CANTLON’S CORNER: EX-PACK MEGNA, ONE HAPPY BEAR 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

BRIDGEPORT, CT – The Hershey Bears stood in the hallway of the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport last Saturday night following their ending the Bridgeport Sound Tigers’ season with a 3-2 overtime win, the third OT game in the best of five series.

The Bears continued their magical run, and one ex-Hartford Wolf Pack, Jayson Megna, has been a strong force (44 points in 71 games) this season and especially when paired with Nathan “Stormy” Walker. Megna’s face had one huge smile on it.

“(I’m) so happy for this group. It’s awesome. We stepped up in big moments like this. We stayed with our game plan. We always have the feeling we can win and it took a bit more in this series with overtime. and every game being a one-goal game, that tells you how close our two teams were, but we have always found a way this year.”

The winner came as Garrett Pilon, the son of New York Islander great, Rich Pilon, who just took a coaching job with Weyburn (SJHL), sent a pass to Brian Pinho, who was able to slip it into the net on Sound Tiger goalie, Christopher Gibson.

“That’s been the biggest part of our season, so many different guys pitching in. Garrett makes a great pass to Brian who made the play. One night I might be on, or Stormy, or Riley one night. We have gotten contributions from everyone.”

Megna, always a speed demon, has added patience to his game, something not in evidence during his tour in Hartford.

“I guess I developed patience with my age. Early in my career, maybe I tried too hard to make every play perfect, but now, my line with Walker, we really have found some chemistry. We had Devante (Smith-Pelly) when he was here, but when he went up, we haven’t skipped a beat because guys step in.”

His patience with the puck shined brightly when he spotted the newest part of their line, Steve Whitney, surging off the left-wing. Megna hit the right-handed shooting Whitney and caught him perfectly as the Bears scored the games’ first goal.

“Whit’s is a perfect example of that. His first move to be in position, coming in on his off-wing, and then he makes a great move at the net and got the goalie down and swept it in. The credit goes to him.”

Playing .789 hockey the last three months of the season was no easy feat.

“We had a slow start. A lot of people counted us out, but we didn’t. It’s cliché, but we have been a never-give-up and never-say-die group. We really wanted it (to get in the playoffs). We didn’t want to be the team with the worst record in Hershey history, and we worked every day to make sure that didn’t happen.”

They will now play the AHL’s best team, the Charlotte Checkers. It’s no easy task for a well-rested, well-oiled Checker machine.

“We can enjoy this for a few days, but then it’s back to work because we played them a few times this year and we know how good that team is. You don’t finish with that record by accident, so we know this ain’t going to be easy.”

He isn’t the only Megna in the Calder Cup playoffs. Jayson’s his brother, Jaycob, plays for the San Diego Gulls who start their series with Bakersfield on Friday as well.

An all-Megna Calder Cup Final maybe?

“That would be nice, and I’m very happy for him. He got some NHL time this year in Anaheim (28 games) and got his first NHL goal, but a lot of road lies ahead before that can happen.”