Hershey Bears: A Legacy of Hockey Excellence
We love this synopsis on the history of the Hershey Bears!
It’s peak season for all those hockey fans out there! And Hershey is known for loving hockey. In fact, it was this love of the sport that saw the creation of the Hershey Hockey Club to begin with!
Way back in 1931 an ice rink was added to the Convention Hall in the winter season to create the Ice Palace. Swarthmore Hockey Club began using the space and it became so popular that by the end of the season the Ice Palace was remodeled to provide a larger ice surface for hosting games. By the 1932-1933 season Hershey had its own club in the newly formed Tri-State League. After one season the league re-formed into the Eastern Amateur Hockey League which fielded 7 teams, Hershey being one of them.
In the 1933-1934 season the Hershey Hockey Cub was named the Hershey B’ars with maroon and silver as their colors. However, the name changed in 1936-1937 thus, the Hershey Bears were born.
Hockey continued to grow in popularity and soon needed a larger space. The Hershey Sports Arena was the answer. The opening game in the Arena was December 19, 1936 where Hershey played the New York Rovers. Hershey joined the AHL in the 1938-1939 season playing their first professional game at the Hershey Park Arena on November 5, 1938
The Bears are the oldest club in AHL history and hold a record 13 Calder Cup Championships: 1947, 1958, 1959, 1969, 1974, 1980, 1988, 1997, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2023, and 2024. The Arena was replaced with Giant center in 2002 and that is home to the Hershey Bears today!
Did you know that HCA is the official repository for the Hershey Bears?
You can learn more at the Hershey Community Archives.
