The 2012–13 Hershey Bears season was the franchise's 75th season in the American Hockey League, starting on October 13, 2012, and ending on May 8, 2013, when they were eliminated during the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs.
Due to the 2012–13 National Hockey League lockout, Washington Capitals coach Adam Oates served as co-coach of the Bears alongside head coach Mark French until November. Several Washington players also played with the Bears for a time, including defenseman Dmitry Orlov and goaltender Braden Holtby, who recorded four season shutouts.
The Bears experienced major offensive problems at the start of the season, resulting in the team's worst 17-game start in eight years. But the team saw more success as the season progressed, including a seven-game road winning streak from November 28 to January 11, and a seven-game point streak from January 26 to February 15. The Bears participated in the 2013 AHL Outdoor Classic, but lost to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Hershey was eliminated from the playoffs by the Providence Bruins despite winning the first two games in a best-of-five series, marking only the tenth time this had occurred in league history. Afterward, it was announced that French would not be retained for a fifth season as head coach. The 2012–13 season drew a club-record home attendance average of 10,046, only the fifth time a club's average had surpassed 10,000 in recorded league history.
Off-season
After several years of roster stability, the Hershey Bears lost several players during the off-season, including Keith Aucoin, Chris Bourque, Andrew Carroll, Sean Collins, Cody Eakin, Kyle Greentree, Christian Hanson, D. J. King, Jacob Micflikier, Graham Mink, Zach Miskovic, and Joel Rechlicz. The team obtained several new players through free agency, including Alex Berry, Matt Beaudoin, Matt Clackson, Jon DiSalvatore, Jon Kalinski, Steven Oleksy, Garrett Stafford, Ryan Stoa, and Jeff Taffe. Rookies Stan Galiev and Cameron Schilling joined the team, Mattias Sjögren returned from the Swedish Elite League, and Hershey also obtained Zach Hamill in a trade that sent Bourque to the Boston Bruins organization. Bears coach Mark French said the new roster made the season feel like "a change in era".
Like all American Hockey League teams, the Hershey Bears saw changes at the start of the season due to the National Hockey League lockout. Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby and defenseman Dmitry Orlov joined the Bears roster due to the lockout, and Capitals head coach Adam Oates became co-coach of the Hershey team along with French. Oates' coaching staff also joined Oates and the team, including assistant coaches Calle Johansson and Tim Hunter, and video coach Brett Leonhardt. Bears goaltender Sergey Kostenko started the regular season on injured reserve due to off-season shoulder surgery, and winger Danick Paquette required surgery after breaking his right forearm during an October 6 exhibition game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Regular season
October Hershey began its regular season with major offensive problems. They were outshot in 17 of their first 18 games, and were held to one or fewer goals in seven of those games. Their 6–10–1–0 start was the lowest total through 17 games since 2004–05, which was the last season they failed to make the playoffs. After losing their season opener to the Syracuse Crunch, the Bears beat the Binghamton Senators on October 19 despite being outshot 44 to 21. Hershey lost their first home game on October 20, falling 8–7 to the Rochester Americans; the 15-goal total marked the most combined goals from a Bears home opener, up from the previous record of 12 in 1987. Hershey center Ryan Potulny exited the game with an undisclosed injury, and would not return until November 16 after a nine-game absence. The team's defense improved in subsequent games, allowing two goals or fewer in four of their next five matches.
Hershey lost 2–1 in overtime against Binghamton on October 21. The game would have gone to a shootout, but under the first usage of the AHL's new video replay system at Giant Center, a Senators goal that had been overturned with 6.5 seconds left in overtime was restored. The Bears were held to a single goal in a second straight game in a 3–1 loss to Connecticut Whale on October 26, but the next day saw their first home win and first shutout victory of the season. They defeated the Albany Devils 3–0 and Holtby, who had been sidelined since the previous week by an upper body injury, made 35 saves. Forward T.J. Syner was recalled from the ECHL's Reading Royals and made his Hershey debut in that game. The Bears finished the month with a 3–2 victory against the Penguins on October 28, marking their first winning streak of the season. Orlov would miss the next four games due to an upper body injury, not returning until November 11.
November Hershey defeated the Springfield Falcons 3–2 in a shootout on November 2, in which Boyd Kane and Matt Pope scored their first regulation goals of the season, and Galiev made the game-winner in the seventh round of the shootout, his first professional shootout attempt. In a subsequent 3–2 loss against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on November 5, the Bears allowed a season-high 11 power plays, four of which were five-on-three. Hershey had 50 total penalty minutes in the game, compared to 115 minutes total in their first eight games. Stoa suffered an upper body injury that left him scratched until January 5. The Bears went 3-for-7 on the power play during a 3–1 victory against the Penguins on November 9, ending a 0-for-18 power play stretch; Holtby made 38 saves in the game. The Bears lost their next match 2–1 against the St. John's IceCaps on November 10. They were outshot 27 to 19, making a total of 359 to 266 for the season and putting them 29th out of 30 in the league in shots.
Hershey's offensive problems continued in a 3–1 loss against the Portland Pirates on November 11, in which they struggled to get the puck out of their zone and through the neutral zone. Holtby, who made 31 saves, said afterward, "We just seemed to look dead the last couple games." Kalinski suffered a hand injury and would not return until December 27. The Bears fell to Syracuse again on November 16. The 6–1 game, the most lopsided defeat of the season, was their third consecutive loss and third straight home game with only one goal. Hershey broke a three-game losing streak on November 17 with a 4–1 against the Penguins, where Garrett Mitchell scored two goals, including Hershey's first successful penalty shot since February 27, 2010. The team had surrendered two goals or fewer in eight of their past 14 games. But Hershey lost their next two games, including a 4–0 shutout loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on November 21. The Binghamton-based Internet radio Power Play Post Show reported from an anonymous source that Penguins head coach John Hynes put a $200 bounty on Bears defenseman Oleksy for that game, a claim Hynes strongly denied.
After the November 21 game, Oates announced he and his assistant coaches would no longer coach the Bears, giving full control of the team back to French and assistant coach Troy Mann. Hershey's offensive problems continued with a 3–1 loss against the Adirondack Phantoms, where they went 0-for-7 on the power play and saw their points percentage drop to .382, the worst in the Eastern Conference. However, they won five of their next six games starting with a 4–2 victory over the Toronto Marlies on November 25. The Bears' subsequent 5–2 win against the Norfolk Admirals on November 28 marked the start of a seven-game road winning streak that would not end until January 11. It was also just the second time in 19 games that they outshot their opponent, with 35 shots to Norfolk's 26. DiSalatore made two of the goals. The Norfolk match was Kane's 310th game with Hershey, placing him 39th in the teams' all-time games played list. The Bears won a third consecutive game against Bridgeport on November 30, against leading in shots 32 to 24. They won 5–2, scoring four goals in the third period, a season high for goals in a single period.
December The Bears opened the month with a 5–1 loss against Norfolk on December 1, even though the Admirals allowed nine power plays. On December 4, DiSalvatore and Potulny were formally named alternate captains, ending the practice of rotating alternates throughout the season. Orlov suffered an upper body injury during Hershey's 2–1 victory against Norfolk on December 6, and did not return to Hershey until March 9. The Bears also won 5–4 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after Kevin Marshall, who had been a healthy scratch the day before, made his first Hershey goal in overtime for the win. The Bears lost 3–2 against the Hamilton Bulldogs, with Potulny scoring both Hershey goals, including a power play goal that ended the team's recent 0-for-19 power play record.
Hershey next won 2–1 against St. John's on December 11, in which Holtby the eighth goaltender in Hershey history to reach 70 victories. Taffe had two assists, tying him with Aucoin for second in the league for assists, and both Hershey goals came on the power play, marking the first time since November 9 they scored more than one power play goal in a game. Holtby had three shutout victories in the next five games, starting with a 4–0 win against St. John's on December 12. The Bears scored two power plays, marking the first time since the season's three opening games that the Bears scored power plays in three consecutive matches. Paquette and Kostenko were reassigned to ECHL's Reading Royals, and rookie winger Stanislav Galiev was recalled from Reading to the Bears. Holtby's next 4–0 shutout victory against Norfolk on December 19 moved him to fifth place in career Hershey shutouts with 13, and seventh place in regular season wins with 72.
Hershey went 0-for-9 in the power play in their subsequent 1–0 loss to Springfield on December 22, which ended a seven-game point streak for Taffe. Holtby's 2–0 shutout against Scranton on December 26 brought his record to 12–9–1, tying him for third in the league for wins; his four shutouts of the season tied him for second in the league. During a five-game span he stopped 154 of 158 shots, a .975 save percentage. With their sixth straight road win on December 27 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Hershey saw a streak of 21 straight successful penalty kills end with a power play goal by the Penguins' Paul Thompson. Hershey lost their next three games, during which they went 0-for-11 on the power play. Although his shutout streak ended, Holtby made 89 combined saves during the losing streak. He was named AHL Goaltender of the Month for December, during which he had a .943 save percentage and allowed one goal or fewer in six of 10 starts.
January