Louie Belpedio scored less than three minutes into the opening frame to ignite the GIANT Teddy Bear Toss, and Graeme Clarke scored his first American Hockey League hat-trick as part of a four-point outing as the Hershey Bears (16-14-1-0) achieved a 5-2 win over the Rockford IceHogs (13-18-2-1) on Sunday afternoon at GIANT Center.

The victory gave the Bears a 2-0 lead in the season series with Rockford, and will conclude the series against the IceHogs with a pair of road games in Illinois on Feb. 27 and 28.

NOTABLES:

Louie Belpedio opened the scoring for Hershey at 2:55, prompting the 10,550 fans in attendance to throw 81,796 teddy bears and other stuffed animals onto the ice. The stuffed animals will be distributed to children in need across central Pennsylvania with the assistance of more than 60 local and regional organizations. Belpedio finished the day with two points (1g, 1a).

Gavin Hayes netted a pair of goals for Rockford, striking at 19:38 of the first and 30 seconds into the middle frame to put the IceHogs ahead 2-1.

Clarke enjoyed the third four-point game (3g, 1a) of his AHL career, assisting on Belpedio’s goal, then tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play goal at 12:17 of the second period, added his second of the day 54 seconds later, and capped the hat trick at 16:35 of the third period with an empty-net tally.

Spencer Smallman contributed three assists for Hershey for his first three-assist and fourth three-point game of his career.

Matt Strome (lower body) and David Gucciardi (upper body) both returned to the lineup for Hershey after missing time due to injury.

SHOTS: HER 27, RFD 22

GOALTENDING: HER – Clay Stevenson, 20-for-22; RFD – Laurent Brossoit, 22-for-26

POWER PLAY: HER – 1-for-1; RFD- 0-for-3

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on getting a pair of wins this weekend:

“Obviously yesterday was a huge win for us, greasy, but huge. I thought today was probably one of our better games we’ve played all season. We played as a team and it was fun to watch, and it was easy to coach too.”

King on experiencing his first Teddy Bear Toss with Hershey:

“[The goal and cleanup delay] maybe helped us, but it’s unbelievable. I’ve heard of it. I’ve been in them before with other teams and this takes it to a different level, obviously. And we have one sitting next to us here [gesturing to a decorative bear]. But yeah, I got hit in the head with one, knocked my glasses off. I’m like, ‘All right, I better take cover here,’ but it was great. It worked out perfectly because we got the first goal and then we just we played a hell of a hockey game.”

Louie Belpedio on the experience of scoring the Teddy Bear Toss goal for Hershey after previously witnessing it as a visiting player:

“I’ve been here as a visitor and tried to get down the tunnel as quick as I could so I didn’t have to see it, but just seeing how passionate everyone is and the amount of bears thrown, I’ve never been a part of anything like that, so it was pretty cool.”

Graeme Clarke on his Teddy Bear Toss experience with Hershey and his hat trick:

“It was kind of a crazy game where it’s record-breaking every year it seems like with the bears. […] But obviously a really cool game and the fans were going crazy, and I thought our line was really good tonight, helped out a lot, the first one on the power play, and then to kind of get a fortunate bounce in front, and then the empty-netter. Just a really good game all-around, and a good weekend for our team. I feel like the second half [of the season] we can keep building off this stuff, and it’s going to be good.”

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center for Country Night and Pepsi Cowboy Hat Night, featuring a Bears cowboy hat giveaway for the first 6,000 fans in attendance.