Hershey Bears
| Hershey Bears | |
|---|---|
 2016–17 AHL season
|
|
 |
|
| City | Hershey, Pennsylvania |
| League | American Hockey League |
| Conference | Eastern |
| Division | Atlantic |
| Founded | 1932 (T-SHL/EAHL); 1938 (I-AHL/AHL) |
| Home arena | Giant Center (2002–present) |
| Colors | Chocolate, tan, cocoa, white |
| Owner(s) | Hershey Bears Hockey Club, a sub-division of the Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company |
| General manager | Bryan Helmer (VP of Hockey Operations) |
| Head coach | Troy Mann |
| Captain | Garrett Mitchell |
| Media |
The Patriot-News WQIC WHTM-TV (ABC27) WHP-TV (CBS21) WGAL-TV (NBC8) WPMT-TV (FOX43) |
| Affiliates |
Washington Capitals (NHL) South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) |
| Franchise history | |
| 1932–1933† | Hershey B'ars (T-SHL) |
| 1933–1934† | Hershey Chocolate B'ars (EAHL) |
| 1934–1936† | Hershey B'ars (EAHL) |
| 1936–1938† | Hershey Bears (EAHL) |
| 1938–1939† | Hershey Cubs (EAHL) |
| † —Non-AHL franchises operated by the Hershey Hockey Club | |
| 1938–present | Hershey Bears (I-AHL, AHL) |
| Championships | |
| Regular season titles | 7 1942–43, 1957–58, 1980–81, 1985–86, 1987–88, 2006–07, 2009–10 |
| Division Championships | 17 1938–39, 1943–44, 1946–47, 1951–52, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1975–76, 1980–81, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1993–94, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2014-15, 2015-16 |
| Conference Championships | 23 1940–41, 1941–42, 1944–45, 1946–47, 1948–49, 1953–54, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1968–69, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1979–80, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1996–97, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2015-16 |
| Calder Cups | 11 1946–47, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1968–69, 1973–74, 1979–80, 1987–88, 1996–97, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10 |
The Hershey Bears are an American professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The current Bears club has played in the American Hockey League since the 1938-39 season making it the longest continuously operating member club of the league still playing in its original city.
The Bears currently serve as the primary development club for the NHL's Washington Capitals and have been since the 2005-06 season. Since the 2002–03 season the hockey club's home games have been played at Giant Center, located less than half a mile west of Hersheypark Arena, the AHL club's previous home from 1938 to 2002. (The Arena was also the home to the EAHL Hershey Bears from 1936 to 1938.) The Bears have won 11 Calder Cups, more than any other AHL team. They won their most recent title in 2010.
Chocolate manufacturer Milton S. Hershey first established the "Hershey Hockey Club" in 1932 to manage pro hockey teams based in Hershey. Now in its ninth decade, it has operated four different teams in three pro leagues, including the AHL Bears. Now called the Hershey Bears Hockey Club, it is a subsidiary of the Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company (originally called "Hershey Estates" and later "HERCO"), the entertainment and hospitality division of the Hershey Trust Company.
Gordie Howe, who was selected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972 and is known as "Mr. Hockey," once remarked, "Everybody who is anybody in hockey has played in Hershey."
The history of Hershey hockey 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, who came to Hershey the next season and would remain continuously associated with Hershey hockey for a half century as a player, coach, and manager.
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