HERSHEY, PA \u2014 The Hershey Bears\u2019 2025-26 season came to an end in heartbreaking fashion on Thursday night when the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins defeated Hershey 4-1 in Game 4, taking the Atlantic Division Semifinals series three games to one.<\/p>\n
For several Bears, including rookies Ilya Protas<\/a> and Andrew Cristall, the campaign marked the beginning of what will likely be long careers in professional hockey. While on the other side of the coin, Aaron Ness and Matt Strome may have played their final games with Hershey.<\/p>\n Both Bears players, one the captain and the other an alternate, had extended goodbyes on the ice, seemingly aware that this may be the final time they put on a Hershey uniform. Ness, 35, was also honored as the Third Star of the Game.<\/p>\n Aaron Ness waves goodbye<\/p>\n Matt Strome receives hugs from all his teammates as they leave the ice<\/p>\n Walking into the media room, both players were visibly tearful.<\/p>\n Ness, who was an alternate captain on the Hershey Bears\u2019 2023 and 2024 Calder Cup championship teams, was asked if this were the final time he\u2019d put on a Bears sweater.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Ness replied. \u201cNothing\u2019s promised the older you get, obviously. So, yeah, we\u2019ll see. You can\u2019t always say 100 percent for sure. There\u2019s a lot of things that still need to be talked about. Converse with my family and here. But obviously, this is the one place I\u2019d want to play if I\u2019m coming back. It\u2019s been unbelievable. And I\u2019ve had an absolute blast here playing with a lot of great players, a lot of great people. It\u2019s been a lot of fun. I\u2019ve been very lucky to do this as long as I have.<\/p>\n \u201cThe crazy part about this whole thing is, I started skating when I was two years old back home,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd you\u2019ve been doing it for so long. And you never think there\u2019s an end. You just don\u2019t. I want to play forever, obviously, right? You can play forever. And then you get to a certain age, like where I\u2019m at now, and it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, okay, well, nothing\u2019s guaranteed anymore.\u2019 I think it\u2019s the biggest thing that comes to my mind, it\u2019s just the sacrifice that so many people make. In my life, without my family and my wife and my kids, I\u2019m just sacrificing so much of their day-to-day and their lives. Just to be able to come to practice every day. So it\u2019s pretty special. I\u2019ve had a lot of fun. I hope they have too. It\u2019s been fun having my kids around the rink a lot more, and yeah, I\u2019ve been very, very lucky, very blessed, and it\u2019s been a fun journey.\u201d<\/p>\n When notified that he, too, had also sacrificed a lot for the team, Ness appeared to choke up.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout incredible doctors and trainers and all those guys back in that room getting me ready, it was great. But yeah, I had the injury I had a couple playoffs ago on my ankle. It was the same one on the other side. So, yeah, so I had to go and get it surgically repaired, and work back from that. It\u2019s never easy.\u201d<\/p>\n