The Bears’ title defense begins with several familiar faces on the board TheAHL.com

Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer

The summer festivities are over. Training camp is over. Preseason games are underway. The championship rings have been released.

All that remains for the Hershey Bears to do now is raise their banner for the 13th Calder Cup championship. That happened tonight at the Giant Center. Then comes a long road trip, which will again stretch over eight months if the Bears are to become the first team in 63 years to win a third consecutive Calder Cup.

The first team to stand in the way of that struggle will be the Cleveland Monsters, tonight’s opponent who put the Bears in a seven game battle in the Eastern Conference Finals last June. The competition will be Live Saturday Community AHL Game of the Weekstreams for free on FloHockey’s Facebook, X and YouTube accounts.

This is the first of 72 games of the regular season for the Bears, who will be facing a lot of opponents who will do everything possible to try to knock out the two-time defending champions.

Hershey will be well equipped to handle this season-long challenge. As the Bears return for their 87th season as members of the AHL, many of the highlights from last season are back, including Hunter Shepard–Clay Stevenson the goaltending tandem combined for 51 wins, a .925 save percentage and 12 shutouts to capture the Harry (Hap) Holmes Memorial Award as the league’s top netminder pairing.

The protector Aaron Ness he is one of eight current Bears who were part of both the 2023 and 2024 championship rosters. Ness, who battled injuries after each of the past two seasons, knows all about gear.

“For us, it’s just getting back to doing things the right way,” said Ness. “Being able to rely on each other to play the game the right way. It worked.”

Back again on the green line is the likes of Ness, Hardy Häman Aktell, Day Logan, Vincent Iorio, Jake Massie again Chase Priskie. Joining that core is there Ethan Bearwho spent the past five seasons exclusively in the NHL, and Brad Hunt13-year pro and three-time AHL All-Star.

The best levels are back Ethan Frank (29 goals), Pierrick Dube (28 goals), and Alex Limoges (24 goals). Mike Sgarbossa is back after finishing last season in Washington. Ivan Miroshnichenko, Riley Sutter again Mike Vecchione to provide strong support as well. Luke Phil he came over to the Rockford IceHogs, too Spencer SmallmanCalder Cup winner with the Chicago Wolves in 2022, comes to Hershey from Colorado.

“We really raised a family here, a brotherhood,” explained Vecchione. “Nelly (coach Todd Nelson) can really bring a crowd of strangers together and do something about it. It all boils down to that, guys coming together [for] the same goal.”

Hunt knows the Bears have built, and his history with Nelson was a factor in bringing him to Chocolatetown. The two were together a decade ago in Oklahoma City and Edmonton, and the opportunity to meet his former coach in Hershey seemed irresistible as Hunt continued to pursue championships after being part of the Stanley Cup runners-up Nashville (2017) and Vegas (2018).

“When you get that close,” Hunt said, “winning becomes a big part of your daily routine. You want more. I am very happy to be here. You quickly find out how things work here. There is something special about the people who built here and the culture.”

Most of the role players who stepped up for Hershey after last season are back in the bullpen as well. They know what the job entails – and what it can mean. Matt Stromehis overtime goal in Game 6 of the Finals against Coachella Valley that won the Bears their most recent title, he wants to make the trip again.

“We know it’s the recipe here,” Strome said, “and you just have to do it.”

In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.