybou)

Tomas Kundratek and his girlfriend enjoy the game.

In a move that not many people would have seen coming, new signee Barry Almeida scored the first goal of the game! The former Boston College Eagle and cousin of T.J. Syner only needed two minutes and 57 seconds to score his first professional goal. A few minutes later, the Yanni Gourde of the Sharks tied it up but Andrew Carroll regained Hershey’s lead only twelve seconds later with his first goal of the season.

Unfortunately, the Sharks owned the rest of the game. Matt Irwin’s power play goal tied it up just 49 seconds into the second period. Worchester finally took the lead with a shot from Tim Kennedy. The scoring was over for the night and the Bears lost yet again, 3-2.

Tonight’s Notes:

• As the regular season is now officially over, it is official that Chris Bourque is this season’s John B. Sollenberger trophy as the American Hockey League’s leading scorer! It was a well-earned award.
• Scott Greenham did a good job in goal tonight, stopping 32 of 35 shots.
• Joel Rechlicz was suspended for two games by the league for accumulating too many game misconducts. He missed the first game of his suspension today.
• Special teams: Bears were 0-for-1. Sharks were 1-for-4.

Lines and Pairings:

Greentree – Kane – Bourque
Almeida – Carman – Mink
Pope – Civitarese – Verreault
King – Carroll – Mitchell

McNeill – Marshall
Wellar – Kundratek
Schilling – Brouillette

Three stars of the game:

1. Yanni Gourde (WOR)
2. Matt Irwin (WOR)
3. Andrew Carroll (HER)