Bears Top Islanders 3-1

October 29, 2025

The Hershey Bears (3-3-1-0) earned their second straight win and first road victory of the season with a 3-1 triumph over the Bridgeport Islanders (2-4-1-0) on Wednesday night at Total Mortgage Arena.

Hershey has won its last four straight contests at Bridgeport dating back to Oct. 16, 2024 in addition to its last four meetings against the Islanders overall.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Carter Berg gave the hosts a 1-0 lead at 18:06 of the first period.
• The Bears responded in the second period with a pair of goals in a 72-second span, as Ilya Protas leveled the game with his second of the season at 2:38; Ryan Chesley then gave the Bears a 2-1 lead with his second of the season at 3:50. The scoring outburst represented the fastest pair of goals scored by the Bears this season.
• Graeme Clarke assisted on Protas' goal and added a power-play strike for his team-leading fourth of the season for Hershey at 19:18. Calle Rosén's assist on Clarke's goal extended his assist streak to three games (4a).
• Bears captain Aaron Ness earned an assist on Protas' goal, giving him a two-game assist streak.
• Garin Bjorklund earned his second win of the season in his second consecutive start, making 23 saves.

SHOTS: HER 24, BRI 24

GOALTENDING: HER - Garin Bjorklund, 23-for-24; BRI - Parker Gahagen, 21-for-24

POWER PLAY: HER - 1-for-3; BRI - 0-for-4

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on his satisfaction with tonight's win:
"I'm really satisfied. Obviously when you win, but also the way we won. I liked our game for three periods. Obviously we got good goaltending again. Our special teams stepped up."

King on the pace of tonight's game:
"It was a good pace. I mean, they play a fast game too, they forecheck hard. But I think the only time we got in trouble with them is when we tried to get cute in the neutral zone. And when we didn't do that and got pucks in and forechecked, we did a good job with that."

King on what he felt was the turning point in the game:
"I think the power-play goal was big. You could just see the guys on the bench get excited about it. And then there's always little details of the games that you don't see until you watch it on video, which we will. But I just liked our overall effort. I thought we were pretty solid for three periods."

King on the team scoring twice in less than two minutes to recover from down 1-0 to go ahead 2-1:
"You could just feel the pressure off the guys, you know. The shoulders kind of were tight, and then they just kind of dropped, relaxed, and we played a little more relaxed game, and played the way we needed to, ready to go."

Garin Bjorklund on getting the win tonight while doing so in the same venue against the same opponent as his first career AHL win with Hershey last season, and how his teammates played in front of him:
"It was good. Obviously building off the last game, and with the boys winning, we wanted to get it done again, and honestly, it's a little bit comforting coming back to the same building where you got your first win. You kind of have that comfort zone, and the guys were giving it to me today and saying, 'You had a night here last time. Do it again.' So it was nice to come back here and get another win. I like this rink a lot. It's really bright so you can see the puck - some rinks are a little bit darker, and this one's lights are pretty bright, so I kind of like that about it. The guys did a really good job in front of me and helped me see the puck and with boxing out their guys. So kudos to them and hopefully we get it done again on Friday."

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they visit the Springfield Thunderbirds on Friday, Oct. 31, at 7:05 p.m. at MassMutual Center. Hershey returns home to host the Toronto Marlies on Friday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center, featuring Happy Hour, where fans 21-and-over can enjoy a $5, 16 oz. select beer special, available from doors to puck drop. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.