HERSHEY 5, NORFOLK 4
Rookies Michael Dubuc and Francois Bouchard combined for three goals and five points as the Hershey Bears opened their 2008 preseason slate with a 5-4 home-ice victory over Norfolk on Sunday afternoon at the Giant Center.
Sean Collins and Ben Boudreau also scored for the Bears, who will play a home-and-home set against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton next weekend.
Dubac put the Bears on top with a power play goal just 1:26 into the contest and scored again at 5:44 of the third period to break a 3-3 tie.
Bouchard assisted on both of Dubac’s markers and tallied a power play goal of his own at 11:07 of the second period. The 20-year-old Bouchard was drafted in the second round by the parent Washington Capitals in 2006 and made his professional debut for Hershey late last season.
Boudreau is the son of current Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau, who was the NHL’s coach of the year in 2007-08 after being promoted from Hershey, where he guided the Bears to the Calder Cup title in 2006 and back to the Finals in 2007.
All told, Hershey scored four of its five goals on the power play and finished 4-for-6 with the man advantage.
Bears goaltenders Michal Neuvirth and Bobby Goepfert combined to stop 24 of 28 shots on the afternoon, and each netminder allowed a pair goals.
Daryl Boyle, Mathieu Curadeau, Justin Keller, and Jason Beckett scored for the Admirals, who fell to 0-2-0-0 in the preseason.
The goaltending tandem of Craig Kowalski and Nick Boucher stopped 25 of 30 shots for Norfolk.
