Remembering my College Literature classes, I read Dante’s Inferno. I remember the famous phrase “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate“, or “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” which was inscribed over the entrance to Hell.

What does this have to do with minor league hockey you ask? The Hershey Bears just do not lose at home. They had some insane home win streak last year, where they went like three months without suffering a home loss. Wilkes-Barre did not win there at all last year. I personally hated seeing WBS going there because I knew it was going to be tough, and likely a loss. Pens beat writer Jonathan Bombulie had this nugget on his Twitter feed regarding the Pens efforts tonight:

The last time WBS won at Hershey, Janne Pesonen had two goals and Chris Cichocki was behind the bench as an assistant coach.

Onto the game. John Curry v. Dany Sabourin tonight. Steve Wagner, Ryan Craig and Nick Johnson had the A’s tonight.

:49 into the game, Keith Aucoin scores on Curry. Ridiculous angle. Where have we seen this fish before? Just like that it’s a 1-0 Bears lead.

Here we go…

Twenty-five seconds later, Chris Conner ties it. Same angle as the Aucoin goal. Sean Collins took an interference call about three minutes later and Andrew Hutchinson scored on the power play :45 later. 2-1.

Nick Johnson sat for a slash, WBS killed it. Jesse Boulerice took a ticky tack trip call from referee Ryan Fraser and we were back to the penalty kill again. Joe Vitale dispossessed a Bear at center ice and skated in on Sabourin for a shorthanded goal. 3-1.

Sabourin hit the showers after stopping 4 shots on 7 attempts. Todd Ford came in the game then. Teams traded some penalties then late in the first Keven Veilleux dangles through a crowd, puts a shot on Ford, which then finds its way to Eric Tangradi’s stick and it’s 4-1 after 1.

Second period came and saw The Champs buzzing all over the place. Pressure. Pressure. Pressure. Whoops, Chris Conner gets by the D and it’s 5-1.

Third period came and so did the chippiness. Boulerice and Patricak Wellar fought. At the same time, Trevor Bruess and Geoff Walker did the same. Bruess / Walker were turfed because you can’t do that while there is another fight going on. Zach Miskovic made things interesting with a goal to make it 5-2, but after trading an Andrew Gordon trip and a Steve Wagner hook, Zach Sill fired a dart at Todd Ford and it was game over. 6-2 final. 8-0. 16 points. 5 points up on Hershey.

Three Stars were as follows: John Curry, Andrew Hutchinson and Chris Conner. Brian Strait was a +3.

Around the league: Norfolk coughed up a 5-2 lead to lose 6-5 in overtime to the Portland Pirates. Maybe it’s good we don’t play the Pirates this year, they are good. Syracuse beat Albany 3-2. Charlotte beat Bingo by the same 3-2 score in overtime. 5 points up on Norfolk and Hershey who have 11 points. 6 points up on Albany and Bingo who have 10.

Thoughts. Curry exorcised some serious demons tonight. Especially against this Hershey Bears team. Wilkes-Barre winning against Hershey in Hershey is a statement to The Champs that we mean business. A 6-2 manhandling in GIANT Center just isn’t seen, as the league tweeted the last time this happened was November 25, 2009 vs. the Providence Bruins. Tim Wallace played his 250th game in a Wilkes-Barre / Scranton uniform. Penalty kill was perfect again. I will check later this week to see where we stack up against the league, have to be tops.

All of this was done without The Ticket. Inject him into the lineup and what do you think the score is? Pittsburgh is getting healthier by the day. WBS is the winner on whoever loses the battle for 7th D up in the 412, either Engelland or Lovejoy. Imagine one of those two back skating in Wilkes-Barre Township.

Get on this train. Perfect October. I could not have predicted this. This team is looking more and more by the second to be better than advertised. Please believe that.

Next game is Friday up in Rochester. The Amerks sit on top of the North Division at present and would love to be the first team to drop the Pens.

Bring it. Go Pens.

Welcome back to Wilkes-Barre Andrew Hutchinson. Two assists in a 4-1 Wilkes-Barre victory tonight in Glens falls tonight. Ran the powerplay tonight and didn’t look out of place.

Eric Tangradi played his first AHL game tonight and did look a bit out of place. He was in front of the net all night as always. Give him a few more shifts and he’ll be right at home again real soon.

Brad Thiessen v. Johan Backlund. Ryan Craig, Tim Wallace and Corey Potter wore the A’s tonight. Tom Grace said on the radio that a Captain will not be named until Game 20. That is a November 27 home game v. Rochester in case you are wondering.

Ryan Craig had a tip in goal at 2:02 of the first. WBS was buzzing in front of the Phantoms net prior to that. A Robert Bortuzzo point shot was tipped in by Craig. Outshot Adirondack 10-4 in the first period.

Second period, Carl Sneep was crushed by Zac Rinaldo. Carl had the wind knocked out of him. I was watching on AHL Live, and Adirondack does not have replay, but just looked like he got caught by Rinaldo. Thankfully, he skated off on his own power and was fine. Later, he potted his first professional goal to make it 2-0.

The fourth line put work in tonight. In the third period, Zach Sill hustled down the right point, put a shot on goal, Backlund left a delicious rebound up for Jesse Boulerice on the left side and it was 3-0. Even before that, the fourth line was getting chances. If the fourth line on any hockey team can get quality scoring chances, your team is stacked.

David Laliberte answered back 1:30 later. WBS killed off two consecutive penalties, and then got a power play of their own when Benn Holmstrom was called for a hook. Nick Johnson did what he is supposed to do, camp out in front and potted a power play goal to put the game out of reach at 4-1. No penalties the rest of the way, no real pressure from the Phantoms and we are 7-0.

Andrew Hutchinson, Nick Johnson and Brad Thiessen were Stars 3 thru 1. Tim Wallace skated on the top line with Dustin Jeffrey and Eric Tangradi and had 5 SOG. Ten Penguin skaters were +1 tonight. That is depth.

The big news out of Glens Falls was that Patrick Maroon was sent home by the team. As in, home home. Phantoms beat writer Tim McManus will probably find out more in the coming days if you so choose to follow this story but that is a huge blow to the Phantoms as he was one of the best players for them.

I missed this because well, I was watching Wilkes-Barre, but apparently Evgeni Malkin was injured and left the game tonight in a 3-2 loss to Philly. If there is a callup, stick with me over on Twitter and check me out here tomorrow afternoon if indeed there is a promotion.

Elsewhere around the AHL, Albany beat Providence 3-2 in regulation. Norfolk lost in a shootout to Portland and Hershey beat Syracuse 4-3 in overtime. We have 14 points, Hershey and Norfolk are in second with 11 points a piece, Albany 10, Bingo 9 and it goes on. As long as we keep winning, no one can catch us. That has to be the philosophy.

Back on the schtick tomorrow as Wilkes-Barre tries to escape Hershey 8-0 and set a tone in the minds of The Champs that we are the team to beat this year. Gonna be a good one. Gameday drops around 4 p.m. tomorrow. Check it out.