Bears Fall 4-1 to Phantoms

February 20, 2026

A pair of goals against in a 33-second span midway through the first period put the Hershey Bears (22-19-6-2) in a 2-0 hole, and the club ultimately fell 4-1 to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (22-22-2-2) on Friday night at GIANT Center.

The regulation loss was Hershey's first defeat of the season on home ice to Lehigh Valley (3-1-0-0) while the Bears saw their overall record against the Phantoms drop to 4-3-1-0. The loss also snapped Hershey's home point streak at eight games (3-0-4-1) and extended the club's home winless streak to six games (0-1-4-1).

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Hershey fell behind 2-0 midway through the first period after Alex Bump netted a power-play goal at 10:08 and Cooper Marody scored at 10:41 - the fastest pair of goals allowed by the Bears this season.
• Following Tucker Robertson's goal at 4:28 of the second period that extended the lead to 3-0 in favor of Lehigh Valley, Corey Schueneman tallied Hershey's lone goal with the Bears on the power play at 10:02 for his third of the season, with Brett Leason and Andrew Cristall assisting.
• Phil Tomasino restored the three-goal edge for the Phantoms at 19:19 to cap the scoring.

SHOTS: HER 33, LV 29

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 25-for-29; LV - Aleksei Kolosov, 32-for-33

POWER PLAY: HER - 1-for-3; LV - 1-for-3

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on the deflating fourth goal against and what led to tonight's loss:
"Well, that's just a tired mistake, you know. We talked about it, we showed it in the video on the pre-scout that we can't turn pucks over in certain areas of the ice. If you are going to turn a puck over, you turn it over in the corners behind their net or something, but you can't turn it over on the half-wall and then we backcheck and we backcheck, we don't pick up the guy on the weak side coming in. We had plenty of opportunities to score, we just couldn't capitalize on them. They had opportunities to score and they capitalized. That's the difference in the game. I don't think either team outplayed each other - obviously a physical game, it's a big rivalry, and they're fighting for their lives, and we're trying to stay ahead of them. Obviously the good thing is in this league you play them again the next day."

King on the official announcement earlier today on veterans Aaron Ness and Spencer Smallman undergoing surgery and being out of the lineup for long-term:
"Yeah, it's tough. It's not easy because coming into this season, we're building [the team] around, the Smallmans and Nessers being the leaders and helping these young guys. And now these young guys are thrown to the wolves, that they have to be leaders now, and maybe they're not ready for it. But, you know, [Belpedio] and [Schueneman] have stepped up and taken it upon themselves, and even someone like [Strome]. Those guys have been doing a good job with it, but we need more. Most teams have veteran problems. We don't have that problem right now. It's a shame those guys are out for a long period. But it's opportunity for some young guys to step up and show what we got."

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they face the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. Bears players will be wearing first responders themed jerseys that will be auctioned off post-game. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.