On Sunday, Capitals first line center, Dylan Strome<\/a>, was in attendance, along with his wife Tayler and their children, to support Matt Strome. Capitals defenseman Dylan McIlrath<\/a>, who previously captained the Bears to their back-to-back Calder Cups in 2023 and 2024, was also in the house with his family. Lapierre and Iorio also returned for their second game of the weekend.<\/p>\n The visits were meaningful for the current Bears, who needed points in the final two games of the regular season to improve their playoff seeding. Their overtime victory on Sunday<\/a> gave them the fifth seed in the Atlantic Division<\/a>, earning them a three-game series against the Bridgeport Islanders and guaranteeing them one home playoff game, which they would not have received if they lost.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d Matt Strome said. \u201cI think it just shows how close-knit our teams the last couple of years were. For them to come down here and see us and just talk with us, it was awesome. It was great to see.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt shows how special of a place Hershey is,\u201d Andrew Cristall said. \u201cAll those guys wanting to come back here and support their old teammates and us new guys is pretty awesome. So it\u2019s cool to see them and glad we got them a win.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt just shows you the respect Hershey has,\u201d Bears head coach Derek King added. \u201cIt was great to see some of those guys. Hopefully down the road here, when hopefully we get another Cup back here, those guys that were on that Cup team, the next ones are coming back to visit. You hear all the positive things, the stories. It\u2019s just good to see those guys around.\u201d<\/p>\n The former players sat in Bryan Helmer\u2019s suite (Helmer, a former Bears player and AHL Hall of Famer, is the Bears\u2019 vice president of hockey operations) and could be seen chatting throughout the night. During Sunday\u2019s game, the Stromes took their children down to glass level during warmups so they could say hi to their uncle.<\/p>\n The Stromes had the opportunity to play together with the Capitals earlier in the season when Washington played an exhibition game against the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> at Giant Center in September.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s special,\u201d Matt said then<\/a>. \u201cI know it\u2019s just preseason, but to be wearing the same jersey as my brother, it\u2019s something I\u2019ve wanted to do for a long time now. To get that chance in such a good organization that\u2019s been so huge for Dyl and I, it\u2019s just surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Dylan](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dylan-strome-matt-hershey-bears-game.jpg\")
\ud83d\udcf8: @taylerstrome\/Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n