The penalty box must be a magical space of desire, so much so that the Bears practically handed the win to the Pembroke Lumber Kings on a silver platter Friday night, just to enjoy a few zen-like minutes in said spot of tranquility. The past weekend saw not one but two games played at the Den. The Bears first faced Pembroke, a game that ended in a 5:8 loss, however it could have ended a lot worse. It’s an open secret that the Bears fall easily prey to provocations, and Pembroke made good use of it, four of their eight goals happened during power plays (although to be fair, Pembroke racked up a good number of ugly penalties as well).
The first period started off on a high note with Brendan Dempsey scoring for the Bears just 3:52 into the first period, assisted by Ethan Nystrom and Andre Simard. Pembroke followed suit at (:48 with a goal by Brady Egan. The Bears got the upper hand again at 18:03 when Theo Todd, assisted by Ryan Richardson and Tate Leeson, scored a beautiful power play goal. With 13 shots at the net, the Bears clearly dominated the period over Pembroke with just seven shots. But then the clouds of the coming storm rolled in, with Leeson ending up in the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct seconds before the end of the period.
Pembroke opened the second period 44 seconds in with an easy power play goal by Brady Egan. Jesse Kirkby scored next at 5:26, and Fletcher Anderson turned a power play advantage into the next goal for Pembroke. While the Bears only got a meager five shots at the net, Pembroke had sent 12.
The third period continued to gnaw on the Bears’s moral with Pembroke landing three more goals in the first eight minutes, a power play score by Brady Egan at 0:33, followed by another power play goal by Jesse Kirkby, and a score by Dante Moretti at 7:58. The Bears then struck back with Tate Leeson scoring at 15:09, assisted by Theo Todd. But only seconds further down in the game, Cameron Hough shot an unassisted goal for Pembroke at 15:22. The Bears retaliated with a power play goal by Theo Todd at 16:59, assisted by Andrew McKenney, and a final score by Thomas Quick at 19:35, assisted by Alexander Caulfield and Wyatt Villalta. But while the Bears managed to find their way back into the game, the 15 shots at the net in that period versus only nine for Pembroke shows that the team still has some issues with actual scoring to iron out.
Brady Egan (PLK) earned First Star for collecting a hat trick, Jacob Shankar (PLK) received Second Star for four assists, and Theo Todd was awarded Third Star for two goals and one assist.
Sunday held the next game for the Bears, this time against the Rockland Nationals.
