The Hershey Bears released their 2025-26 schedule alongside the other 31 American Hockey League teams on Thursday afternoon.
Hershey will open their season at home against the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday, October 11 at GIANT Center. The Bears will play the Crunch again the next day, not hitting the road until their fifth game of the year against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on October 24.
The Bears announced their schedule with a video styled like the popular Backyard Hockey video games from the early 2000s.
Hershey will play 13 home games on Saturday nights and 13 on Sundays. Their longest homestand of the season is a franchise record 9-game stretch from November 26 to December 20, starting with the club’s traditional Thanksgiving Eve game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Their longest stint on the road is an 8-game swing later in the year from March 27 to April 15.
The Bears are scheduled to play three “three-in-threes” this season, where they will play on three consecutive nights.
Hershey will play all 14 other teams in the Eastern Conference, facing off against Pennsylvania rivals Lehigh Valley and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a combined 20 times. The Bears will also play eight games against Charlotte, six against Bridgeport, four against Syracuse, Rochester, Belleville, Cleveland, Providence, Hartford, and Springfield, and two against Laval, Toronto, and Utica. They will also suit up against the Western Conference’s Rockford IceHogs four different times.
Rockford is the lone new opponent for Hershey, replacing the Chicago Wolves as the Bears’ lone cross-conference season series. Hershey will return to Illinois for two games at the end of February.
According to the Bears, single-game ticket information and a complete promotional schedule will be shared later this summer in advance of the 2025-26 season. Season tickets are already available and can be purchased on the Bears’ website.
Here are some other leaguewide highlights provided by the AHL:
- The 2025-26 regular season begins with eight games on October 10 and a total of 28 games over the league’s opening weekend.
- The Abbotsford Canucks raise their 2025 Calder Cup championship banner when they open their home slate at Abbotsford Centre against the Ontario Reign on October 24. The Canucks begin the season with a four-game road trip, kicking off October 10 in Henderson.
- The Rochester Americans begin their 70th season as members of the American Hockey League with a home game against the Toronto Marlies on October 10. The Bridgeport Islanders (25th season), Chicago Wolves (25th), Grand Rapids Griffins (25th), and Tucson Roadrunners (10th) also celebrate milestone AHL seasons in 2025-26.
- The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are scheduled to play the 2,000th regular-season game in team history on February 1, 2026, when they visit Lehigh Valley. Wilkes-Barre will become the 15th city in AHL history to have its team(s) play 2,000 games.
- The Rockford IceHogs host the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic presented by BMO, scheduled for Tuesday, February 10, and Wednesday, February 11 at BMO Center in Rockford, Illinois.
- Games scheduled by day of the week: Monday (13), Tuesday (63), Wednesday (198), Thursday (17), Friday (286), Saturday (395), Sunday (180).
Here’s the press release from the Hershey Bears:
HERSHEY BEARS RELEASE SCHEDULE FOR 2025-26 SEASON
Bears to play a 72-game schedule that starts on Oct. 11 versus Syracuse at GIANT Center
(Hershey, PA – July 11, 2024) – The Hershey Bears, in tandem with the American Hockey League, have released the club’s 72-game regular season schedule for the 2025-26 campaign, presented by Penn State Health.
The 2025-26 season gets underway for the Bears at GIANT Center versus the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. Hershey plays the Crunch again the following day at 5 p.m. amid a four-game stretch at home from Oct. 11-19 to start the club’s 88th AHL campaign.
Hershey’s schedule will feature a franchise-record nine-game homestand from Nov. 26-Dec. 20. The Bears will host Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (3), Providence (2), Bridgeport (1), Charlotte (1), Laval (1), and Lehigh Valley (1) during the stretch. That homestand begins with Hershey’s traditional Thanksgiving Eve game which once again returns to the schedule on Nov. 26 at the Bears host Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at 7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday home games will be a staple of Hershey’s schedule, as the club is slated to host 13 home games on each day during the campaign. Additional home games occurring on weekdays come on Tuesday (2), Wednesday (4), and Friday (4).
For the first time since 2019, the Bears will play the Western Conference’s Rockford IceHogs at GIANT Center, as the two teams square off on Jan. 3-4 for Hershey’s first action in 2026. That kickstarts the busiest month on the calendar for the Chocolate and White, as the Bears will play 14 games in January, including eight contests at home and six on the road.
Hershey’s longest stretch of road games is eight, as from March 27-April 15 the Bears visit Charlotte (2), Bridgeport (1), Hartford (1), Lehigh Valley (1), Springfield (1), Syracuse (1), and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (1). In the second half of the season, Hershey plays 23 road games, including a stretch of 22 of 30 games away from Hershey from Jan. 28-April 15.
The Bears will conclude the 2025-26 campaign on home ice against the Rochester Americans on Sunday, April 19, at 3 p.m.
In total, the schedule features just three “three-in-threes,” in which the Bears will play three consecutive games in as many days.
Hershey will once again play all teams in the Eastern Conference during the 2025-26 campaign with games versus Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (10), Lehigh Valley (10), Charlotte (8), Bridgeport (6), Belleville (4), Cleveland (4), Hartford (4), Providence (4), Rochester (4), Springfield (4), Syracuse (4), Laval (2), Toronto (2), and Utica (2). Along with the games against Rockford, Hershey’s 15 unique opponents on the 2025-26 schedule represents the largest figure of any Atlantic Division club.
Single-game ticket information and a complete promotional schedule will be shared later this summer in advance of the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health. For season ticket information, visit HersheyBears.com.
