Wednesday afternoon, the Hershey Bears announced their 76-game schedule for the 2019-2020 season.

The Hershey Bears will open their season at home against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on October 5. The next day, they will conclude their season-opening home and home series against the Providence Bruins at 5 pm.

We meet again, @WBSPenguins.

8️⃣8️⃣ Days until our home opener versus our I-81 rival! Look for our complete 2019-20 schedule tomorrow. https://t.co/KfgIRsmeRr pic.twitter.com/WJLxAHBXKP

— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) July 9, 2019

Here is the full schedule from the Bears.

Full schedule

Dark brown are home games and tan games are away.

According to the voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch, several notable facts about this year’s schedule include a Thanksgiving Eve and Leap Year games and no teams from the west are on the schedule.

The schedule is here! Few takeaways:
-Great to start with two games at home
-Only 8 three in threes, which is awesome
-Love that the Thanksgiving Eve game is back
-No Midwest trip this year, no teams from the west on the schedule
-5 of the last 6 on the road https://t.co/D91ga4QiCI

— Zack Fisch (@zackfisch) July 10, 2019

-Also a Leap Day game on Feb. 29
-A 1 p.m. start time on Sunday, Dec. 22, and a 3 p.m. start time on Sunday, Jan. 5. Trying something a little different
-December a busy month at home, as always

— Zack Fisch (@zackfisch) July 10, 2019

The eight three-on-threes is a reduction from last season and appears to be geared to avoid going head to head with the NFL.

Lots of takeaways from this upcoming season's AHL schedule, but one thing is very clear: teams are ditching those 3-in-3 weekends as much as absolutely possible.

They're tough for development, and Sunday games mean going up against the NFL.#AHL

— PATRICK WILLIAMS (@pwilliamsNHL) July 10, 2019

I’ll be at a bunch of games this year. Will you?

Well, Coco wanted to give the #bottlecapchallenge a try with some assistance from an old friend. It went as well as you could expect @WBSPenguins pic.twitter.com/NnM7Ts1JGl

— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) July 8, 2019

More from the Hershey Bears:

(Hershey, PA-July 10, 2019)-The Hershey Bears, in conjunction with the American Hockey League, have released the club’s 76-game regular season schedule for the 2019-20 campaign. The complete schedule is attached, and viewable online HERE.

The Bears will open the 2019-20 season versus a pair of Atlantic Division foes. Hershey will open the new season on home ice as they host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. The following evening, the Bears welcome the Providence Bruins to Giant Center for a 5 p.m. puck drop.

In November, the annual Thanksgiving Eve game returns to the schedule on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. versus Providence. The game returns after a year hiatus due to building availability, bringing a popular family tradition back to the Bears schedule.

Hershey’s longest homestand comes in December as the Bears will play five straight games at Giant Center from Dec. 7-Dec. 22. December is the Chocolate and White’s most action-packed month on home ice with eight games at Giant Center in the last month of 2019. On the other side, Hershey’s longest road trip is from Mar. 31-Apr. 10 when the club hits the road for five straight games before returning to Giant Center for the regular season finale on Saturday, Apr. 11.

The Bears busiest month is January, which features 14 games. The schedule in the second half of the season also features a rare Leap Day game, marking just the ninth time in franchise history the Bears have played on Feb. 29, and the first at home since 2004.

Hershey hosts the most home games on Saturday nights (19), while they’ll also play home games on Tuesday (1), Wednesday (4), Friday (2), and Sunday (12). Home games will once again start at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Most Sunday games will start at 5 p.m., with special early start times on Dec. 22 (1 p.m.) and Jan. 5 (3 p.m.) Overall, the 2019-20 schedule features eight “three in threes” where Hershey will play three games in three nights. This number is down from 10 last season, 11 in 2017-18, and 14 during 2016-17.

The preseason schedule, Hershey’s complete promotional schedule, and information on individual tickets for Hershey’s 38-game home slate will be released later this summer. Season ticket packages for Hershey’s 2019-20 season are on sale now, featuring discounted costs and extra added benefits. Full Season, Half Season, 12-game, and Flex-10 plans are available with packages starting at just $205. For more information, call 717-520-5796 or visit HersheyBears.com.

Headline photo: Hershey Bears