Bears Dealt 3-2 Loss to Checkers on Late Goal

December 28, 2025

The Hershey Bears (14-13-1-0) battled back from a 2-0 deficit but the Charlotte Checkers (16-9-2-0) tallied a late goal in the game's final two minutes to deal Hershey a 3-2 loss Sunday evening at GIANT Center. Hershey's record in the season series with the Checkers now stands at 1-1-0-0.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Nate Smith struck first for the visitors on Charlotte's first shot of the evening at 1:28 of the opening frame.
• The Checkers appeared to take a 2-0 lead at 5:42 of the second period, but the call was eventually reversed by the officials as Ben Steeves was deemed to have shot a loose Hershey stick into the legs of goaltender Mitch Gibson, nullifying the goal.
• Charlotte took a genuine 2-0 edge at 18:31 when Michael Benning capitalized on a giveaway to Robert Mastrosimone.
• Gibson exited the game at 5:53 and returned at 6:31 after an equipment issue forced him from the game; Clay Stevenson took over in a 38-second relief appearance that saw him face no shots before Gibson returned to action. Gibson would take the eventual loss, the first of his AHL career after going 6-0-0 to start his tenure with Hershey since the 2023-24 season.
• During Gibson's absence, Spencer Smallman got Hershey on the board with a power-play goal at 6:20 for his fourth tally of the season.
• Louie Belpedio knotted the score with a power-play blast from the point at 8:09 for his third of the campaign from Brett Leason and Ivan Miroshnichenko.
• Sandis Vilmanis netted the go-ahead goal at 18:42.

SHOTS: HER 26, CLT 22

GOALTENDING: HER - Mitch Gibson [L], 19-for-22, Clay Stevenson, 0-for-0; CLT - Cooper Black, 24-for-26

POWER PLAY: HER - 2-for-5; CLT - 0-for-4

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on what was different today after previously earning a win against Charlotte earlier this month:
"No, I thought, I thought it was a good hockey game to watch. It was fun to watch it on the bench. You know, they get up on us, but we battled back. We played well, and then we make one little mistake with under a minute left and, you know, game's over."

King on the team's resolve battling back from a two-goal deficit in the third period:
"Hats off to them. Coming back after, you know, playing last night in Wilkes-Barre and losing and playing a bad first period [Saturday], I thought we came out and played well for three periods. Again, [Charlotte's] a good hockey team. And we had many opportunities to score goals and they just weren't going in. And obviously they went in when we needed them, but we need to defend a little better there at the end."

Louie Belpedio on the season series with Charlotte:
"They're a good team. Every team in this league is good. They've got some good players, they work hard, they play the right way, similar to us. Obviously they got the win tonight, so we've just got to put it in the past and move on to Wednesday."

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they close out the 2025 calendar year with a road game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 3:05 p.m. at PPL Center. Hershey returns home to host the Rockford IceHogs on Saturday, Jan. 3, at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center for a Washington Capitals Night and PSECU Knit Hat Night, where the first 5,000 fans will receive a knit hat, courtesy of PSECU. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.