This afternoon, Bears captain Aaron Ness announced that he will retire after 15 seasons of profession hockey. Ness ended up spending the majority of his career in Hershey, after joining the organization starting in the 2015-16 season after spending his first four and a quarter seasons with the then Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the end of the 2010-11 season.

Ness ends his career with 818 games played in the AHL, playing exactly 890 games professionally when you add his 72 games played in the NHL. 466 of those he played in chocolate and white. His 76 playoff games with the Bears, the last six of which he played this past season, ranks him third all time in Hershey history and first all time for a defenseman. He tops the rankings for assists by a defenseman in the 88-year history of the Bears and is the highest scoring American-born defenseman in Bears history.

Ness will end up being best remembered for his most recent four year stretch in Hershey, where he was part of Calder Cup winning squads in 2023 and 2024. However, his impact during his first term as a Bear should not be forgotten. Ness was part of critical veteran group that signed with Hershey in the 2015-16 season that helped that seasons group get over the hump and make the 2016 Calder Cup finals, where Hershey fell just short to the then Lake Erie Monsters.

Ness joined fellow Bears legend Chris Bourque, along with Zach Sill, Paul Carey, Carter Camper, Sean Collins, plus goalies Dan Ellis and Justin Peters, to provide the necessary veteran depth to a talented, but young Bears group that was eliminated in the second round the previous season. Ness is the only player to have played for the last three Bears teams to make a Calder Cup Final.

In my opinion, Ness should be a lock to join his former teammate in Bourque in both the Bears own Hall of Fame, along with the AHL’s Hall of Fame. He will go down as one of the best two-way defensemen in league history, and will be remembered well for his leadership on and off the ice.

I hope that Ness sticks around in Hershey with the organization and if he does, this community should make sure he never has to buy a beer in this town ever again. His commitment to Hershey should ensure it.

Now, management and this coaching staff have the tough task of replacing the leadership Ness brought, which in my opinion, would be made simpler if they re-signed Matt Strome to pair with the already returning Louie Belpedio. But Ness is one of one, and he will be hard to replace no matter what is done.

Thank you for being a Bear Aaron- Hershey will miss you.