Bears Drop Opener 5-2 to Crunch

October 11, 2025

The Hershey Bears (0-1-0-0) opened their 88th season of American Hockey League competition with a 5-2 loss against the Syracuse Crunch (1-0-0-0) on Saturday night at GIANT Center.

Ethen Frank scored twice for Hershey, while Charle-Edouard D'Astous (1g, 2a) and Jakob Pelletier (2g, 1a) had three points apiece for the Crunch. 

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Ethen Frank opened the scoring for Hershey with a pair of goals early in the second period, beating Brandon Halverson 28 seconds into the frame, and redirecting Louie Belpedio's shot from the blue line past Halverson at 4:29. Andrew Cristall - making his pro debut tonight - collected the secondary assist on both goals.
• Syracuse rookie Dominic James tied the game with his first pro goal at 2-2 at 12:06 with two seconds remaining in a 5-on-3 man advantage with Henrik Rybinski and Sheldon Rempal both in the box for Hershey.
• The Crunch then pulled ahead with a goal from Charle-Edouard D'Astous at 9:30; following a minor, major, and game misconduct penalties assessed to Hershey's Ivan Miroshnichenko at 9:48, Syracuse added to its lead with a power-play goal from Jakob Pelletier at 10:53.
• Gabriel Szturc sealed the win for Syracuse with a shorthanded empty-net goal for the Crunch at 19:29.
• Goaltender Clay Stevenson faced 38 shots - an AHL career-high.
• Aided by power plays, the Crunch outshot Hershey 16-2 in the third period, and 30-9 over the final 40 minutes of play.
• In addition to Cristall, forwards Ilya Protas and Eriks Mateiko also made their AHL debuts for Hershey.

SHOTS: HER 16, SYR 39

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 34-for-38; SYR - Brandon Halverson, 14-for-16

POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-4; SYR - 3-for-6

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King's assessment of the game:
"Well, I learned that we've got a goalie. I know we have a really pretty good goalie there, so I don't know how long we'll have him, but we can't take that many penalties, that's all. I thought we did a good job. The 5-on-3, I thought we had it. It just goes in like that, you know, it's going to happen, but this is a good hockey league, we can't afford to take that amount of penalties. Killing five minutes, killing 5-on-3s.

King on neutral zone play and turnovers:
"I think the biggest thing for us was the turnovers, which created [Syracuse] to get a forecheck, to bang, use their body to hit our 'D,' and keep pucks alive. We clean up the neutral zone and maybe we don't get hit as much."

Ethen Frank on matching the opposition's physicality on Sunday:
"They just out-bodied us, so I think we've got a little redemption coming tomorrow. So I hope that we're ready to put on our work boots and get in nice and dirty in the corners and be a little more physical and show them that we don't really get pushed around in this building, especially at home."

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Syracuse Crunch on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. at GIANT Center. Sunday's game features a Dark Nights takeover, featuring spooky characters from Dark Nights and Hersheypark Halloween prowling the concourse. Plus, all fans receive a handy PNC Bank Magnet Schedule to plan their season. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.