This morning there are tens of thousands of Hershey Bears’ fans in agony, and they don’t need any reminder from me about how successful the past two seasons have been. I thought this morning would be a poignant time to share with you a cumulative portrait of my immersion among them from my visits to Giant Center the past two seasons and the odd roadtrip alongside them.
Bears’ fans are what make Hershey a hockey town. Take in the season opener at Giant Center in October and the first period won’t have ended before the new face in the section is alerted to the fanclub’s convoy for a New England weekend of hockey in March. And what a convoy it is. It fills six or seven buses — an interstate of moving maroon — and is joined by dozens of additional SUVs delivering drivers and passengers of in-kind road arena delerium. Once arrived, these diehards drown out their hosts numbering in the thousands, in Manchester, Portland, and Bridgeport. It happens every year. And the size of the traveling army is growing.
Back in Hershey, the environment is markedly more intimidating. Mike Vogel, in his blog file “Super Fans,” chronicles the Roman Coliseum-like atmosphere of Giant Center, and it seems to mirror a hockey player’s elevated focus and intensity in the postseason. Early in the Calder Cup finals a referee named Koharski authored an evening of judgement atrocities befitting his surname, and it’s likely he’ll never again be on the receiving of the vocal outrage he was last weekend in Hershey.
In the common hockey venue one often associates an official’s wretched work with sporadic bursts of salty-tongued rebuke from the well-beer-ed in the stands. In Giant Center, the offenses are taken personally, by seemingly every patron, male and female, young and older, hockey sweatered and neck-tied, seated low and high. Thrice, en masse, last Saturday night, just moments after the freshest Koharski cr*p, the rink thundered down onto the ice its iconic renditions of spelled-out and shouted bovine excrement judgement. I emailed Vogel at the end of the weekend and told him I judged these moments as ranking in the top five of my experiences at live sporting events. Their effectiveness was derived entirely from the fullness of participation. And I knew it couldn’t have happened here (too many Blackberries at Verizon Center).
Outside of Giant Center, hordes — hundreds — of Bears’ supporters congeal around the players’ entrance immediately following every game, no matter the weather. Some seek autographs, but many more request players to pose alongside them for photos, and still others seek only conversation with their hockey heroes. It was this latter quality that stood out to me last weekend as I stood in the post-game sea of support after the Bears’ lone victory in the finals. There was no brush-off of fans by a single Bears’ player. They happily and patiently engaged their passionate inquisitors. Eric Fehr, limping noticeably from his mystery ailment, was dressed in a business suit and stiff shoes in the early June mugginess and held court time and time again, offering every fan a full summary of his latest medical assessment. At last he made a move toward his car, this fully 60 minutes after the game, when again he was summoned for an update. He obliged, again, and spared no detail. Then Hersheypark’s end-of-evening summer fireworks started up, and Fehr stood there, encircled again by the faithful, and took it all in.
Bears’ fans accord the team a home (and road)-ice advantage that is unrivaled in the American Hockey League, and it ranks among the most formidable in all of hockey. They also bring honor and heritage to the organization’s affiliation with the Washington Capitals. Owner Leonsis has publicly stated his hope to see forged a vibrant synergy between the hockey lovers in Washington and Hershey. With good reason.
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6 Comments
Having attended last Saturday night’s game, I can attest that the “spelled-out and shouted bovine excrement judgement” was simply brilliant. Sure, we’ve all heard the “Bull-S! Bull-S!” chants in other arenas, but the “B – U – L – L – # – $ – % – @ … BULL#$%@!” chant is quite unique.
I was not only struck by the near 100% participation of the 10k+ faithful, but also their near-perfect unison timing.
I believe the chant is lead by a guy behind the goal where the Bears shoot twice.
The Capitals’ organization has admittedly been kicked around by fate quite a bit since its inception, but the stars seem to have aligned with the affiliation with Hershey.
Despite last night’s loss, congrats to the Bears on two spectacular seasons – their success gives us hopeless Caps fans a bit of hope, and I’m thankful that they have such wonderful fans up there to appreciate how great they are…
That Blackberry crack is more dead-on than you know, my friend.
Funny isn’t it, how a little town in the south central PA countryside can be such a thriving hockey metropolis, and some two hours to the south, in the alleged most powerful city in the country and one of the largest and most affluent markets, hockey is barely a blip on the media radar screen?
It’s all about winning. The Bears have won nine Calder Cup titles, and have been to the finals something like 20 times. That’s a stunning rate of success. Do some winning like that down here, and let’s see what happens.
I’m ashamed to admit that I forgot that game 5 was last night. I was so used to the every other day format of the finals (both NHL and AHL).
Still, mad props to the Bears for their season.
Vogel is sure right about winning.
But two things -
This is a very small and wildly successful sampling you give (“I knew it couldn’t have happened here”), with two years of late-season-winning-team / playoff-Bears fan interest.
Second (during the pre-Blackberry era anyway), the 1998 conference finals (before the SCF and the Detroit fans invaded) were witnessed by a quite united, passionate crowd, hungry and full of anticipation, and knowledgable still from the experience of watching a winning team through the 80’s and a plucky team through the early 90’s.
I think its unfair to compare fan reaction in the stands during late round playoff hockey in Hershey with that of regular season game hockey in DC, especially from a DC team that hasn’t had ANY playoff success since 1998 (!). This is decidedly not apples to apples.
Was the the Caps victory over the Flyers in Game 7 not as electric of an atmosphere, stashed away in the obscurity of Prince Georges County? And what of Game 2 of the afore-mentioned conference finals in 1998? I sure know I received an unexpected beer bath from the fans behind me for the ages, when Krygier scored the overtime winning goal.
Speaking of the Blackberry device though, as much as I loathe it and all it has done to alter (all negatively in my view) our work schedule, work load, private/family time vs. work time, the explosion of adult ADD, etc etc, I will say that if Ballsilie manages to bring the Predators to Southern Ontario, I’ll look at the devilish little Blackberry in a whole new light!
pepper — I wasn’t making the direct comparison of fans between DC and Hershey that you inferred. I did specifically in the context of Giant Center’s “Bullsh!t” chat — that will never happen at Verizon, as long as you and I are taking in games there. Unlike DC, Hershey has a legacy of 70 years of fervid backing for hockey, in Calder years and non-Calder years. Only winning will bring a respectability to the game experience here, both in terms of attendance and perhaps atmosphere. Hershey merely has to drop the puck. But of course, it’s small-town America, and not a market with NFL, NBA, and MLB competition.
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