The Atlantic Division Finals opens tonight as the Hershey Bears get set to face the Charlotte Checkers in Game 1 of the best-of-five series.
Hershey Bears (3-2) at Charlotte Checkers (3-2)
May 16, 2025 | 7 p.m. | Bojangles Coliseum | Series tied 0-0
Referees: Riley Brace (49), Jordan Samuels-Thomas (42)
Linespersons: Dylan Blujus (70), Jeremy Faucher (85)
Broadcast Information
Voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch, former Bears captain Garrett Mitchell, and FOX43 sports director Todd Sadowski on the call
TELEVISION: Antenna TV (WPMT FOX 43.2, Xfinity Ch. 247 and 1178, Verizon FiOS Ch. 463, Blue Ridge Ephrata Ch. 91, and Blue Ridge Newberry/Duncannon Ch. 88)
RADIO: WFVY 100.1 FM, Fox Sports 1460-AM, Capitals Radio
WATCH LIVE: AHLTV on FloHockey
LISTEN LIVE: Fox Sports 1460-AM Stream, Caps Radio 24/7
Radio pre-game coverage starts at 6:30 p.m.; Television coverage starts at 6:55 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT:
Hershey earned a 4-2 victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms last Sunday in Game 5 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals. Spencer Smallman gave the Bears a 1-0 lead 5:19 into the first period, and Riley Sutter added goals at 16:13 of the first and 13:09 of the second. After the Phantoms trimmed the lead to a goal with two in the third, Bogdan Trineyev provided the empty-net insurance marker at 18:20 to clinch the series. The Checkers punched their ticket to the next round earlier that afternoon with a 5-2 Game 5 win over the Providence Bruins, as Tobias Bjornfot opened the scoring 7:18 into the first period, and Wilmer Skoog made it 2-0 at 8:38 of the second. After Oliver Okuliar extended the Charlotte lead to 3-0 early in the third, Providence's Vinni Lettieri scored twice to pull the Bruins to within one, but Bjornfot and Will Lockwood collected empty-net goals to secure the victory for Checkers. Charlotte held Providence to just eight shots, the fewest shots in any AHL game since Nov. 27, 2015, when the Albany Devils allowed six shots in a 4-0 win over the Binghamton Senators, and the fewest in a Calder Cup Playoff contest since April 21, 2010, when the Bears allowed seven shots in a 4-1 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
CHECKING IN ON THE CHECKERS:
The Bears and Checkers are set to meet in the playoffs for the second time in three springs, after Hershey bested Charlotte in four games during the 2023 Atlantic Division Semifinals. Seven skaters on the current roster played in that series, including Hendrix Lapierre, who finished with four points (1g, 3a) in four games, while Hunter Shepard played every minute in goal for Hershey, going 3-1 with a 1.77 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage. This upcoming series marks the fourth postseason meeting between the Bears and the Checkers. Hershey boasts a 1-2 series record and a 5-9 all-time playoff record against Charlotte. During the 2024-25 regular season, the Bears went 4-4-0-0 against the Checkers; Alex Limoges paced Hershey with five points (2g, 3a) in five games, while John Leonard appeared in all eight contests for Charlotte to lead the Checkers with six points (3g, 3a).
FIRING FIRST:
Hershey has a lifetime record of 78-62 in Game 1s of a playoff series, and a 59-19 series record when winning the first game. In the previous three series between Hershey and Charlotte, the team that achieved victory in the first game went on to win the series. The Bears have posted a record of 3-0 when scoring first in the 2025 playoffs, while the Checkers have gone 3-2. Hershey has a +5 goal differential in the first period during the postseason; the Bears and Charlotte have both scored 16 goals through their first five games of the playoffs.
LIMOGES LIFT-OFF:
Alex Limoges leads the Bears into the upcoming round with the team scoring lead, posting six points (1g, 5a) through Hershey's first five postseason matches. The forward has recorded at least a point each of Hershey's playoff games; dating back to the 2024 postseason he has a point streak of seven games (1g, 9a) and dating back to the final two games of the 2024-25 regular season he has recorded points in each of his last seven contests as well (2g, 7a).
BETWEEN THE PIPES:
Both Hunter Shepard and Clay Stevenson earned starts and victories in the previous round for Hershey, marking the first time since the 2019 Atlantic Division Semifinals against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers that the Chocolate and White had multiple goaltenders earn wins in a series victory, with Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov doing so for the Bears then. On Thursday the Washington Capitals recalled Stevenson, leaving Shepard as the only Bears netminder on the current active roster to have seen time against Charlotte in the regular season; Shepard went 1-3-0 with a 2.48 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage in four appearances against the Checkers. This series' goaltending matchup features two former Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award recipients as the league's outstanding goaltender, as Charlotte's Kaapo Kahkonen took home the award in 2019-20, while Shepard earned the honors in 2023-24.
SUPER SUTTER:
Riley Sutter's two goals in last Sunday's series win over Lehigh Valley included the second postseason game-winner of his career with Hershey (after previously netting the 5-4 overtime goal for the Bears in Game 3 of the 2023 Calder Cup Finals over Coachella Valley), tying him with Garrett Roe for third on the active Bears roster for career playoff game-winners. Mike Vecchione and Pierrick Dube are tied for first, while Alexandre Giroux is Hershey's all-time leader for playoff game-winners with 10. Over the last three playoff runs, Hershey is 8-1 when Sutter records at least a point; his Game 5 performance on Sunday against Lehigh Valley marked the first multi-point playoff contest of his career.
COACHING MATCHUP:
Todd Nelson has coached the Bears for the third straight spring to the Atlantic Division Finals, and enters the upcoming round with a 73-45 career record in the Calder Cup Playoffs as a head coach with Oklahoma City, Grand Rapids, and Hershey. His 73 playoff wins are two behind Frederick "Bun" Cook (75) for second in league history and nine victories behind John Paddock (82) for first. Nelson's Game 5 win over Lehigh Valley in the previous round gave him his 31st postseason win with Hershey to pass Paddock for sole possession of second in franchise history, behind only Frank Mathers (60). Geordie Kinnear is in his eighth season at the helm of a Florida Panthers AHL affiliate, and guided the Checkers to their best regular season under his four years as the head coach for Charlotte during the current campaign while earning the right to coach the Atlantic Division team at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic in Palm Desert. Kinnear has a career playoff win-loss record of 10-12 as an AHL head coach.
CHARLOTTE CONNECTIONS:
Several current Bears once skated for the Checkers, as Spencer Smallman played parts of two seasons with Charlotte and was on the Checkers' roster during their 2019 Calder Cup championship. Chase Priskie began his pro career with Charlotte as a teammate of Smallman's during the 2019-20 season and returned to the organization in 2021-22 after it had affiliated with the Florida Panthers; during this time he was also teammates with Justin Nachbaur, who appeared in six games that season with Charlotte. Checkers winger John Leonard is the older brother of highly-regarded Washington Capitals prospect Ryan Leonard, who turned pro with Washington out of Boston College late in the regular season. As a player, Checkers bench boss Geordie Kinnear won the 1995 Calder Cup as a member of the Albany River Rats with current Bears vice president of hockey operations Bryan Helmer.
BEARS BITES:
The Bears are the only team in the Calder Cup Playoffs that has not dressed a rookie skater...Chase Priskie (2g, 1a) and Jake Massie (0g, 3a) are tied with nine other players for ninth in league scoring among defensemen with three points. Priskie's two goals are also tied for third among defensemen while Massie's three assists are tied for fifth among blueliners...After finishing the regular season with the fewest penalty minutes per game (10.76) among 15 Eastern Conference teams, Hershey has the second-most penalty minutes per game (16.40) among the 11 Eastern Conference clubs participating in the postseason...Hershey has averaged the second-fewest shots against per game (24)...Both the Bears and Checkers are 3-0 when leading after two periods.
ON THIS DATE:
May 16, 2024 - For the second consecutive spring, the Bears faced the Hartford Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division Finals, opening the best-of-five series at GIANT Center. Chase Priskie gave Hershey a 1-0 lead in the first period, and the Bears found the net three more times in the second, including power-play goals from Ethen Frank and Alex Limoges to take a 4-1 lead. In the third, Ivan Miroshnichenko scored an unassisted goal, and Jimmy Huntington netted a shorthanded marker to cap the scoring. The Bears defense put on a clinic, allowing only 14 shots on goal, while Hunter Shepard made 13 saves to give Hershey a Game 1 victory, as the Chocolate and White went on to sweep the series.
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