HERSHEY, Pa. — Dave and Jeanne Lutz sat down for their Sunday afternoon supper in Section 107 at Giant Center last month, just as their beloved Hershey Bears skated onto the ice. An announcer bellowed, “Chocolate Town, it’s time to roar!” That sound had never gotten old for the Lutzes, who started coming to Bears games shortly after they were married 66 years ago, eventually buying seven season tickets for themselves and their five children. They owned a pharmacy and gift shop on Main Street, just a few minutes from the arena, and over the years they helped the Bears with all their needs, often popping by after games so injured players could get medication late at night.
Everyone in the arena seemed to know them — even the cooks who prepared their meatloaf and green beans before the game. “They tried to keep it warm for you,” a server said as she delivered the food, and Dave, 85, smiled at his wife. “People are loyal here,” said Jeanne, 83, and eventually they finished their meal and cheered on the Bears, who are chasing another Calder Cup this spring as champions of the American Hockey League, in which Hershey has played since 1938.
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Nearly a century after Milton Hershey brought hockey here in part to entertain chocolate factory workers, the Bears and their fans still hold a novel place in the sport. The oldest AHL team serves as the primary development club for the Washington Capitals, even though it has supporters who have been season ticket holders longer than the Capitals have existed.
Some players refer to Hershey as the “33rd NHL city” because of the team’s dyed-in-the-wool fan base, much of which comprises generations of families that have followed it since World War II. Over the years, as the world has changed around them, the Bears have continued to thrive in central Pennsylvania largely because of their traditions as a quirky, family-oriented organization in a community some locals still refer to as the “sweetest place on earth.”
“The small town appeals to a lot of people, and even though it’s not the NHL, it’s as close as you’re going to get,” said Mike “Doc” Emrick, the longtime NHL broadcaster who lived in Hershey for six years in the middle of his career. “You’ll find a lot of people that played there and a lot of fans that have been loyal all these years and continue to be loyal whether they have a good year or they don’t.”
It has been a good year in Hershey. The team added polish to a cast of young players who are expected to help the Capitals rebuild in the coming years. The Bears clinched a postseason berth and could claim a record 12th Calder Cup, which they haven’t won since 2010. Each member of the team’s coaching staff played in Hershey, including first-year coach Todd Nelson, who was moving into a new condo in town last summer when an older woman next door walked over and introduced herself as a longtime fan. She asked if he was the new coach.
“Yes, I am,” Nelson told her with pride.
“I’m just letting you know we haven’t won a title in 13 years,” she said. The next day, Nelson was reminded of the drought a few more times at the grocery store.
“They care,” Nelson said. “It’s kind of like ‘Friday Night Lights.’ ”
For many fans, Bears hockey games are a time capsule that connects them with their own history in the community. One of the first fans to walk through the doors for the final Sunday afternoon game in March was 78-year-old Tom McLaughlin, a security guard at nearby Hersheypark. McLaughlin has been coming to games since 1955, when he was accompanied by a friend of his father’s. He wore a white Bears sweater with faded autographs from past players. He sometimes yearns for the old Hersheypark Arena, where Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in an NBA game and where the Bears came of age.
“It was great hockey,” McLaughlin said. “When you came in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, even the ’80s, most of the people dressed up. They wore suits and ties. Women wore beautiful dresses. It was a lot of fun.”
Across from McLaughlin’s seat in Section 103 sat 77-year-old Ken Rice, who has been a season-ticket holder since he was 14. He attended his first game nearly 75 years ago with his parents, who told him he was destined to be a Bears fan after he got one of his feet stuck in the wooden seats in the old arena. “I haven’t missed very many games,” he said. “It was Gordie Howe who said, ‘Everybody who is anybody in hockey has played in Hershey.’ ”
Hershey has been a springboard for hundreds of careers in hockey, for both players and coaches. The Capitals’ Stanley Cup title in 2018 featured 14 players who suited up for the Bears. The team’s play-by-play announcer, John Walton, worked there for nine years. Even those who haven’t been employed by the team are drawn there: Emrick was so enamored with the community that he relocated to Hershey in the early 1990s and commuted every day to NHL assignments in Philadelphia and New York.
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“In terms of the relationship of the community to the team, nothing has changed,” Emrick said. “You have people who are sandy haired or gray haired. … They span generations, of not only both arenas but also to the time when people wore hats to come to the games and the players did not while on the ice.”
While the Bears faced off in their third game in as many days against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the team’s vice president of hockey operations, Bryan Helmer, sat in his office at the arena and grinded out more work ahead of the postseason. The hallways outside his door were lined with sepia-toned photos of past teams. Outside on the concourse, the next generation of Bears fans lined up to take photos with mascots dressed in superhero costumes.
It was another quirk for fans that the franchise has become known for, including its famous Teddy Bear Toss, where fans throw thousands of stuffed animals onto the ice, which are later donated. More than 67,000 toys were tossed onto the ice during the annual event in late January, setting a world record.
“There’s a reason why I’m sitting here, and it’s because of the fans,” said Helmer, a former Bears player. “When you play in front of these fans, you understand how passionate they are.”
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Helmer had played in several minor league cities in his career — from Albany, N.Y., to Worcester, Mass., to San Antonio — but he chose to return to Hershey when his playing days ended because of people such as McLaughlin and the Lutzes, who retired a few months ago but still do not miss Bears games.
On the final Sunday in March, Rice was making his way to his seat, walking under the Section 103 placard adorned with a Hershey’s Kiss logo. Above him, the Reese’s Zone was full of younger fans who were already going wild.
“Other than my dogs and my wife, this is my family,” he said with a smile before raising his arms to feel the noise. “How could you not love this?”
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