Bears Take Down T-Birds 5-1 for First Win

October 18, 2025

Patrick Thomas and Ilya Protas netted their first pro goals to help lead the Hershey Bears (1-1-1-0) to a 5-1 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds (0-2-0-0) on Saturday night at GIANT Center.

The victory also marked Derek King's first win as Hershey's head coach, and his 100th career head coaching win.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Sheldon Rempal netted his first goal as a Bear 4:07 into the first period to give Hershey a 1-0 lead with a shot into the upper-right corner of the net that beat Georgii Romanov short-side.
• Forward Spencer Smallman made his season debut for the Bears after missing the first two games of the campaign due to injury, picking up an assist on Rempal's goal.
• Hershey defender Calle Rosen added a secondary assist on the Rempal goal. Rosen was also playing in his first game against Springfield since departing the Thunderbirds following the 2023-24 season. The defenseman has recorded points in his last two games.
• Hershey took a 2-0 lead after Ilya Protas pounced on a loose puck that was the result of a Springfield turnover in the visitors' zone, and found Patrick Thomas in the slot, who put home his first professional goal in his pro debut at 19:17, which ultimately stood up as the game-winner, making him the first Bears rookie to score a game-winner in his debut since Joe Snively on March 30, 2019 (2-1 win vs. Providence). Protas' assist also marked his first pro point.
• Nikita Alexandrov scored with Springfield on the power play at 18:28 of the second period to get the Thunderbirds on the board.
• Henrik Rybinski restored the two-goal edge with his first of the season at 13:06 of the third period from Bogdan Trineyev; the pair later assisted on Protas' empty-net goal (his first pro marker) at 18:28.
• Ryan Chesley capped the scoring with an unassisted shorthanded empty-net goal in the final second of regulation.
• Rookies Ludwig Persson and Leon Muggli made their season debuts for the Bears after getting into their first AHL games late last season.
• Hershey's victory pushed its home winning streak against the Thunderbirds to 14 games, dating back to March 13, 2019; Hershey has out-scored Springfield 55-26 over the course of the streak.

SHOTS: HER 31, SPR 23

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 22-for-23; SPR - Georgii Romanov, 26-for-29

POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-0; SPR - 1-for-5

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on getting the win:
"It feels good, but I'm happy for the guys. They put the effort in, and in the third, they came out and decided to play Bears hockey, and we got a win out of it. So good for them, and we'll just build off of that."

King on the team's play in the third period:
"Yeah, and in the second period, we struggled. I think the young mistakes were there, and some of the older guys were making the young mistakes that should be out of their game by now, but I like how we responded in the third, and our young guys played a real good game."

King on the play of the Thomas-Protas-Clarke line:
"I liked their line. They were good and Clarkey had some good chances too. So again, let's build off of this and let's not get ahead of ourselves, but it's nice to get a win, obviously the first one and then hopefully we get another one tomorrow."

King on Clay Stevenson's performance:
"Unbelievable. Like he made some saves, and hats off to the other goalie down there, because in the third period he had to make some saves. It could have gotten ugly either way, but both goalies were good and we'll see who's banged up for tomorrow and we'll go from there."

Patrick Thomas on the chemistry with his linemates and scoring his first pro goal:
"They're great players to play with in my first game. They really made it easy for me. They're supporting the puck all over the zone. Before the game, Clarkey joked about us all coming from the Ontario League, so maybe a little connection from there [...] We just kind of had it in for a little bit. Our forecheck was great throughout the first period and it was a pretty lucky goal, I can't lie - but we were rewarded for our hard work, so [I] can't complain."

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Springfield Thunderbirds on Sunday, Oct. 19 at 5 p.m. at GIANT Center. Hershey will continue to wear its Pink the Rink Weekend jerseys, which will be auctioned off post-game. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.