The Bears have held serve at home, and now it’s up to the Marlies to do the same up in Toronto. Carter Camper scored at 9:09 of overtime to give the Bears a 3-2 win Saturday and a 2-0 series lead.
Toronto held Hershey to two shots in the first (but the Bears scored) and seven through the first two periods (but the Bears had a 2-1 lead), but Mark Arcobello’s second goal of the playoffs tied it with 2:18 left in the second. Both goalies made some big saves early in overtime, and the Bears had some big shifts, dominating stretches of the extra period though shots ended up 6-6.
Game 3 is Wednesday in Toronto.
This will be the box for Ontario-Lake Erie Game 1, which starts later tonight.
From the “why is it always Canada?” file: Ryan Ellis’ third-period goal gave Canada a 4-3 win over the USA in the semifinals at the World Championship. The U.S. scored three in the second period to take a 3-2 lead but gave it back before intermission.
Mikko Koskinen made 28 saves to help Finland past Russia in the other semifinal.
So it’ll be USA-Russia for bronze tomorow, extending all those top-two-futile streaks for the Americans at this tournament. Canada-Finland for gold afterward.
And RIP, Alan Young.