Bears Top Phantoms 5-1 in Preseason Opener

October 1, 2025

The Hershey Bears (1-0-0-0) opened their 2025 preseason schedule with a 5-1 win against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (0-1-0-0) on Wednesday night at GIANT Center.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Hershey's Justin Nachbaur and Lehigh Valley's Artem Kulakov each received major penalties for fighting at 2:16 of the first period.
• After falling behind 1-0 in the opening period, Hershey reeled off three consecutive goals in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Kyler Kupka, Simon Pinard, and Ludwig Persson each found the net in a sequence of under four minutes.
• Nicky Leivermann gave Hershey a 4-1 lead in the third period with a shorthanded goal at 1:43, but exited the game with an apparent lower-body injury at 12:27 following a collision with Lehigh Valley's Sawyer Boulton in the offensive zone.
• Kupka finished the night with two goals and an assist, while Jaylen Luypen and Jon McDonald each logged a pair of helpers.
• Garin Bjorklund played the entirety of the game for Hershey, making 23 stops.

SHOTS: HER 28, LV 24

GOALTENDING: HER - Garin Bjorklund, 23-for-24; LV - Yaniv Perets [L], 12-for-15; Keith Petruzzelli 11-for-13

POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-1; LV - 1-for-4

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on tonight's performance:
"It was nice to get a win, obviously, when you're a new guy in town and there's some pressure here to win some hockey games, but it was a good showing. It wasn't the prettiest game for us. We've got to clean up some mistakes, but I like our effort."

Bears forward Ryan Hofer on if he feels he's progressed enough to secure a full-time role in Hershey after spending the majority of last season in the ECHL with South Carolina:
"I think so, for sure. Last year in SoCo I really found my game, found my confidence again, and I think with that spot being open I think it's mine for the taking, but again, nothing's given, I've still got to earn it, but I think I'm playing with the most confidence I've had in a while now, so I'm excited."

Bears goaltender Garin Bjorklund on the defensive play of the team in front of him tonight:
"They were unbelievable in front of me. It's kind of nice to play behind them when they already have a few goals and we kind of played with the lead and you kind of have that confidence, and you're just playing and having fun with it, and that's when the game comes easy to you. It's not an easy league, there's a lot of high-end talent here and you've always got to be ready, but it helped today with those guys in front of me and they did a really good job for our first preseason game."

The Bears continue the preseason when they visit the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday, Oct. 3 at 10:30 a.m. at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. Hershey opens the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, against the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. For single-game ticket information, visit HersheyBears.com.