Ethen Frank matches goal production from last season’s playoff run in one period this year: ‘It definitely is big’
MAY 05, 2024 6:00 PM BY IAN OLAND
HERSHEY, PA — Ethen Frank led the Hershey Bears in goals last season with 30, but his playoffs, on a personal level, did not go as planned.
The first-line right wing went the first 11 playoff games goalless before being healthy-scratched by head coach Todd Nelson in the Eastern Conference Finals. Hockey’s fastest player sat out four different games stretching into the championship series against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. For the scuffling Frank, the moment was a low point in his AHL career.
When he returned in the Calder Cup Finals, he rebounded, scoring two goals and collecting four points total as the Bears won the franchise’s 12th Calder Cup.
As Hershey tries to repeat as champions in 2024, Frank has something to prove not only to the team but himself personally. He wants to be a consistent producer. And so far so good.
Saturday, after registering an assist in Game One of the Atlantic Division semifinals, Frank scored twice in the first period of the Bears’ 5-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, matching his entire goal output from last season’s playoffs.
“It definitely is big,” Frank said of his goals to RMNB after the game. “I’ve been trying to work on some things mentally through the playoffs. I know it’s a different animal and being in my second year, I feel like I need to step up my game. I think it’s going pretty well.
“I’m just trying not to have a repeat of last year and my inconsistent play. I’m just trying to go out there with a different mentality, just working hard, winning battles, and being a little pest with my speed. The good things will come with hard work and I know the two linemates I’ve been playing with are very skilled and very smart players so they make it pretty easy for me.”
Frank scored twice in the first period — with goals three minutes and 31 seconds apart — to give Hershey a 2-0 lead.
After a quick exit out of the defensive zone, Frank was sprung on a breakaway by Joe Snively, depositing the puck past Phantoms’ goaltender Cal Petersen on his backhand.
“I think we’ve gone over video and we know that they’re extremely aggressive with all four or five guys, even the D, jumping up,” Frank said. “We’re trying to use that against them.”
His second tally came after a great cross-crease feed by Snively. Both goals came at five-on-five.
Later, in the second period, Frank assisted on an Alex Limoges’ power-play goal, completing the first three-point night of his postseason career.
“It’s huge for our hockey team,” Nelson said. “Last year, he didn’t get off to a great start. He was getting chances but they weren’t going in for him and it also starts playing on his mind. Now, he’s scored a couple tonight, gives you confidence, played a really strong game. Made a great play on the power-play goal that we scored with the seam pass.
“[That] gives a goalscorer confidence, so it’s nice to see because last year he was fighting himself a bit, but now he’s looking comfortable out there. It makes a big difference, going through what he did last year and then had to fight through this year at some points in time. But he’s playing some good hockey for us right now.”
After spending most of the regular season skating with veterans Mike Sgarbossa and Mike Vecchione, Frank has been paired with budding Capitals prospect Hendrix Lapierre and two different left wingers to start the postseason. Ligmoes got a first crack in Game One; Snively flipped into the spot in Game Two and authored two primary assists.
“Just trying to find some more chemistry,” Nelson said. “Certain guys, for whatever reason, they don’t mix well, so we put those lines together yesterday. Just made a couple subtle changes. We flip-flopped Vecchione and Huntington and we flip-flopped Snively and Limoges. And I liked that line tonight: Lapierre’s line with [Ethen Frank] and Snives. I thought they generated a lot. And that’s a fast line, that’s a hard line to contain. And we thought that, put them together, it’ll give teams fits it’ll give us some dangerous looks.”
Frank agreed that the quickness of the line could cause problems for any team the Bears match up against and the two highly-skilled players make him more of a finisher.
“I think Lappy and Snives think the game at a different level,” he said. “I just try to play with a lot of pace and speed and make it easy for them to find me open with the puck and they can both wheel around the zone, make great plays. They make it easy for me. I just kinda go net front and clean up the mess if I can.”
According to Frank, part of the team’s early success — they’ve outscored the Phantoms 7-2 — is due to the research and homework they did on Petersen ($5 million cap hit) during their first-round bye.
“We’ve done a lot of goalie video so we’re trying to figure out different ways to beat their goalie,” Frank said. “Obviously he’s pretty good, he gets paid a lot of money to do what he does.”
Hershey, who owns a 2-0 series lead, will look to close out the best-of-5 at PPL Center on Wednesday.