HERSHEY, Pa. — Head Coach Todd Nelson was very blunt in his assessment.
"We'll look at the film and there will be some people embarrassed by what they see," he said in a post-game conference.
The Bears came home from Charlotte with a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series with the Checkers with hopes of finishing off a sweep in the Atlantic Division Semifinals.
Instead, a fourth game is necessary on Thursday night after a 2-1 setback in front of 8,620 fans in Giant Center.
"That's one of the hardest things to do in sports, to eliminate a team and we learned that tonight," explained Bears Forward Sam Anas. "Hopefully, it's a valuable lesson down the stretch but obviously we have to take care of business tomorrow and hopefully we can."
Anas scored the Bears' lone goal in the second period to open the scoring. A couple of defensive lapses from Hershey led to the Checkers' goals, both on breakaways to beat goalie Hunter Shepard.
However, no reason to panic for Hershey yet.
The rest of the series is on home ice and the Bears can eliminate Charlotte with a victory in game four or, if necessary, game five on Sunday.