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.