Rapid Reaction: Belpedio Reflects on Career Milestone as Bears Top Amerks

It took 3,147 days since Louie Belpedio made his professional debut on March 17, 2018 to reach 500 professional hockey games. Since taking the ice for the Iowa Wild against the Grand Rapids Griffins, he’s gone on to play for several AHL and NHL clubs, and the defenseman celebrated the milestone on Wednesday as the captain of the Hershey Bears, scoring what proved to be the game-winner in a 3-2 triumph over Rochester.

The win marked Hershey’s first road contest of the season after beginning the campaign with seven consecutive games at home. Hershey was the final AHL team to play its first road game in the 2026-27 season. The Bears never trailed, as Hershey built a 3-0 lead by the time Belpedio netted his first of the season, which itself capped a spurt of two goals in 24 seconds after Petr Sikora had given the visitors a 2-0 edge.

“We just played pretty simple to start, honestly. We got out to a nice lead, we kind of got away from it a little bit, took some penalties, let them back into the game,” Belpedio said after the contest. “But we finished it off in the third and we’re happy to come out of the game with two points on the road.”

Just as Hershey had scored two goals in quick succession, the Bears gave up a pair in short order to the Americans, as Aidan McDonough and Carson Meyer beat Cal Petersen on successive Rochester shot attempts 84 seconds apart to allow the hosts to creep back into the game.

“The game can change really quick, and it did – they were out of the game,” Bears head coach Derek King said. “We were all over them, and then they popped the one up the middle there, and then a bad play on the draw there, so it changed. But I like the fact that we stood our ground and stayed with the program, and kept wearing them down.”

The Bears recommitted to their defensive structure, limiting Rochester to just four shots on goal in the third period to match Hershey’s season-low for shots against in an individual frame. Having defenders like Belpedio patrolling the blue line has helped make the difference. 

“That’s 500 games of hard hockey. That’s just the way he plays, and obviously our fans know that. He’s always hitting, blocking shots, doing all the little things, and that’s a lot,” King said of Belpedio’s career. “His body probably feels like it’s a thousand games, but good for him.”

Although he’s only coached Belpedio for just over a season, King is well-versed with Belpedio’s body of work, as King coached against Belpedio when the former was the bench boss of the Rockford IceHogs and the latter was a young defender for Iowa.

“He’s just a smart hockey player. He’s really good when the momentum shifts,” King said. “He knows when to get the guys going on the bench and talk to them and calm things down, and he brings that presence – that’s why he’s our captain.”

After 500 games – many of them played between long stretches on buses traveling from city to city across the AHL – Belpedio reflected on how far he’s come in his career.

“Yeah, it means a lot. I’m just thankful to be able to come to the rink every day and play the game that I love so much,” Belpedio said. “I’ve experienced a lot of ups and downs, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I just want to just keep going and keep having fun with it.”

“Even just away from the rink, learning how to balance it, being a husband [to wife Alyssa], becoming a dad [to daughter Bre], becoming the captain of a team. Just finding things that I’m good at and just trying to use that to my advantage at the rink and just be a good teammate, be a good leader. Obviously, we’re on the road a ton. My wife holds down the fort at home and I just try to be the best version of myself every single day. And the hockey’s almost secondary at that part.”

Written by Bears media specialist Jesse Liebman

Responses edited for clarity