John Walton Hockey

Wed, Feb 24th, 2010 3:17:00 pm

BEARS RALLY TO DOWN MONSTERS, ANOTHER COACHING CHANGE IN NORFOLK

In front of nearly 10,000 screaming schoolchildren at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland, the Bears rallied to defeat Lake Erie 3-2 Wednesday. Down 1-0 less than two minutes in, and down 2-0 after one, Hershey picked up goals from Greg Amadio and Chris Bourque during regulation to tie the game, and earned the win in a shootout. Jason Bacashihua defeated his former team for the second time in five days, and was perfect over the last 40 minutes of regulation along with the overtime and shootout. Pictures here, courtesy of the Lake Erie Monsters, tell a little of the story.

We're on the bus heading toward Buffalo, due in for a late dinner tonight in Toronto. A stunning development out of Norfolk, where the team will have its third head coach this season. Jim Johnson has been promoted to assistant coach with Tampa Bay, after taking over for Darren Rumble right before the AHL All-Star break. It's been reported by the Tampa Tribune that former Bears forward Wes Walz will leave Tampa and be the head coach in Hampton Roads. The stunning part is that Norfolk is playing its best hockey of the season under Johnson. Why they would ever want to mess with that is anyone's guess, but they are. No official word on Walz has been made yet, but we're told one is forthcoming...

UPDATE: Sounds like Walz is just out in Tampa, no Norfolk. Which means an interim gig for someone there? Making a change at the end of the season would have been too difficult for GM Brian Lawton? Stay classy, Tampa...