The Hershey Bears are going to the Calder Cup finals!

I almost jinxed them. But almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, so I'm dancin'!

Up next? The dreaded Milwaukee Admirals!

See you in Wisconsin!
Patriot-News: Bears survive Game 7 in 5-4 OT thriller; face Milwaukee in Calder Cup finals.


Getting scratched in Games 4 and 5 served as a wakeup call for Eric Fehr.

The rookie winger answered in resounding fashion last night at Giant Center, capping a two-goal game with an overtime series winner that sent the Hershey Bears to their first Calder Cup finals since 1997.

Fehr's shot from the top of the right circle rang off pipe and went into the net behind Portland Pirates goalie Jani Hurme at 9:07 of OT, delivering a 5-4 triumph in Game 7 that detonated the crowd of 8,261.

Hershey won the best-of-seven series 4-3 and advanced to face the Milwaukee Admirals. That best-of-seven series begins Friday at Milwaukee.

"I don't even remember what happened, to tell you the truth," said Fehr, who also scored a power-play goal that tied the game 3-3 with 22.2 seconds left in the first period. "I got it off the half wall and went toward the middle and took a shot. I heard the post, but I didn't even hear it go in."

In its Game 7 lineup, Portland featured ballyhooed Anaheim additions Dustin Penner, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, but Hershey's prospective 2006-07 NHLers surpassed them in the goal department.

Penner scored two and Perry one, but Fehr, Mike Green and Tomas Fleischmann topped that three-goal total with four for Hershey. The additions negatively affected Portland's penalty-kill chemistry in a game where Hershey went 3-for-8 on the power play.

"They forgot a little bit about Mike Green and Eric Fehr and Tomas Fleischmann, who are all going to be great NHL players someday," said Bears winger Graham Mink, who tied the game 4-4 with a rebound goal with 2:09 left in the third. "Those guys all came through for us tonight, along with everybody else in a Game 7."

Fittingly, a great game that started wild and ended wild capped a great series.

"As far as series go, I don't think you can get much better than that," Bears head coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Even though there's one more [series] to go."

Portland had Hershey primed for a regulation exit, leading 4-3 on Penner's second goal of the game, a short-hander at 13:26 of the second. In a reminder of how Hershey frittered an elimination chance in Game 5, the Pirates misfired on four straight power plays bridging into the third, failing to generate a two-goal lead.

Hershey, looking a bit sleepy in the wake of a missed Colin Forbes penalty shot 1:18 into the third, got lifted by a big-hitting shift from captain Boyd Kane, Dave Steckel and Boyd Gordon midway through the third. It helped soften Portland for a late kill.

Fatigued after killing off two consecutive Shane O'Brien holding penalties, Portland paid when Mink converted the rebound of a Fleischmann shot on which Hurme had made a huge save.

That set up the third OT of the series.

Team records are incomplete, but it is believed the Bears made history by winning the first playoff Game 7 OT in club history and the first ever played on home ice. Hershey's three previous recorded Game 7 overtimes ended in losses at Adirondack (1989), at Springfield (1970) and at Cleveland (1957).

Hurme (42 saves) and Bears goalie Frederic Cassivi (33 saves) both were stout in the third and OT, particularly with their gloves.

The game began with a worst-case scenario for Hershey, which fell behind 2-0 on Portland power-play goals from Tim Brent (4:53) and Penner (8:43) in the first nine minutes.

But the persevering Bears jumped back into it with their own power play in a whirlwind opening 20 minutes in which the teams combined for six goals.

Green (9:59) and Fleischmann (15:34) answered to tie it 2-2. Green's goal, a heavily screened rocket from the left point, was simply huge as it ignited the building and his team when a 3-0 Portland lead probably would have led to a long night for Hershey.

Perry gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead at 17:18 of the first with a monster-effort goal, outmuscling Kane down the slot.

But the Pirates couldn't get out of the period with the lead. Hershey capped a 3-for-3 first-period effort on the power play when Fehr beat Hurme between the pads with a shot from the left faceoff dot.

"I think he made up for every game I ever sat him," Boudreau joked.

NOTES: In a surprise move to add offensive punch to the power play, defenseman J.F. Fortin (sports hernia surgery) returned to the lineup and played his first game since March 11, working almost exclusively on the power play. The Bears dressed seven defensemen, scratching centerman Joey Tenute. ... The Giant Center media elevator broke down before the game and Bears assistant coach Bob Woods was stuck in it for around 10 minutes. ... Fehr's goals were his first since Game 2 of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton series.




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