Hershey returns home seeking consistency after a frustrating road loss, starting a long stretch at GIANT Center vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

HERSHEY, Pa. — The Hershey Bears will kick off a franchise-record nine-game homestand Wednesday night when they host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in their traditional Thanksgiving Eve matchup at GIANT Center (7 p.m., FOX43).

The game marks the 58th time Hershey has hosted a contest on the night before Thanksgiving, a beloved tradition that dates back to the 1961-62 season when the Bears defeated the Quebec Aces 2-1. Since that inaugural game, Hershey has posted a 30-20-4-2-1 home record on Thanksgiving Eve, including a 5-3 victory over Laval last November.

Wednesday’s matchup is the first of 10 meetings this season between the Bears and Penguins, with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton appearing three times during Hershey’s next four games. The extended homestand breaks the previous franchise record of eight consecutive home games, which the Bears matched last season when they went 3-5-0-0 from Dec. 14 through Jan. 7.

Hershey hopes to rebound from Saturday’s 5-3 road loss at Cleveland that left head coach Derek King frustrated with his team’s inconsistent effort and self-inflicted mistakes.

“We got outworked there for half of the game, and then I thought we tilted the ice in our favor, but we can’t be taking penalties,” King said after the loss. “We took penalties at bad times, and you just can’t do that. You’re not going to win too many hockey games.”

The Bears fell behind 2-0 after managing just two shots on goal in the opening period before the line of Ilya Protas, Ivan Miroshnichenko and Bogdan Trineyev sparked a three-goal second period. However, Cleveland added three more goals to secure the victory.

King emphasized the need for consistency across all four lines while praising the performance of Protas’s unit.

“I call them unforced errors, like tennis, right?” King said. “There’s always so many unforced errors, until we stopped [committing] those errors – we got on a roll, we were putting pressure on them, we were banging bodies, we were controlling the game. And then you go take a stupid penalty, the puck goes in your net, and it just sucks the life out of you.”

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is coming off a 1-0 victory at Providence on Saturday, with Rutger McGroarty scoring shorthanded for the game’s only goal and Joel Blomqvist recording a 27-save shutout. The Penguins are tied with Colorado as the top team in the AHL after opening the season with a perfect 7-0-0-0 record.

The Penguins’ goaltending has been particularly impressive, as they’ve used four different netminders this season, all of whom have recorded at least two wins. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is the only AHL team to have three different goalies record shutouts this season.

McGroarty enters the series as a player to watch, having registered 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) in 10 games against Hershey last season, the highest total among returning Wilkes-Barre/Scranton players.

Last season, Hershey held the upper hand in the rivalry, going 7-3-1-1 against the Penguins with a 4-2-0-0 record on home ice. The Bears have enjoyed historical success in the series, holding a lifetime record of 150-99-4-25-10 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Hershey has posted a 4-3-1-0 record at the GIANT Center through eight home games this season, while averaging 9,342 fans per game, the third-best in the AHL. 


Special Teams

HER PP: 19.1% (16th in AHL) | HER PK: 81.4% (15th in AHL)

WBS PP: 15.3% (24th in AHL) | WBS PK: 85.7% (5th in AHL)


Officials

Referees: Mike Campbell (36) & Andrew Bell (6)
Linespersons: John Rey (16) & J.P. Waleski (14)


How to Watch

Tonight’s game is on FOX43. Live coverage from GIANT Center begins at 7 p.m. 
Zack Fisch, Garrett Mitchell and Todd Sadowski will have the call.