If I were to make a List of 100 Objectives to accomplish in my life, like Mr. Leonsis has, skating at Hersheypark Arena would be on that list. And as of Sunday, February 8, 2009, I could cross that task off my list.
Public skating at the Arena is often available on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 2:00 – 4:00 during the short-day months. Before you make the trek up with your skates, though, you should verify the skating schedule here. There was such a session this afternoon, right before the Bears’ 5:00 matchup with Portland. On a stunningly warm, sun-splashed afternoon an upwards of 100 skaters turned out to twirl around on the playing surface of the classic old barn.
Interestingly, I was the only skater in a Yogi Sjevkovsky sweater.
There are novel skating settings — Rockefeller Center, Parc La Fontaine in Montreal, Millenium Park in Chicago, certainly our C&O Canal when the weather cooperates — and I’d have to include Hersheypark Arena among them. I didn’t quite feel as if I was skating with ghosts this afternoon, but down on the playing surface I appreciated the arena’s hockey-first architecture as my legs churned on the hard ice. The arena’s seats are so steeply pitched that as I looked through the plexiglass at the old wood perches I thought of them as judgment seats: it was impossible to fathom any player’s performance on a single shift escaping the notice of 16,000 eyes so perfectly placed.
That was far from the skate’s only charm. Hersheypark Arena is blissfully, commendably free from safety nets at both the east and west ends of the playing surface. Instead, up high at the corners of scoreboard catwalks at both ends of the rink there are small signs with black lettering that read:
“Spectators Are Warned of Possible Injury from Flying Pucks”
That struck me as sufficient safeguarding for serious hockey patrons. Of course, in its heyday, Hersheypark Arena didn’t have many folks with their heads buried in Backberries during play.
Both players’ benches were clogged with spectating parents and resting skaters during the entirety of the session, many taking pictures of the fun. This weekend skate is a good bargain — six bucks for two hours of ice time, and if you need your skates sharpened that’s only $5 (about half the going rate of greater D.C.). There was up-tempo and mainstream rock music played for the skate. I liked that, too.
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That rink is awesome. I actually played a couple tournaments there when I was in high school. That was one of my favorite experiences!
Jed,
I feel privileged every time I enter it, at any time of year.
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendel attended yesterday’s Hershey Bears’ game. If I’d had the chance, I’d have asked him for his thoughts on the state setting about restoring and preserving this monument.
I have skated in there several times, and it is always special. Recently I took my daughter to a Bears practice there. Her first reaction: it smells. I told her that was the smell of old time hockey. She enjoyed her time there and even got a stick from Keith Aucoin. What she didn’t know was that she had been there before. Granted, she was yet to be born, but she was there. We were actually there the night before she was born to get in one last game before we had to take a hiatus from hockey.
We returned about a week after the practice for an open skating session. That was the first time that I had been on that ice with my wife and daughter. Obviously we took some pictures of the moments on the ice. One of these days I will start posting regularly to my own blog so that we can share these things.
Whenever you post about the Hershey Park Arena, I feel guilty. Not in a bad way, but in a “I got to see what so many people missed” kind of way.
I was so fortunate to grow up with Hershey Park arena only minutes away. That’s where we went skating on weekends, watch LVC or Bears Hockey, PA State Highschool Wrestling & Basketball Championships, and even the Harlem Globetrotters (one of my favorite memories – with such a fan friendly atmosphere, the interaction with the players and fans was unlike any other).
I wish we could have the Bears play a few games a year there, just to give people a second chance to take part in it. I wish people could see when the Bears were about to win a game that would move them up in the standings -and had a decisive lead- the thrill of watching the rink folks go to the standings board and move the Bears a step up. It was even better when they moved the opponent’s plaque a step down. The crowd would just erupt!
Thanks so much for sharing your Arena thoughts. I love to read them… it brings back so many of my own memories!
Katie,
My reflections on the building and community pale in comparison with yours — I had no idea about the manual labor associated with the arena’s scoreboards, but of course that makes perfect sense. Those had to be spirited moments — for players and fans alike.
Now I wonder if among all our modern bells and whistles in contemporary arenas there might not one day be a move to bring something like that. I don’t know where such a scoreboard would go, but I live the idea of a fan in red being selected and awarded the honor of moving the standings position.
We can dream, can’t we?
I was up in Hershey for the games this past weekend and I was at the skate on Sunday. (I was wearing the Red Caps jersey.) I’ve done the pre-game skate at the old barn maybe half a dozen times over the past 2 seasons. It’s great just to be able to go into a historic building like that. On days when skating wasn’t happening, I’ve watched college and kids games there. I wish the Bears would play a game or two there each season. Even an exhibition. As much as I like the GC, it would be fun to at least be able to experience one game in the HPA. Hopefully it will be around for a while longer. (And thanks for giving me a chance to explain who Yogi Sjevkovsky was – the guy with the 4-goal game in Buffalo in the last game of the season. Who knew that would be his last highlight???)
See? That’s where that guilty feeling comes from. I know you would love to see that.
As for taking part in it, that would be amazing. I’d vote for you in a Montreal Ballot stuffing style to be the one to do it.
I’ll dream with you…
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