Bears Enter Final Week of Season Seeking Playoff Spot
AHL Hershey Bears

Bears Enter Final Week of Season Seeking Playoff Spot

Published on April 14, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


(Hershey, PA) - The Hershey Bears (30-30-6-3, fifth in Atlantic Division) continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, as they close out the last week of the regular season in a final bid for a berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Hershey wraps up an eight-game stretch of road games on Wednesday at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before concluding the schedule with a pair of home games at GIANT Center, hosting the Bridgeport Islanders for the final time in the regular season on Saturday and finishing the season on Sunday versus Rochester.

2025-26 SEASON LEADERS:

Goals: Ilya Protas (28)*

Assists: Andrew Cristall (39)

Points: Ilya Protas (62)*

PIMs: Dalton Smith (85)

Power-Play Goals: Ilya Protas (10)*

Shorthanded Goals: Grant Cruikshank (5)

Game-Winning Goals: Andrew Cristall (5)

Plus/Minus: Ilya Protas (+16)*

Shots: Ilya Protas (141)*

Wins: Clay Stevenson (16)*

Shutouts: Garin Bjorklund, Mitch Gibson (1)

GAA: Clay Stevenson (2.70)*

SV%: Clay Stevenson (.909)*

Includes players on active roster

* Recalled to Washington Capitals

LOCAL PRACTICE SCHEDULE:

Monday, April 13

DAY OFF

Tuesday, April 14

Practice, 11 a.m., Hersheypark Arena

Wednesday, April 15

Morning Skate, 10:15 a.m., GIANT Center

Thursday, April 16

Practice, 11 a.m., GIANT Center

Friday, April 17

Practice, 11 a.m., GIANT Center

Saturday, April 18

No public Morning Skate due to event at GIANT Center

Practice schedule is subject to change. Please check HersheyBears.com daily for updates.

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS:

Saturday, April 11 - Hershey 2 at Charlotte 1

Sunday, April 12 - Hershey 1 at Charlotte 6

UPCOMING GAME SCHEDULE:

Wednesday, April 15 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 7:05 p.m.

Saturday, April 18 vs. Bridgeport, 7 p.m. - CLICK TO PURCHASE TICKETS

Racing Night - Ladies and gentlemen... START. YOUR. ENGINES. It's Racing Night at GIANT Center! Guests can receive two ticket vouchers to the ARCA Menards Series Race on Friday, June 12 by visiting Pocono Raceway's table on the concourse.

Toyota License Plate Night - The first 6,000 fans in attendance will receive a Bears license plate, courtesy of Toyota.

Sunday, April 19 vs. Rochester, 3 p.m. - CLICK TO PURCHASE TICKETS

Fan Appreciation Night - All fans in attendance will receive a scratch off card upon entrance for a chance to win a variety of prizes.

Player Awards - The Player Awards Ceremony will take place pre-game to celebrate player accomplishments throughout the 2025-2026 season.

All times Eastern.

Television Coverage: WPMT-FOX43.2 Antenna TV (Wednesday and Sunday); Video Coverage: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio Coverage: Bears Radio Network

TEAM NEWS AND NOTES:

PLAYOFF PRIMER:

Each morning for the remainder of the regular season the AHL will publish an update to its Playoff Primer. With three games remaining and currently at 69 points in the standings, the Bears will require a combination of three points either earned by their performance or lost by the team with the highest possible total outside of the playoff picture in order to qualify for the 2026 postseason. Hershey can secure a playoff berth as early as Wednesday under the following conditions:

Hershey wins at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton -AND- Lehigh Valley loses at Springfield

-OR-

Hershey loses in overtime/shootout -AND- Lehigh Valley loses in regulation at Springfield

If the playoffs were to start today, Hershey would face the Bridgeport Islanders in the Atlantic Division first round.

CRISTALL HAVING A BALL:

Andrew Cristall's 58 points ranks third in American Hockey League rookie scoring, and he only needs two more points out of Hershey's remaining three games to reach the 60-point plateau and join Ilya Protas (currently recalled to the NHL's Washington Capitals) to give Hershey its first pair of rookies to each record at least 60 points in a season, and the league's first since JJ Peterka (68) and Jack Quinn (61) managed the feat with Rochester during the 2021-22 campaign. The last duo to finish 1-2 in league rookie scoring was Josh Norris (61) and Alex Formenton (53) with Belleville in 2019-20. The Bears have gone 12-2-2-1 this season when Cristall has a multi-point game.

CRUIKSHANK NAMED BEARS MAN OF THE YEAR:

The AHL announced earlier today the individual team winners of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year awards, selected by their respective clubs for their outstanding contributions to the local community and charitable organizations during the 2025-26 season. Hershey's winner is forward Grant Cruikshank, in his second season with the Bears organization. From its list of 32 finalists, representatives from IOA/American Specialty and the AHL will choose the winner of the 2025-26 Yanick Dupré Memorial Award. The AHL's annual Man of the Year award is named after the late Yanick Dupré, who died in 1997 at the age of 24 following a 16-month battle with leukemia. Dupré, an AHL All-Star in 1995, played four seasons with the Bears and also skated in 35 National Hockey League games with the Philadelphia Flyers.

PESTERING THE PENGUINS:

Hershey concludes its 10-game season series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Wednesday at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. With a 2-5-1-1 record through nine games, the Bears must win tomorrow's game to avoid matching the franchise mark for the fewest wins against the Penguins, which previously occurred in the 2010-11 (2-6-1-1) and 2017-18 seasons (2-9-1-0). Andrew Cristall leads the Bears in scoring against the Penguins with nine points (3g, 6a) through nine games. Both Clay Stevenson (.923 save percentage) and Mitch Gibson (.902 save percentage) have earned wins against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season.

BRIDGEPORT BON VOYAGE:

Saturday's home game against the Bridgeport Islanders will mark the final regular-season contest against the franchise that began in 2001-02 as the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, as the parent New York Islanders will relocate their AHL franchise to Hamilton, Ontario next season. The Bears and Islanders/Sound Tigers have met a total of 133 times, with Hershey sporting a 78-36-3-5-11 record. Hershey has gone 2-2-0-1 against Bridgeport this season, splitting a pair of games at GIANT Center. The two teams have also met twice in the Calder Cup Playoffs, with the Bears winning the 2010 East Division Semifinals 4-1 en route to claiming their 11th Calder Cup championship, and topping Bridgeport 3-2 in the 2019 Atlantic Division Semifinals. 49 players have played in at least one game for both Hershey and Bridgeport; that number could increase to 50 this week with the Islanders being assigned former Bears goaltender Semyon Varlamov from New York on a long-term injured reserve conditioning stint.

ROCHESTER REDUX:

The Bears lead their season series with the Rochester Americans with a 2-1-0-0 record heading into Sunday's regular-season finale. Hershey won its previous home meeting with the Amerks on Nov. 9, a 2-1 victory that saw Sam Bitten and Alex Suzdalev score, while Clay Stevenson made 22 saves. Defenseman Jon McDonald leads the Bears with four points (1g, 3a) against the Americans. Neither team has recorded a power-play goal against the other through three encounters this season.

FINAL CALL:

Sunday's home finale for the Bears will also mark the final regular-season game for longtime play-by-play broadcaster Don Stevens, who is retiring at the end of this season, his 40th behind the mic for Rochester. Considered the "Dean of AHL broadcasters," Stevens joined the Amerks prior to the 1986-87 season and has called over 3,300 games for Rochester, including seven Calder Cup Finals and two Calder Cup championships, while receiving the AHL's prestigious James H. Ellery Award twice, in 1993-94 and 2012-13.

STINGRAYS REPORT:

The South Carolina Stingrays fell in two contests against the Florida Everblades on Friday and Saturday in Estero. Hershey's ECHL affiliate currently sits in third place in the South Division, one point behind the Atlanta Gladiators, which they will face in the opening round of the 2026 Kelly Cup Playoffs. The Stingrays have a game in hand on Atlanta, with two games remaining for South Carolina in the regular season. Hershey recalled forward Simon Pinard from the Stingrays earlier this afternoon, while in a corresponding transaction the Washington Capitals have re-assigned forward Ludwig Persson from the Stingrays to the Bears.

BEARS BITES:

The Bears are 24-10-4-3 when scoring first; Hershey's 41 first goals are tied with Henderson for the second most in the league, behind a four-way tie between Bridgeport, Charlotte, Laval, and Providence with 43...Hershey's Henrik Rybinski is three points away from his 100th professional point...Hershey must win its final two home games to finish the season with a .500 record at GIANT Center...Goaltender Clay Stevenson is expected to start tonight for the Washington Capitals in Washington's final game of the season. Ilya Protas, who made his NHL debut last week and has four points (1g, 3a) through his first three NHL games, remains first in AHL rookie scoring with 62 points (28g, 34a) and holds a three-point lead over Bakersfield's Quinn Hutson (59 points).

Check out the Hershey Bears Statistics

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