Hersheypark Arena

^{February 13, 2010
Hersheypark Arena (Capacity: 7,286)
Hershey, PA
Lebanon Valley Flying Dutchmen vs Hobart Statesmen
Final Score: 4 – 6}

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Four years after visiting Hershey to see the AHL Bears and the gorgeous Giant Center, we returned to visit the old home of the team; historic Hersheypark Arena. Located 12 miles outside of Harrisburg in the central part of Pennsylvania, Hershey has a population of just 14,000. However, add a couple zeros to that number for the amount of visitors this home of the famous chocolate company sees as the area is also a tourist destination with attractions aplenty. After playing host to the Bears for 65 years, Hersheypark Arena still lives as the home of Lebanon Valley College’s hockey team. The small, Division III School is located about 20 minutes to the east in Annville, PA and its hockey program began in 1996. After a conference championship in 2001, the team has struggled mightily with a 12-120-3 record since 2004-2005. The Dutchmen were 0-23-0 at the start of the game we attended. Built in 1936, Hersheypark Arena is a special place that all hockey fans should check out as it is one of the rare old barns still standing.
Prestige Ranking: 5 out of 5

Location

The arena is located within the same complex and even though hockey is mainly held in its offseason, the holidays are a great time to visit thanks to lighted rides, ice skating and Santa visits. A short walk next door from the arena is Chocolate World, a free and interactive look at how the Hershey factory operates. It’s hard to run out of things to do as Hershey Gardens and the Hershey Museum are excellent alternatives. The heart of town is Chocolate Ave and it is along this road where most of the restaurants can be found (though I recommend nearby Hotel Hershey up on the hill for their awesome chocolate desserts). You do need a car to reach the main strip through town. Back within the whole sports complex, there is the stadium and the gleaming Giant Center, where the AHL’s Bears now play.
Location Ranking: 8.5 out of 10

Accessibility / Parking

It takes about 10 minutes to reach Hershey from I-81 to the North or 15-25 minutes from the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the South. Depending on the route, some dark country roads may be needed to reach town, but once in Hershey, it’s pretty easy to find the park entrance to the arena off of Rt. 743. Though it’s a mass of roads and drives within the complex, signs to the facility are quite clear. The arena is on the west side of the park and acres of parking lots are available since there is a stadium right there.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7.5 out of 10

Exterior

Approaching this beaut, you know right away you’re in for a historical treat. The building’s exterior is rectangular in shape with cream-colored walls. The most distinguishable feature is the arcing roof and its five black panels. This roof makes Hersheypark Arena noticeable all across town. A couple of old signs saying “Hersheypark Arena” are located above the entrance doors. Also the Hershey Museum is attached to the end of the arena.
Exterior Ranking: 7 out of 10

Concourse and Food

It is remarkable how small the entrance is after stepping inside. I can’t imagine how they crammed thousands of people into such a small space for Bears games. There are two entrances that I saw and the tiny corner entrance includes old ticket windows. These are no longer used as LVC sets up a simple table to sell tickets. Otherwise, there is no real circular concourse, but rather corridors behind the seats that abruptly end. Some of these sectioned hallways have bathrooms, some had concession stands selling food. I wasn’t able to get to the upstairs portion of the arena as it was blocked off, but it looked like there was a separate set of concourses (hallways) up there. For LVC games, there is one area for food which included Fries, Subs, Coffee/Hot Chocolate and other stadium snack items.
Concourse Ranking: 0.5 out of 5
Food Ranking: 1 out of 8

Interior

I can gush endlessly about what an old charm this place is. In the 1930s, the focus was hockey and providing the best sightlines for it…not how can we make money via premium seating. The arena is very intimate and the design is just an oval in the shape of the ice rink. There are three levels and the “upper deck” is incredibly steep, which leads you to being close to the ice. Seats are old-school as they are wooden (and close together) with four colors looking like they denoted pricing level: brown, red, blue & brown again. Of course, there are no suites here and the press box is literal in that it actually is boxed off and located at the top of the first-level seats. The signature concrete, arcing roof is quite discernable and the lights are grouped into three clusters coming from the roof. Comfortable it is not because of the tight seats, but the sightlines and remarkably historic nature for the building makes for a fantastic place to watch hockey.
Interior Ranking: 11 out of 14

Scoreboard

Instead of a scoreboard hanging down from above center ice, a very simple digital display can be found on the wall high above one of the ends. Just score, time and penalty information can be found here. I’m not completely positive, but I believe wayyyy back in the day, an actual analog clock was used to display how much time was left in the period.
Scoreboard Ranking: 0.5 out of 4

Displays

One of sports’ all-time biggest moments happened inside Hersheypark Arena. In March of 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a regular season game with the Philadelphia Warriors. A historical marker outside the arena denotes this achievement, while inside there is a framed picture on one of the walls. The display includes a box score, along with that famous picture of Wilt holding a piece of paper with “100” on it. Inside the small hallways acting as a concourse, there is one reminder of the Hershey Bears and that is a case for the Booster club with some memorabilia. More Bears stuff is inside the rink and it is awesome that they kept Hershey’s Calder Cup banners. There are also four retired numbers that remain hanging from the roof. Lebanon Valley College didn’t have any displays, but the old Hershey items make up for it. Lastly and probably my favorite thing, they kept an old hand operated board at the top end that displayed the AHL standings for each conference
Displays Ranking: 4.5 out of 6

Cost

It’s just $2 to see a hockey game in this classic arena. That’s all Lebanon Valley charges at the door. Parking is free and the few concessions are cheap.
Cost Ranking: 8 out of 8

Fan Support and Atmosphere

Dormant is one way to describe the atmosphere. The arena was 1.8% full and it is very odd to have only a handful of people in a large arena for a game. Though, this should be expected with a Division III school that is winless and plays 20 minutes away from campus. Announced attendance is usually just 100-200, while I counted 48 people for this event. As you can imagine, the sounds of the game were the only thing heard throughout. While watching, I often imagined how loud this building must have been for Hershey Bears games.
Fan Support Ranking: 0.5 out of 14
Atmosphere Ranking: 0.5 out of 14

Other Stuff

Like many older arenas, an organ was used to provide the entertainment. The arena recently brought the organ back, though I never heard it during the game…..After a Flying Dutchmen goal, a siren goes off……The rink is open for public skating often during the winter months…..At the time of first opening, Hersheypark Arena was famous in that every seat was unobstructed, thanks to the monolithic roof

Game

Hobart extended LVC’s long losing streak, but the Flying Dutchmen put up a good fight. After going down 5-0, they scored a couple Power Play goals in the 2nd and then tacked on a few more in the 3rd period to trim the lead to 6-4. It wasn’t enough though as they fell on Senior Day. Matthew Kisiday scored two for LVC and 13 players had at least a point for Hobart.

Stadium Experience Ranking: 54.5 out of 100