The 1981–82 season was similar, but this time, Bear's only event was the 1982 World Championship. Fellow Canadians Cliff Thorburn, Bill Werbeniuk and Kirk Stevens were among the world's top players at this time, and Bear faced two matches in order to play alongside them at the Crucible Theatre. His first was a 9–4 defeat of Frank Jonik, and in the second, he was victorious by the same scoreline over Wych, securing himself a meeting with Werbeniuk in the last 32. Having held Werbeniuk to 2–4 and later recovered from 2–7 to 6–8, Bear eventually lost the match 7–10. Uniquely, each of his three matches in 1982 were between two Canadian players. He did not progress to the main stages of the World Championship again.