Without question the Hershey Bears today have a home rink to make most other pro hockey teams jealous, including a few in the NHL, but not far behind Giant Center looms the old Hershey Arena, an architectural cathedral to our game, hockey history’s home in central Pennsylvania.
I had an opportunity last weekend to pop in to the old barn for the first time, and I was staggered by its hockey worshipping simplicity, its classic comfiness, its magnificently steeply-pitched three tiers of old, curved, wood-backed seats, and its overwhelming charm. And overwhelmed I was. “This is a hockey town,” John Biebe says in ‘Mystery, Alaska.’ Well Hershey Arena is a hockey arena, in a hockey town, and while likely I’ll never see a pro puck game in it, I’m damn glad I spent the 15 minutes inside it I did on Saturday.
The great old Hershey Sports Arena was a flagship facility in its day, a host to events compelling and common, but this past Saturday on my visit, all I could imagine was the energy of its hockey crowds — almost 70 years, uninterrupted, of hockey crowds. And as one who never numbered among them, I felt a profound sense of loss.
Hershey today is regarded as a hockey town, and rightly so, but as I made my way back home Sunday alone with my thoughts about all that is right with our sport in this special Pennsylvania outpost, I settled on the idea that way back in time the stewards of the Hershey B’ars gave their community an amazing gift: a shrine for the sport, one that perhaps remained under the radar of a larger appreciative consciousness simply by virtue of the fact that Hershey’s teams competed in relatively modest leagues. How was ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ to find this magnificent barn?
I wondered: In such a shrine, how could the sport not flourish in this community?
As time whithers and erodes the foundations of these World War era relics we are fast approaching the day of their permanent departure, even from visiting. I was told by Pennsylvania journalists over the weekend that the arena is no longer owned by the Hershey Foundation, and therefore vital restoration work needed for it is uncertain at best.
For 66 consecutive seasons the Hershey Arena was home to one of the most distinguished franchises in all of hockey. During that time the Bears won eight Calder Cup championships. All eight banners commemorating the titles hang there today at the arena’s East end.
If I had to compare Hershey Arena to any venue I’ve visited I’d cite College Park, Md.’s, Cole Field House. But Hershey Arena was for me grander and yet, ironically, more intimate than Cole. Both are barrel-shaped with towering ceilings, but Hershey’s crown seemed to me to rise especially high into the Pennsylvania sky. Cole is one wrap-around stream of 15,000 seats, the upper portions of which remove the spectator a significant distance from the action below. In Hershey, the rings of tiers add character and distinction, and no one sits high or far removed from the theater.
Here is the number of seats in Hershey Arena whose views of the ice surface carry at least a slightly obstructed view: Zero.
Color me jaded by Jumbotrons. PO’d by profane pyrotechnics. And so imagine my old-timer’s delight happening upon Hershey’s sections-spanning, rectangular standings and game scoreboards, perched above the third tier at both ends, updated by hand. Quite simply, hockey fans seated in Hershey Arena had nothing in front of their eyes except the playing of world-class hockey. Quite up close. How novel.
The best indication of the Arena fans’ proximity to play: at both ends of both boards hung modestly sized, black lettered warnings to patrons of the dangers of deflected pucks angled into the stands.
All of this archaic-ness, and yet standing before it all Saturday, I was consumed by the delusional desire of “How soon can the boys get dressed?”
Maybe I should blush or feel slightly embarassed by my love-at-first sight attachment to this joint, with all of its infirmities, but I can’t and I won’t. I have spent the past 10 or 15 years consuming my live hockey in concrete and glass and steel edifices whose primary distinguishing feature is their ability to raise big dough from posh suites encircling the best vantages. And perhaps it was with this in mind that I reacted as strongly as I did Saturday, judging the arena to be premised on a commendable egalitarianism: every one of its 7,200-plus seats was set in place with the hockey fan — and his enjoyment — foremost in mind.
I am aware that I am also not alone in my embrace of this nostalgic past. Just last Thursday Bruce Boudreau had his Hershey charges take their morning practice paces on the old arena’s ice, and according to team officials, it’s hardly uncommon for the team to do so, even when the Giant Center surface is available. It would seem that a team with a rich history has a leader keenly interested in immersing his youngsters in it, with regularity.
In Hershey Arena there is no air conditioning, no de-humidifiers. The Bears of course skated there in the 1997 Calder Cup finals, against Hamilton. I asked Tim Leone of the Patriot News how they pulled off late-spring playoff hockey in so primitive an environment. “Oh you had fog all right,” he told me. “But the players just came out and started skating [ full laps] to get it cleared out.” 
To genuinely appreciate how special a building the Arena is, you really need to make a pilgrimmage. The beauty of such a venture, should you make it on a fall or winter weekend, is that you can toss your skates in the car and take a few spins out on the ice there during public skating sessions held each weekend.
Suffice to say, that’s high on my to-do agenda this autumn.
In my literature search for this barn I happened upon an account of the first game played at the Arena, dated December 19, 1936. It was chronicled by a Martin Rudy, and it ran in the Sunday News of Lancaster (Pa.). Its lead: “A fighting Hershey hockey team scored a 3 to 2 triumph here tonight over the New York Rovers at the new Hershey Sports Arena which is ranked the finest in America.”
I could have composed that lead this past weekend, were Calder Cup games 1 and 2 held there, changing only the scores and the name of the visitor, most assuredly retaining the setting’s characterization.
13 Comments
10 years ago I watched a preseason game between Colorado and Pittsburgh. The arena was awesome to be in. It had the feel of old Maple Leafs Garden.
I saw my first hockey game in the Hershey Park Arena when I was 4 years old. I’m now 55. I have seen countless numbers of games there. It is quite simply the best hockey arena ever built.
Is it bad if the minor league team has a better history than the nhl team?
just asking
Less so, if so, in this case, in which the parent club is supplying the farm with an abundance of gems.
I think Hershey’s rich history would dwarf all but a few NHL franchises’ accolades. The Caps have nothing to be ashamed of in that respect.
When the Caps had their preseason camp in Hershey, we used to go up and watch a game in the old arena. You felt as if you could reach out and touch the players and please don’t forget the vendors going up and down those steep steps selling, what else?, but Hershey bars.
This has nothing to do with hockey, but in terms of the Hershey Sports Arena’s historical significance, it was also the site of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game…. pretty cool.
I first fell in love with hockey and the Hershey Bears in that arena (during the ‘97 Calder Cup run) and even today, to walk in there and feel the amazing presence within the building, it moves me to tears. I would love to see it restored and properly taken care of. Because the thought of what might happen to it, makes me cry.
An amazing tribute to an amazing place. Great work.
HersheyPark Arena is a wonderful place. I saw my first game there during the 1994 lockout. I was bummed at not getting to sit on the glass at the Cap Center (a birthday present) but we made the trip up from Virginia Beach to Hershey instead. The arena was amazing. When the ECHL Hampton Roads Admirals became the AHL Norfolk Admirals I looked forward to going to Hershey again. I only made it back to the old place two more times before the Bears moved to the Giant Center. I regret not making more Ads/Bears games at the HersheyPark Arena. The Giant Center is nice but it lacks the soul of the old arena.
I’m 36 years old now and I vividly remember seeing Flyers-Caps exhibitions in the Arena when I was a youngster. They were wonderful, brawl-filled affairs and they are my first memories of this grand arena. I saw over 100 games in this historic arena by the time I was 19 and there are so many great memories. But the one I cherish most came in 1988. My fellow season ticket mate and I were both 17 years old. His 15 year old brother just died unexpectedly of meningitis. The doctors just thought it was the flu. I talked to him the night before he died- talking about the virtues and negatives of our favorite team’s goalie, Ron Hextall of the Flyers. The next day he was dead. About a week went by and I had planned on going to the Bears game alone, sensing that my friend Jay would be to depressed over his loss to attend. But he called me and said, “What time are you picking me up?” I said, “Do you really want to go to a hockey game with all that has happened?” and he said, “I need to go to the Arena in the worst way.” And so we went. I can’t tell you who we played or if we won. But I remember sitting with my good friend in that glorious Arena, cheering the Bears on, and realizing that something as insignifcant as a minor league hockey game came be more significant than you’ll ever know.
I remember my first trip back east to meet my Fiancee’s Parents. They asked me if I was a hockey fan, being from CA I guess we seem rare to appreciate hockey as much as easterners. I do though since my Mom was from New York I remember watching the games on TV when they were on Sundays in black & white.
The first game I was lucky to see it was Hershey playing against the Sharks farm team. It just so happens my neighbor in CA played with the coach for Kentucky up in Canada when they were in the minors. So that was special to see as well. I think the main thing was just the atmosphere of the game in an arena that holds so much history. The Sharks have a newer arena here and it’s their HOME. Just like that will always be the Bears HOME.
Out here in CA everything is about the money and how many butts can we get in the seats so we can make as much as possible. I guess our ways have made it east. Here in CA the Giants who I am not a fan of, actually scaled down their seating making the ball park more like the old days. Their old park is also home to the 49ers, I have been lucky enough to see all sorts of History in Candlestick Park from Willie Mays 3000th hit to “The Catch”. While those are great memories soon thats all they will be. That park is going to demolished in the next few years as all of the old ones will be here. Its funny to say the old ones because next to the places back east the parks here are all babies. I just hope that someday owners see past their wallets and keep history alive here.
Our history in this country is young compared to the rest of the world, yet we always seem to keep ripping out the older things to rebuild. I guess thats why we dont have to many ruins here its a good thing the original Olympic Games were held elsewhere or they would all be condos by now. Just to let you know how we hold true to our history here in CA this will make you sick. When Concord was a tiny town back when my folks moved here. There was an auto dealership in the middle of the city. The man that owned it wanted it there so that he could serve the entire city and be close to the main gas stations for his out of town customers. He passed away several years ago. As soon as he passed away the relatives had all his property sold in no time and now we have an entire 3 city blocks of high rise condos to look at. Progress? MONEY thats whats its all about. Just think how many tourists could stay at the park if there were 2000 time share units available for them to stay in. They would never have to leave the site where they use to play hockey. Dont turn into CA.
I never liked hockey when I was younger. I didn’t understand the sport and thought I was pretty stupid. That was until I saw my very first live hockey game. My friend’s parents have took a group of us up for his birthday in November 10 years ago to HPA. I didn’t know it then, but what a blessing it was. That evening I absolutely fell in love with the sport and I went to 20 games. I continued the tradition every year after. I never bought season tickets while they were in the old barn because I enjoyed too much getting the standing room tickets. I would always stand at section 19.
I have many fond memories of the old barn and sometimes I still wish I could go and watch a bears game there once in a while.
Today my wife, 2 daughters, brother, father-in-law, the friend who’s patents took me to my first game and I are bears season ticket holders.
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[...] *Those of you who’ve been OFB readers for more than a month know of my regard for Leone’s coverage of the Bears. Tonight he shared a kind word with me for my file on the old Hershey Arena earlier this spring, and he alerted me to the fact that he has a chapter on the great old barn in his history of the Bears, titled Hershey Bears: Sweet Seasons. [...]
[...] such an impression on me that I felt compelled to research it and write up my admiration (’An Eternal Home for the Hockey Heart‘). At the time I was riddled with regret at my failure to see live hockey contested in such a [...]
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