On Frozen Blog

11:45 a.m.: In the middle of this week I wondered about the appeal of spending this particular weekend in Hershey, coincidental to the Bears’ home opener. It’s never a bad idea to take in a Saturday night hockey game at Giant Center, and the moreso on Hershey’s home Opening Night. But I thought the gentle hills of south central Pennsylvania likely in peak autumn colors, and two full nights within them the perfect escape from hustle and bustle of D.C. Late this morning, driving East through the Lebanon Valley en route to Adamstown and Stoudt’s brew pub, some 30 minutes East of Hershey, I realized I’d made a brilliant travel decision this weekend.
The central region just north of Maryland hasn’t endured anything like the summer and early fall drought of the lower Midatlantic, and as I drove under brilliant sunshine this morning green fields stood out as novel to my eyes, lush between burnt orange, brown, and maroon leaves above and, intermittently, vibrant orange pumpkins stacked and splashed about porches, yards, and small-town merchants’ store entrances.
Stoudt’s, while not near Hershey, is for me a must-visit on every visit. The beer is brewed and bottled cold, meaning that for a traveler like me I can store it in my Jeep and allow it to warm before chilling it again without the slightest harm. Stoudt’s Pils, Pales, and seasonals arrive on the beer lover’s tongue like nectar from an unearthly realm. There’s a quirky law that requires the Stoudt’s patron purchasing beer for take-out to transport only 12-packs at a time to his car. I had a shopping list generous not only for myself but also for my expert on all beers of the planet friend Michael, who lives back home on Capitol Hill. This exertion represents the day’s exercise. Today in the air’s crispness and the hills’ panoramic colors I savored the entirety of the 40-mile drive. The brewery opened at noon. I was there at 12:11.
12:45 p.m.: I hurry back to Hershey from shopping in order to meet a gracious invitation from the Patriot News’ Tim Leone, beat reporter for the Bears, who invited me to his home to watch a half afternoon’s worth of college football before heading over the Giant Center together. USC was playing Notre Dame Saturday. Tim is a USC grad, and, I like to kid Tim, I’m a “patriot,” so it was a showdown slate for us. Tim has a basset hound named Dash who waddles in the family yard patterns that are better disciplined and faster than any of the Fighting Irish’s wide receivers. I think Dash might run block better than any ND linemen as well.
5:15 p.m.: Tim and I head over the to the rink. It’s Chamber of Commerce gorgeous out. If I didn’t have a game to cover, I’d have no problem sipping a few Stoudt’s on my hotel room’s veranda and just staring at the sun setting over the horizon’s hills. Hershey is playing the second most storied franchise in the American League tonight, the Rochester Americans. It’s a novel matchup, Leone informs me, as the visit represents Rochester’s first to the Giant Center in almost two years. Rochester has a dual affiliation with Buffalo and Florida.
I don’t know the identities of the man and woman staffing the credentials table in the entrance hall of the press door at Giant Center, but when I inform that that I’m with OnFrozenBlog, the lady tells me “Oh you’re with the frozen blog. You guys are doing a terrific job.” There is always some manner of warm welcome I experience on every visit up here, in some restuarant or at some service station or at the rink, and this ranks among the best of them all for me.
The Bears are 0-3 on the new season, in the basement of the AHL’s East Division. This is very unfamiliar territory, particularly for Bruce Boudreau and his staff.
6:55 p.m.: In pre-game darkness and opening night lasers, a business-suited Eric Fehr is introduced to the home crowd. I’m so tired of seeing Eric in a business suit. Sami Lepisto is also a scratch, also because he is hurt. A Bears’ staffer informs Leone and me that Boudreau will dress just five defensemen tonight. I find that interesting in light of the fact that the Bears’ bus got home from Connecticut in the middle of the night.
Weird looking: Ben Clymer is dressed for the Bears. I am anxious to see Sasha Pokulok, who’s enjoyed something of a renaissance in his hockey career in the last three months. He led the Bears in scoring during the preseason.
The house is about fourth-fifths full.
7:15 p.m.: Both on paper and in the early going tonight I notice less flash to the Bears’ lineup relative to the past two seasons. One good reason for that is the graduation of Tomas Fleischmann. But Dave Steckel, too, put up big numbers and played an enormous role for Bruce Boudreau the past seasons in Hershey. In the middle of the summer I asked Leone if he thought this would be a “rebuilding” season in Hershey. He actually thought they’d contend for the East division title again, and he said this again to me today in his home.

7:35 p.m.: During Caps’ training camp last month I heard various team officials allude to Chris Bourque’s improved fitness, of his making a real commitment to pursuing an NHL training regimen off the ice, and I see evidence of it on the first-period ice. In particular he seems stronger in his strides at the end of his shifts.
The Bears, on the strength of the game’s first three power plays, badly outshoot the Americans in the opening frame, 17-5. But it’s scoreless at intermission.
7:45 p.m.: 1:25 into the second period Ben Clymer scores the game’s first goal from a scramble in front of Americans’ netminder Tyler Plante.
I year ago I remember telling Leone that I thought he’d really enjoy watching Andrew Gordon play hockey here in 2007-08. Tonight I’m watching him just fly around the ice, making short but snazzy passes, demonstrating superb hockey sense, play physical. I’m convinced that he’s going to become a fan favorite here in Hershey as the season progresses.
Well, the good news I delivered to Tim he returns tonight with sour for me: he offers me the 38-zip yardage tally for USC and Notre Dame. The Trojans piled up a gazillion, the Irish about 4. I remind him that the Irish will get the upper hand in hockey.
8:10 p.m.: Louis Robitaille gets into a dustup with Rochester’s Mike Weber. It’s quick — about 6 seconds — and Louis gets off a few flung-with-a-fury lefts and wins a decision in leveraging Weber down to the ice. No harm done to either, and 5 minutes of cooling of time for each.
In the press box there is a buzz over what appears to be a wretched injury in the Florida Panthers’ game tonight. A Panther, the word is, went off the ice on a stretcher.
8:25 p.m.: Territorially, Rochester gets the better of a lot of the second period, and their hustle draws the Bears two men down for more than a minute late in the period. Sure enough, the Americans even it up at 1-1 on a 5-on-3 goal from Kamil Kreps. The period ends 1-1.
I’m struck by a conspicuous absence of energy in the home crowd on opening night. I think many of them are fairly stunned by the team’s 0-3 start, and the moreso that two-thirds of the way through tonight’s game, there’s the real chance of the Bears going 0-4. I’m so used to being in the building and being unable to think from all the noise. I am keeping an eye on the NHL scoreboard, and now aware that what was a 1-0 Caps’ lead over Team Evil is now a 2-1 deficit after two. Another inducement for making this trip was being in a Saturday night rink with Pennsylvanians served by civic-minded barbers. I don’t miss all that hair and all that enemy noise in Verizon.
8:45 p.m.: I check message boards for the Florida Panthers during the second intermission. David Booth apparently is the injured Cat. The posters claim they say him moving all limbs. Hope so.
8:58 p.m.: At 4:41 of the third, Jame Pollock blasts a gorgeous screamer from the center point just under the crossbar on the power play. Bears 2, Americans 1. He got all of that baby.
9:10 p.m.: The Bears are protecting a 2-1 lead entering the game’s final 10 minutes, and I’m interested to see how much Boudreau, who dressed just 5 blueliners tonight, uses Pokulok. I don’t have anything official in terms of shifts and minutes, but it’s clear that Tyler Sloan and Jame Pollock are his go-to guys back there. Josef Boumedienne also gets a good amount of ice time. Pokulok appears to be fifth in the 5-man rotation.
Now the Americans take a couple of killer penalties, putting Hershey two men up for 1:22 with a little over six minutes left.
Just as the home crowd gets on the Bears for not shooting on the 5-on-3, Clymer strikes again in front! 3-1 Bears. Still 1:18 of power play time left.
9:25 p.m.: Chris Bourque doesn’t appear to leave the ice in the game’s final four minutes. Rochester is unable to mount any significant pressure in the Hershey end, and the Bears earn their first win of the season, 3-1.
The game’s three stars:
3: Frederic Cassivi
2: Rochester netminder Tyler Plante
1: Ben Clymer