Bears Drop 6-1 Decision at Laval in Return

February 13, 2026

The Hershey Bears (20-17-6-2) returned from the American Hockey League's All-Star break with a 6-1 loss to the Laval Rocket (30-14-2-2) on Friday night at Place Bell.

The loss denied Hershey the opportunity for its first win at Laval since Oct. 19, 2019 in five tries, while also snapping a three-game point streak at Laval dating back to the 2022-23 campaign.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Laval took an early 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period via Marc Del Gaizo, then reeled off three more goals in the second frame to go ahead 4-0 before Graeme Clarke briefly stopped the bleeding with his 12th of the season for Hershey at 19:57 of the period.

SHOTS: HER 24, LAV 28

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 22-for-28; LAV - Jacob Fowler, 23-for-24

POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-4; LAV - 2-for-8

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on if at what point the game became out of reach:
"I think we took a lot of penalties against a team that's pretty good on the power play. You go down a couple power-play goals against, you go down three goals, it's hard to climb back against a good team like that. I liked our compete, our battle, but it just got a little bit out of control." 

King on the play of Ilya Protas, who returned for the third period after sustaining an apparent lower-body injury in the second period:
"Well he was having a game. I thought he played well, he had control of the play, he was making things happen. I was a little worried about maybe if this would be another guy who may be out for a while, but he battled back, and it was good to see him finish the game."

King on how much is he looking to hit the reset button with tomorrow's game in Belleville next on the schedule:
"We'll put it behind us, but we've got to learn from it. We've got to be able to play and stick with our game plan, whether you're down 2-0 or 3-0, and we just got away from it. We'll refocus and look at some video traveling to Belleville, and we'll see what we can show them tomorrow."

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they visit the Belleville Senators on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. at CAA Arena. Hershey returns home to host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for PA Lottery Night on Friday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. The first 6,000 fans 18-and-over in attendance will receive a coupon offer, courtesy of the Pennsylvania Lottery. Fans 21-and-over can also take advantage of $5, 16 oz. Happy Hour select beer special on from doors until puck drop. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.