All Eyes on Hershey - a Bears Photo Essay

by EmilyB on May 26, 2010 9:00 AM EDT

Incoming!

Whatever is heading to the net, Bears' D is ready.

This post is only possible with the gracious approval of photographer Scott Slingsby, who attended Games 3, 4, and 5 of the 2010 AHL Eastern Conference Finals between the visiting Hershey Bears and home team Manchester Monarchs.

He was covering the games for InGoal Magazine, and his own writeups of each game and full photo galleries are available here:

Game Three - Story / Photo Gallery

Game Four - Story / Photo Gallery

Game Five - Story / Photo Gallery

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Scott's pictures were so well done and good action shots from AHL games so hard to come by I thought it would be nice to highlight a few of them. As you will see his vantage was right by the visiting team's net so each game has two periods of Michal Neuvirth and one of Jonathan Bernier. The pix I'm posting will not be in chronological order; you can explore the galleries yourselves to see which pix came when.

Thank you Scott!

Eyes on the prize, Neuvy.

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Whatever (and wherever) it takes!

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Stand and deliver.

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Did someone call for a crease clearing?

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RAHJC likes nice clean creases as well (3 pictures)

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Intensity - Chris Bourque is ready. Bring it, Monarchs!

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Is this even legal in New Hampshire?

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This blueline will look amazing in red sweaters

See? Amazing.

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Ammo sez: "We shall fight them in the corners..."

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Matty P puts in an order at the bakery.

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Jay Beagle fights gravity and the opposing goalie, losing both battles, but ultimately winning the war.

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Francois Bouchard is about to bury the game-winning overtime goal off the rebound of the Mathieu Perreault shot that Bernier is saving.

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Good morning, good afternoon, and good night Manchester! Egad.

If this FanPost is written by someone other than one of the blog's editors, the opinions expressed in it do not necessarily reflect those of this blog or SB Nation.

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Comments

Is this even legal in New Hampshire?

Haha, nice

by Kerry Fraser's Hairspray on May 26, 2010 9:12 AM EDT reply actions

Super-duper-duper rec. Like KFH said, nice captions.

Cидни Kросби: Александр Oвечкин, он твой папа теперь
Red Line Station: for Capitals fans who can bear reading something less intelligent than a story at Japers' Rink
(note name change)

by red army line on May 26, 2010 9:25 AM EDT reply actions

Impressive YNC. Good job all around, and great of the photographer to let you use his photos

Cheers, Complaints, homerism and bashing of mediocre pop musicians in 140 Characters
"DO NOT get stuck behind Kyle Wellwood in the buffet line. This isn't really etiquette, but it will prevent you from starving to death"- Down Goes Brown on Etiquette for Jason Spezza's wedding

by Kevin Sellathamby on May 26, 2010 9:44 AM EDT reply actions

Great stuff. How did MP not bury that OT shot? I totally envisioned that play unfolding differently in my head. Good on Bouchard for driving that net.

I waited all year for this?

by Rob Parker on May 26, 2010 10:12 AM EDT reply actions

The full sequence of pix for the Game 5 OT GWG is the last 4-5 pictures on this page. No real clean picture of MP’s shot or FB’s goal, but you can see Bernier laid out in the goal.

The “bakery” picture is from a different game (Game 3, I think) and I believe Matty scored on that one, but I’m not positive.

by EmilyB on May 26, 2010 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions

the red is fabulous!

#savethekittens!
Donation info for SAVES FOR KIDS 2010!! Make a difference.

by RedBirdie on May 26, 2010 11:12 AM EDT reply actions

I love the look on Carlson’s face in the last shot of that series of 3: Fierce!
Fantastic photos.

"It hit me on the pants. I had protection. It felt good. Why? I wanted to win."

by bagace on May 26, 2010 11:24 AM EDT reply actions

The photos are excellent. Thanks for getting the photog to agree to let you post them.

"You ever use smelling salts, every time you type a bad blog?" Brooks Laich

by Carl Putnam on May 26, 2010 12:01 PM EDT reply actions

I just love Alzner’s intimidating playoff beard. Wow.

by CapitalCentre on May 26, 2010 12:14 PM EDT reply actions

man there were a lot of empty seats there. I understand the AHL isn’t always like the NHL, but that empty for a conference finals game?

LET'S GO CAPS!!!

by Elliotte on May 26, 2010 12:25 PM EDT reply actions

Even John Walton made a comment during the game about how bad the attendance was in Manchester. It’s been just as bad in Hamilton, too (doesn’t look too good for Jim Balsillie):
Avg attendance for the Conference Finals (each venue had 3 games played):

Manchester 2,520
Hamilton 2,829
Texas 5,257
Hershey 9,490

That home-ice advantage really plays out in Hershey.

"It hit me on the pants. I had protection. It felt good. Why? I wanted to win."

by bagace on May 26, 2010 1:41 PM EDT up reply actions

I love the fact that Texas is outdrawing 2 teams in “hockey country”.

"You ever use smelling salts, every time you type a bad blog?" Brooks Laich

by Carl Putnam on May 26, 2010 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions

and Hershey is drawing almost as many as the other three combined.

If you've read this far...seek help.

by ThePeerless on May 27, 2010 7:35 AM EDT up reply actions

Having a history of good team’s helps in any market. Bears have history in spades.

"You ever use smelling salts, every time you type a bad blog?" Brooks Laich

by Carl Putnam on May 28, 2010 9:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Wonderful photos. Thanks for getting permission to post them.

That sign either makes no sense or its a bit dirty.

(Yes, I know about the avatar hounding - just pretend mine is invisible.)

by oldemystix on May 26, 2010 5:02 PM EDT reply actions

Nice! Thanks,

Im hoping to have the schedule work out so I can drive up for one of the finals games.

Great. Now I have to change my name to "Jaromir meet Alex".

by Chris meet Alex on May 26, 2010 5:59 PM EDT reply actions

Awesome awesome awesome. You keep bringing the high quality, YNC. Thank you.

Only YOU can prevent idiots from commenting!

by Knee high to a duck on May 26, 2010 6:55 PM EDT reply actions

BTW, the gentleman being assisted from the crease by the ever-gallant Karl Alzner was Stefan Della Rovere’s juniors teammate Kyle Clifford. Have a nice summer, Kyle!

by EmilyB on May 26, 2010 7:09 PM EDT reply actions

Fantastic photos by Mr. Slingsby. Thanks for posting them YNC!

Caps Snaps - Washington Capitals Photography

Founder of the Eric Fehr Fan Club.

by cobracg on May 26, 2010 10:03 PM EDT reply actions

Now that I've recovered from my hockey depression a little bit.

I must say that it is tragic that this market airs Stephen Strasburg minor league starts (which I watch religiously) but cannot find an outlet to show the Bears if they are in the Calder Cup finals. Somebody, somewhere in DC needs to televise this.

Get you own network, Ted and ESTABLISH VERIZON CENTER DOMINATION!!!!
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Ian Desmond...because the future starts now for the Washington Nationals.

by souldrummer on May 29, 2010 11:15 AM EDT reply actions