They won without Alexandre Giroux and Keith Aucoin, but on Saturday night at Giant Center, the Hershey Bears were unable to harvest both points from the Springfield Falcons, falling 3-2 in a shootout, without the services of Andrew Gordon who had been called up to the Washington Capitals.

“Andrew’s a guy who always plays with energy, and maybe tonight his energy would have been the catalyst for the team,” remarked Bears’ head coach, Mark French. “He’s obviously a guy who can put up offensive numbers, but for a Canadian kid to go home and play on Hockey Night in Canada against the Toronto Maple Leafs is a dream come true…”

After a first period devoid of any goal scoring, heavyweights Kip Brennan and Brandon Sugden dropped their gloves and engaged in an attempt to score an emotional advantage for their respective clubs.  However, neither combatant scored a telling blow in the brief bout.

“We go back to junior days, and we fought quite a bit when we were playing in juniors,” remembered Brennan. “That’s the last time we fought.  He’s a well-respected heavyweight, and it was a good fight, but I wish it would have gone a little longer than it did, but I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”

Aucoin, who has been lighting the lamp on a regular basis since rejoining the Bears, gave them a 1-0 lead at 9:35 of the second period when he dribbled a shot through the pads of Springfield netminder, Devan Dubnyk.

Less than three minutes later, Colton Fretter tied the game at one when he wristed a rolling puck by Bears’ goalie, Braden Holtby.  Former Bear, Chad Wiseman, collected an assist on the goal.

“I didn’t get out and challenge him on that first one, and it kind of beat me, and I was slow to react on a rolling puck,” said Holtby.

Before the home crowd had settled back into their seats for the third period, Giroux tallied for the tenth time this season off his own rebound, with Boyd Kane picking up the lone assist.

Ryan O’Marra beat forward, Darren Reid to the front of the net, before beating Holtby for his 5^th goal of the season, to tie the game at 4:41.

“It was a pass across and I kind of did a half-hearted slide, and looking back on it, I should have been more aggressive on it,” Holtby said.

After an uneventful overtime failed to settle the score, Wiseman netted the only goal of the shootout which sealed the deal for the boys from Springfield.

Despite the pressure of eight out of his 11 starts in both South Carolina and Hershey ending in one-goal decisions, Holtby’s youthful enthusiasm still shines through.

“I didn’t realize that until now, but you can’t ask for much more as a goalie.  As a professional hockey player, you look for the competition; that’s what keeps you driven.  I guess that’s why I’ve been having so much fun.”