Bears Thump IceHogs, 4-1

February 27, 2026

Sonny Milano led the way with three points (1g, 2a) to pace the Hershey Bears (24-20-6-2) to a 4-1 win over the Rockford IceHogs (19-29-2-2) on Friday night at the BMO Center.

The win marked Hershey's first ever at Rockford after previously going 0-2-0-0; Hershey improved to 3-0-0-0 overall against the IceHogs this season.

The victory reduced Hershey's Magic Number to clinch a berth in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs to 33 points.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Joey Anderson gave Rockford an initial 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 13:21 of the second period.
• Sonny Milano - loaned to Hershey the previous day and playing in his first AHL game since suiting up for the Bears on Oct. 30, 2022 vs. Lehigh Valley - tied the game with a power-play goal at 18:22, then later assisted on Andrew Cristall's game-winning goal and Ilya Protas' insurance marker.
• Cristall netted the game-winner at 1:51 of the third period for his 11th of the season and added an empty-netter at 18:47 for the first multi-goal game of his AHL career. Cristall's game-winner was the rookie's team-leading fourth of the campaign.
• Protas' goal at 17:03 marked his 21st of the season, giving the rookie center the most goals by an age-19 player in team history, shattering the previous mark of 20 first established by Réal Chevrefils in the 1951-52 season.
• Bogdan Trineyev earned a pair of assists.
• Garin Bjorklund made 25 saves - including a breakaway stop on Dominic Toninato in the third period and a follow-up rebound by Jamie Engelbert with under six minutes to play - to earn his fifth win of the season and his first since Nov. 15 at Lehigh Valley to snap a six-game winless skid for the netminder.
• Henrik Rybinski exited the game in the second period and did not return after being ruled out with a lower-body injury.

SHOTS: HER 31, RFD 26

GOALTENDING: HER - Garin Bjorklund, 25-for-26; RFD - Drew Commesso, 27-for-30

POWER PLAY: HER - 2-for-6; RFD - 1-for-5

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on what led to the win tonight and Hershey's puck management in the game:
"Our goaltending kept us in the game and special teams showed up at the right time. They got a lot of their shots on the double-minor penalty to Protas, and we were on our heels a little bit, and they put some pressure on us, but our conversation after the second was just getting back to the fundamentals and habits, and working together as a team. We lost a couple of guys, couple of banged-up bodies, the bench was rolled around a bit, but we stuck with it.

King on his approach to Sonny Milano:
"I just left him alone, just told him to go play hockey. I mean, we could we give him the structure stuff we do, but it's already pretty close to what Washington does and he already knows it. It was nice to have a player like that, of his kind of caliber down here, I don't know how long we'll have him if he keeps playing like that, but we'll take him while we can." 

King on the play of Garin Bjorklund:
"From the bench side of things, I've shot on a few goalies myself, so I can tell when a goalie's feeling it, and he was square to the puck all night. Whether it hit him or it rebounded, he was still square, he followed it well. He gave our guys a chance."

King on Ilya Protas breaking the club record for goals by a player in their age-19 season:
"That's all coaching right there [chuckles]. He's playing a pretty complete game. He still makes his mistakes, his young mistakes, but he battles hard and he's a talent up front. He's got some skill, even tonight he hangs around the net on the power play, and in that situation hopefully the puck goes to you, and he buried it."

Ilya Protas on being informed of his goal-scoring record:
"It's pretty special. Really proud about that, finding out about that, but it's all the credit to my teammates. Without them I couldn't have done that, and we've got a really good group in there, and I'm happy to be a part of it."

Garin Bjorklund on what contributed to him getting the win:
"Right from the jump, our team we were dumping the puck in deep and just hard on the forecheck and making plays, so right from the start of the game we were playing well, and I had confidence in them, and I could feel the confidence they had in me, so those games are easy to play. With those guys in front of you blocking shots, selling out, it was a big win all around."

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when remain in Rockford to take on the IceHogs on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. ET at the BMO Center. Hershey returns home to host the Charlotte Checkers on Monday, March 2 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center for Hometown Heroes: First Responders Night, featuring first responders-themed activities throughout the evening, and American Sentry Solar Yard Flag Night, where the first 6,000 fans in attendance will receive a yard flag, courtesy of American Sentry Solar. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.