The Hershey Bears wrapped up the 2023-24 regular season this past weekend, finishing their 86th regular-season campaign in the American Hockey League with a record of 53-14-0-5, finishing first in the league standings for the ninth time in franchise history. As a result of Hershey's first-place finish, the Chocolate and White will enjoy at least a week of rest and recovery while the opening round of the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs gets underway. Hershey is slated to play the lowest-seeded team that advances in the Atlantic Division Semifinals as the Bears look to become the first team in the AHL to go back-to-back in the postseason since Hershey lifted the Calder Cup in 2009 and 2010.
2023-24 REGULAR SEASON TEAM LEADERS:
Goals: Ethen Frank (29)
Assists: Joe Snively (45)
Points: Joe Snively (59)
Power-Play Goals: Ethen Frank (13)
Shorthanded Goals: Bogdan Trineyev (3)
Plus/Minus: Vincent Iorio (+26)
Wins: Hunter Shepard (27)
GAA: Hunter Shepard (1.76)
SV%: Hunter Shepard (.929)
Only includes qualified players
RECENT RESULTS:
- Wednesday, April 17 - Hershey 4 vs. Charlotte 3
- Saturday, April 20 - Hershey 1 vs. Charlotte 4
LOCAL PRACTICE SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF APRIL 22:
Monday, April 22
Day Off
Tuesday, April 23
Practice, 10:30 a.m. at GIANT Center
Wednesday, April 24
Practice, 9:30 a.m. at GIANT Center
Thursday, April 25
Day Off
Friday, April 26
Practice, 10:30 a.m. at GIANT Center
Saturday, April 27
Day Off
Sunday, April 28
Day Off
All practices are open to the public. Practice dates and times are subject to change.
LEAGUE NEWS AND NOTES:
AHLTV PLAYOFF OPTIONS:
AHLTV packages for the 2023-24 Calder Cup Playoffs are available now. Fans can purchase an all-access playoff package for $29.99 and watch all playoff games, featuring every team, or a daily-access pass for $8.99. Visit AHLTV.com for more information.
LEAGUE ATTENDANCE UP:
The American Hockey League established a new record for attendance in a single regular season, as more than 6.8 million fans attended AHL games across North America in 2023-24. The total of 6,822,875 fans in 1,152 games represented an increase of 5.0 percent over last season. The previous attendance record of 6,693,526 was established in 2015-16. The Cleveland Monsters led the league in attendance for the fourth time in the last five seasons by drawing 10,347 fans per game to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the highest average attendance by an AHL team in 25 years. The Bears finished second, posting an average attendance of 9,439, their highest average attendance figures in the regular season since 2015-16 (9,790).
ATLANTIC DIVISION PLAYOFFS:
While the Bears have a first-round bye, the best-of-three Atlantic Division First Round gets underway this week. Hershey will play the lowest-seeded opponent that advances out of the following two matchups:
#3 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins vs. #6 Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Game 1 - Wed., April 24 - Lehigh Valley at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 p.m.
Game 2 - Fri., April 26 - W-B/Scranton at Lehigh Valley, 7:05 p.m.
*Game 3 - Sun., April 28 - Lehigh Valley at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 p.m.
*if necessary
#4 Charlotte Checkers vs. #5 Hartford Wolf Pack
Game 1 - Thurs., April 25 - Hartford at Charlotte, 7 p.m.
^Game 2 - Sat., April 27 - Hartford at Charlotte, 4 p.m.
*Game 3 - Sun., April 28 - Hartford at Charlotte, 4 p.m.
*if necessary
^lower seed designated as "home" team for last change
TEAM NEWS AND NOTES:
BEARS IN STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS:
With Hershey's NHL affiliate, the Washington Capitals, facing off against the New York Rangers in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, several Bears are currently up with the parent club, including: forwards Hendrix Lapierre and Ivan Miroshnichenko, and defensemen Hardy Haman Aktell, Vincent Iorio, Lucas Johansen, and Dylan McIlrath. Johansen, Washington's former first-round selection in the 2016 NHL Draft, is expected to make his NHL postseason debut tonight as the Capitals look to even the series after dropping Game 1 on Sunday by a 4-1 score.
SET THE PACE:
While it took a few games for the Bears to get settled after raising their 2023 Calder Cup banner on Opening Night, eventually Hershey began to pile up wins at a frenetic rate. The Bears rode the wave of two separate nine-game winning streaks and an additional nine-game point streak to set franchise marks for fastest 20 wins (26 games) and fastest 30 wins (39 games), catapulting Hershey to a season in which it finished with an 18-point lead over Providence for first in the division and conference, and an eight-point lead over Coachella Valley for first place overall. Hershey's 53 wins also set a new league mark for the most victories in a 72-game schedule.
ROAD WARRIORS:
The Bears finished the regular season with a road record of 24-7-0-5, good for 53 points in 36 games for a points percentage of .736, breaking the club record of .675 (25-11-2-2, 54 points in 40 games) set during the 2006-07 season. Hershey also shattered the club mark for fewest combined road regulation and overtime road losses, with seven, besting the 1942-43 Bears, which went 17-8 with three ties in 28 road games. All four of Hershey's shootout victories came on the road, matching the franchise record already shared between the 2004-05, 2008-09, and 2009-10 teams.
PERCENTAGE PIRACY:
In the final week of the season, the Bears challenged the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers' league record for best regular-season points percentage, but ultimately came up short via a 4-1 loss to the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday in the last game of the campaign. Nevertheless, by virtue of a 4-3 victory on Wednesday, the Bears still managed to re-write their own record book, finishing the season with 111 points in 72 games for a .771 points percentage, eclipsing the mark of .769 set by the 2009-10 team captained by current Bears vice president of hockey operations Bryan Helmer.
CLUTCH PERFORMANCES:
The Bears went a dominant 8-0 in the five-minute overtime period this season, with Hershey's eight overtime victories representing the most in a season in which the club did not lose in sudden-death. Forward Alex Limoges buried three overtime goals, matching the team's single-season record shared with Dunc Fisher (1953-54), Willie Marshall (1959-60), Eric Perrin (2003-04), and John Sorrell (1942-43).
FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME:
On Monday the AHL announced that Bears head coach Todd Nelson had been voted the winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the league's outstanding coach - the first time in his coaching career that he has won the prestigious award. During the regular season, Nelson set a new personal best for wins as a head coach, topping his back-to-back 51-win seasons with Muskegon in the now-defunct United Hockey League, as well as his AHL high water mark of 47 with Grand Rapids in 2016-17. Nelson now begins the chase for a fifth Calder Cup ring, after previously winning with Portland as a player (1994), Chicago as an assistant coach (2008), and Grand Rapids (2017) and Hershey (2023) as head coach.
GO FOR THE KILL:
The Bears finished the season as the league's top penalty-killing squad, preventing opposing power plays from converting on 235-of-268 (87.7%) times Hershey was rendered shorthanded. Hershey's 87.7% penalty kill established a new franchise record.
POWER PLAY SOLDIERS ON:
At the time of his recall on Feb. 5, Mike Sgarbossa was leading the AHL in power-play assists, with 19. In Sgarbossa's absence, Joe Snively took over as the team's leading scorer and finished the season by matching Sgarbossa with 19 helpers on the man advantage, good for a tie for ninth in the league. The Bears finished sixth on the power play at 51-for-254 (20.1%), despite matching last season's franchise record for the fewest chances on the power play. Ethen Frank led the way by burying 13 power-play goals for Hershey, good for a tie for fourth in the league. Hershey also matched a franchise record for the fewest shorthanded goals against, with four.
SHOT SUPPRESSORS:
Hershey's defense was in fine form during the regular season, posting the fewest shots against (1,870) in the league, and in franchise history, along with the lowest shots against per game (25.97) in team history.
GOALIE GLUT:
Hershey's goaltenders shone in the regular season, as the duo of Hunter Shepard and Clay Stevenson were lights-out in between the pipes for the Chocolate and White, combining for a franchise-record 12 shutouts, while Stevenson set a Bears rookie record with seven of his own. Shepard led the league in both goals-against average (1.76) and save percentage (.929), with Shepard's 1.76 goals-against average topping Alfie Moore's 1.98 from the club's inaugural season, while Stevenson's 2.06 bested Pheonix Copley's franchise mark for rookie goals-against average. Both goalies earned a share of the Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award for the team's league-leading 2.10 goals-against average, and Shepard was named to the AHL's First All-Star Team.
IF YOU AIN'T FIRST, YOU'RE LAST:
The Bears led the AHL with 40 wins when scoring first; Hershey was 23-0-0-0 when scoring first at home and 17-2-0-1 on the road. The team also posted a record of 39-8-0-2 when scoring in the first period, including a 21-3-0-0 record on home ice. When not allowing a goal in the first period, the Bears were 32-2-0-2.
The Bears next take the ice in the Atlantic Division Semifinals (opponent, dates, and times to be determined) after receiving a first-round bye for the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs, as they look to defend their title as 2023 Calder Cup Champions. Continue to check HersheyBears.com for the latest updates regarding playoff opponents, game dates, start times, and ticket information.
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