Hershey Bears Wiki Information at StubPass.com

Your Location: Edit

Columbus, OH

Enter Your Zip Code

Set Location

All Locations

Event

Help | About Us | Contact Us

1.0 Team history

1.1 From B'ars to Bears

1.2 Modern era

1.3 2006 Calder Cup championship

1.4 The Road to Number 10

2.0 Logos and uniforms

3.0 Mascot

4.0 Retired numbers and Hockey Hall of Famers

4.1 Retired numbers

4.2 Hockey Hall of Famers

5.0 Season-by-season record

QUICKSEARCH

Hershey Bears Wiki Information

The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League. The team is based in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Home games are played at the GIANT Center. Hershey is the longest-existing member club in the AHL, joining the league in 1938, and played their 5,000th game December 20, 2006. ^[1] The Hershey Bears are the 2009 Calder Cup Champions. This is their 10th championship, the most in AHL history, surpassing the Cleveland AHL organizations.

The Hershey Bears hockey club is owned by the Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company (HE&R), formerly known as Hershey Estates, an entity wholly owned and administered by the Hershey Trust Company.

HERSHEY BEARS TICKETS

EVENT	DATE	AVAILABILITY
Syracuse Crunch vs. Hershey Bears Tickets 11/23	Nov 23, 2024 Sat, 7:00 PM
Hershey Bears vs. Laval Rocket Tickets 11/27	Nov 27, 2024 Wed, 7:00 PM
Lehigh Valley Phantoms vs. Hershey Bears Tickets 11/29	Nov 29, 2024 Fri, 7:05 PM
Hershey Bears vs. Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins Tickets 11/30	Nov 30, 2024 Sat, 7:00 PM
Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins vs. Hershey Bears Tickets 12/4	Dec 04, 2024 Wed, 7:05 PM

Team history

From B'ars to Bears

The history of the Hershey Bears hockey club goes back to a series of amateur hockey matches played in Hershey between college teams beginning in early 1931. The first such formal hockey game ever played in Hershey took place on February 18, 1931, when Penn A.C. and Villanova University faced off in the 1,900-seat Hershey Ice Palace. Nine months after that successful inaugural contest, Swarthmore Athletic Club moved into the Ice Palace, where they played their first game on November 19, 1931 against Crescent A.C. of New York City. (In the lineup that night for Crescent was a 23 year-old center named Lloyd S. Blinco, a native of Grand Mere, Quebec. He came to Hershey the next season and would remain continuously associated with Hershey hockey for a half century as a player, coach, and manager).

The popularity of these amateur hockey matches prompted chocolate-maker and amusement park-operator, Milton S. Hershey, and his long-time entertainment and amusements chief, John B. Sollenberger, to sponsor a permanent team in 1932–1933 called the Hershey B'ars. The club joined the newly formed Tri-State Hockey League with teams from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Atlantic City. After one season, that circuit reformed itself into a larger, seven-club loop called the Eastern Amateur Hockey League in which Hershey played first as the "Chocolate B'ars" (1933–1934), then again as the "B'ars" (1934–1936), and finally in 1936 as the "Hershey Bears," a name they adopted in response to criticism levied by New York sportswriters and the league that the "B'ars" moniker was too commercial. (These writers had already informally dubbed the club as the "Bears from Penn's Woods" when they visited Madison Square Garden to play the New York Rovers.)

On December 19, 1936, the newly renamed Bears also moved from the confines of the Ice Palace (where they had to play on a small, 60x170-foot rink) into the newly constructed 7,286-seat Hersheypark Arena (then known as the "Hershey Sports Arena") built immediately adjacent to the older venue. Over the next sixty-six seasons, the Bears played a remarkable total of 2,280 regular season and playoff games at the Hersheypark Arena, which served as their home from 1936 to 2002.

In 1938–1939, the Bears became the eighth member of the newly formed International-American Hockey League (renamed the American Hockey League in 1940) which was created on the June 28, 1938, by the formal merger of the International and the Canadian-American (Can-Am) Hockey Leagues, after those two smaller circuits had played interlocking schedules over the previous two seasons. Although four of the seven other IAHL charter-member cities (Springfield, Syracuse, Providence, and Philadelphia) are also represented in the AHL today (2006–2007), only the Bears have played in the league without interruption since that inaugural 1938–1939 IAHL season.

In the mid-1950s, the Hershey Bears signed Don Cherry, a young high-schooler playing in the Ontario Hockey Association. ^[2] Cherry's first National Hockey League game was in the 1954–1955 season, when the Boston Bruins called him up for a playoff game. He went on playing for another 20 seasons before becoming a coach, and eventually, a comentator for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Hockey Night in Canada television broadcast. During the three seasons Cherry played for the Bears, from 1954 to 1957, he earned 424 penalty minutes, 15 goals, and 55 assists. ^[3]

Modern era

The Washington Capitals returned as the Bears NHL parent club in 2005 after a 21-year span with the Boston Bruins, the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Colorado Avalanche. (The club has also had earlier NHL affiliations with the Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres). As of the 2008-2009 Calder Cup Finals, the Bears have played in 21 Finals series, a league record. The Bears recently eclipsed the original Cleveland Barons for the most Calder Cup championships (10). Their most recent championship was in 2008–2009 versus the Manitoba Moose.

On December 20, 2006, the Bears played their 5,000th regular season game at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York. The Bears scored seven times en route to a 7-4 win versus the Albany River Rats.

In 2008, the Bears set a club record of 11 straight wins, besting their previous record of 10, set in 2002. Over the stretch from November into December, the Bears outscored their opponents for an impressive 54-15 record.

On May 2, 2007, the Bears played their 500th Calder Cup playoff game in franchise history at the GIANT Center. The Bears played the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and won 4-3.

Hershey has tied an AHL mark for consecutive playoff series victories, with seven wins in a row. The record is shared with the 2005–2007 Bears and the 1990–1992 Springfield Indians.

2006 Calder Cup championship

In 2006 the Hershey Bears, with new head coach Bruce Boudreau, returned to the playoffs after a two-year absence. The team came off with a strong start by winning their first two series, against the Norfolk Admirals and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, in four games each. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Bears played the Portland Pirates. The Bears quickly took a 2-0 series lead, but then lost the third game. The Bears then rebounded and won game four, to take a 3-1 series lead. However the Bears were unable to finish the job and were forced back to the GIANT Center for game seven. The Bears trailed throughout the game, but managed to tie it with a goal from Graham Mink just over two minutes remaining. In overtime, the Bears finished with a goal by Eric Fehr, to win the series 4-3. On June 15, 2006, The Bears won the Calder Cup by a series mark of 4-2, defeating the Milwaukee Admirals. This marked the ninth time the franchise had won the Calder Cup, which tied Hershey with the original Cleveland Barons for the highest number of AHL playoff titles.

The Road to Number 10

History Denied

The following season, Boudreau's Bears finished with a 51-17-6 record and appeared to be on the verge of repeating as champions. They rolled through the playoffs defeating Albany in five games, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in five, and won the Eastern Conference in a sweep of Manchester. The Bears appeared to have a tenth title wrapped up against Hamilton, who had finished the regular season with 95 points compared to Hershey's 114. The Bulldogs, however, upset the Bears 4-1. The next season was disappointing to the Bears - they lost Boudreau to the Capitals via a promotion, finished the season 42-30-32, and lost to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 4-1 in the first round.

Hanging 10

The next season, the Bears bounced back. Finishing with 49-23-2 record, they would go on to sweep the Philadelphia Phantoms in the first round, overcome a 3-2 deficit to beat Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the second, and then defeated Providence, 4-1, in the Conference Finals. They opened their 21st Calder Cup appearance with a 5-4 overtime win in Manitoba, but lost Game 2, 3-1. Back home in Hershey, the Bears scored a pair of wins (3-0 and 2-1) before falling in Game 5, 3-2. In Game 6, the Bears scored 3 goals before Manitoba even got on the board, and then an empty-net goal sealed it. With the 4-1 Game 6 victory the Bears defeated Manitoba and finally scored their league-record, tenth Calder Cup

Logos and uniforms

The colors of the Hershey Bears are burgundy, black, gold, and silver (though the team's primary colors are often referred to as "chocolate and white"), a reference to The Hershey Company and its products. The primary logo is a maroon bear, outlined in black, swatting a hockey puck centered below the Hershey Bears wordmark. The wordmark is a horizontal gradient using gold and burgundy outlined in black, with the Hershey part centered on a rectangular outline designed to resemble a Hershey's candy bar. The alternate logo consists of a bear's head in burgundy and black with the initials "HB."

Before their move to the GIANT Center in 2002, the Hershey Bears wore simpler uniforms with the colors of chocolate brown and white. The previous logo used a silhouette of a skating bear with a hockey stick in brown centered in a white, ovular shield outlined in brown.

In the advent of the 2007–2008 season, all of the teams of the American Hockey League unveiled newly designed Reebok EDGE uniforms, including the Hershey Bears. The home uniform includes a white jersey with alternating burgundy and black horizontal stripes and burgundy shoulders. The Bears' primary logo is centered on the front. The shoulder logos include the Washington Capitals' logo and the "HB" secondary logo. The away jersey is burgundy with white shoulders and black horizontal stripes near the bottom of the sweater. The third jersey resembles the home jersey with an arching "Hershey" wordmark centered across the front with the player's number positioned below.

Mascot

The Hershey Bears' official mascot is an anthropomorphic, brown bear named Coco. He wears the team's home jersey with a white hockey helmet. Coco the Bear debuted on October 14, 1978 at the Hersheypark Arena. His name alludes to the cocoa bean, from which Hershey's chocolate is derived. ^[4] Coco's favorite book is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, and his favorite movie is the original 1971 film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory .

Retired numbers and Hockey Hall of Famers

Retired numbers

3 - Frank Mathers (D) 1956–62 and Ralph Keller (D) 1963–74
8 - Mike Nykoluk (C) 1958–72
9 - Arnie Kullman (C) 1948–60 and Tim Tookey (C) 1980–81, 85–87, 89–95
16 - Willie Marshall (C) 1956–63 and Mitch Lamoureux (C) 1986–89, 93–95, 97–99

Hockey Hall of Famers

Frank Mathers (Player/Coach; Coach; GM; President/GM) 1956–91 Elected HHOF (Builder) 1992
Ralph "Cooney" Weiland (Coach) 1941–45 Elected HHOF (Player) 1971

Season-by-season record

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Bears. For the full season-by-season history, see Hershey Bears seasons

Regular season

Season	Games	Won	Lost	Tied	OTL	SOL	Points	Goals for	Goals against	Standing
2004–05	80	39	37	—	2	2	82	207	226	5th, East
2005–06	80	44	21	—	5	10	103	262	234	2nd, East
2006–07	80	51	17	—	6	6	114	305	219	1st, East
2007–08	80	42	30	—	2	6	92	253	247	4th, East
2008–09	80	49	23	—	2	6	106	296	240	1st, East

Playoffs

Season	Prelim	1st round	2nd round	3rd round	Finals
2004–05	Out of playoffs
2005–06	—	W, 4–0, NOR	W, 4–0, WBS	W, 4–3, PORT	W, 4–2, MIL
2006–07	—	W, 4–1, ALB	W, 4–1, WBS	W, 4–0, MAN	L, 1–4, HAM
2007–08	—	L, 1–4, WBS	—	—	—
2008–09	—	W, 4–0, PHI	W, 4–3, WBS	W, 4–1, PRO	W, 4–2, MTB

Current roster

As of June 15th, 2009. Data taken from AHL website.

GOALTENDERS
#	align=left	Player	Catches	Date of birth	Place of birth
30	Michal Neuvirth	L	March 23, 1988	Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
35	Braden Holtby	R	September 16, 1989	Lloydminster, SK, Canada

DEFENSEMEN
#	align=left	Player	Shoots	Date of birth	Place of birth
2	Patrick McNeill	L	March 17, 1987	Strathroy, ON, Canada
4	John Carlson	R	January 10, 1990	Natick, MA, USA
5	Tyler Sloan	L	March 15, 1981	Calgary, AB, Canada
6	Sean Collins	R	October 30, 1983	Troy, MI, USA
7	Karl Alzner	L	September 24, 1988	Burnaby, BC, Canada
20	Bryan Helmer	R	July 15, 1972	Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada
27	Grant McNeill	L	May 8, 1983	Vermilion, AB, Canada
32	Greg Amadio	L	May 13, 1981	Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada

FORWARDS
#	align=left	Player	Position	Shoots	Date of birth	Place of birth
10	Andrew Gordon	RW	R	December 13, 1985	Halifax, NS, Canada
11	Keith Aucoin	C	R	November 6, 1978	Waltham, MA, USA
12	Alexandre Giroux	LW	L	June 16, 1981	Quebec, QC, Canada
13	Steve Pinizzotto	C	R	April 26, 1984	Mississauga, ON, Canada
14	Jay Beagle	C	R	October 16, 1985	Calgary, AB, Canada
15	Stefan Della Rovere	LW	L	February 25, 1990	Richmond Hill, ON, Canada
17	Chris Bourque	LW	L	January 29, 1986	Boston, MA, USA
18	Kyle Wilson	C	R	December 15, 1984	Oakville, ON, Canada
19	Darren Reid	RW	R	May 8, 1983	Lac La Biche, AB, Canada
21	Graham Mink	RW	R	May 21, 1979	Stowe, VT, USA
22	Francois Bouchard	RW	L	April 26, 1988	Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
23	Andrew Joudrey	C	R	July 15, 1984	Bedford, NS, Canada
24	Mathieu Perreault	C	L	January 5, 1988	Drummondville, QC, Canada
26	Quintin Laing	LW	L	June 8, 1979	Harris, SK, Canada
36	Oskar Osala	LW	L	December 26, 1987	Vaasa, Finland
39	Kip Brennan	LW	L	August 27, 1980	Kingston, ON, Canada
--	Boyd Kane	LW	L	April 17, 1978	Swift Surrent, Sask, Canada
--	Trevor Bruess	C	R	January 6, 1986	Minneapolis, Minn, USA
--	Jake Hauswirth	C	L	February 16, 1988	Merill, WI, USA