Cruikshank shorthanded goal lifts Bears to 3-2 home win

Grant Cruikshank broke a 2-2 tie in the third period with a shorthanded goal to lift the Hershey Bears to a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Monsters before a sellout crowd of 10,554 at the GIANT Center on Jan. 10. The win improved Hershey to 17-14-1-0 and gave the Chocolate and White their first three-game winning streak on home ice this season.

Cleveland opened the scoring when Tate Singleton struck at 5:33 of the first period, but Louie Belpedio answered for the Bears at 12:26 with a shot from the top of the right circle for his fifth of the season. The goal, assisted by Andrew Cristall and Matt Strome, pushed Cristall into the team scoring lead with his 26th point (5g, 21a), a role he shared with rookie Ilya Protas entering the game.

Hershey took its first lead of the night early in the third when Bogdan Trineyev scored at 1:05, his eighth of the season, on assists from Ivan Miroshnichenko and Aaron Ness. Cleveland tied the game on the man advantage at 11:45 of the third, but Cruikshank restored the lead with his fifth of the season at 13:39 while shorthanded, on helpers from Corey Schueneman and Eriks Mateiko. Schueneman’s assist was the 100th of his AHL career.

Clay Stevenson turned aside 26 shots to earn his ninth win of the season and the 54th of his career, moving past Marc D'Amour into sole possession of 18th on the franchise’s goaltending wins list. Ness, who suited up in his 460th game with the Chocolate and White, passed Chuck Hamilton into sole possession of 19th in franchise history for games played.

Hershey outshot Cleveland 31-28 and went 0-for-2 on the power play while the Monsters went 1-for-3. The victory put the Bears up 2-1-0-0 in the early season series with Cleveland; the teams were scheduled to conclude the set the following night.

Coach Derek King highlighted the team’s approach to a speedy Cleveland lineup and the value of the penalty kill, saying, "Well, that's how we have to play against a team like that. They're a smaller team, but they're fast and they've got a lot of skill. So if you give them room to skate and don't get in the way and slow them down, then they're gonna eat you up. And I thought we did a pretty good job of slowing them down." On the penalty kill he added, "Well it's the work. They take pride in it. Sometimes I wish our power play would take the same pride the PK does - we've got to get that thing going. But no, I've liked our PK and especially the goalie. He's your best PK'er, and Clay was awesome tonight."

For fans, the game delivered momentum and milestones: a sellout atmosphere, a late-game special teams swing, and individual advances on the franchise leaderboards. Watch the Bears' power play as they try to match the PK’s consistency, and keep an eye on Cristall, Schueneman and Stevenson as they build season narratives that could shape Hershey’s push down the stretch.