Hershey Bears Celebrate Calder Cup Championship at Troegs Brewery

The Calder Cup Trophy filled with Perpetual IPA

The Hershey Bears Know How to Celebrate

The Hershey Bears know how to celebrate, and celebrate they did today! Earlier today (around 2 PM) they were at the Troegs Brewery in Hershey (just down the road from where they play at the Giant Center).

Several of the players came to the brewery today and brought the Calder Cup trophy with them. The team won the championship in a thrilling overtime win on June 21st at Coachella Valley, beating the Coachella Valley Firebirds 3 to 2 and winning the Best of 7 finals 4 – 3.

The Hershey Bears players enjoying their well earned victory

What better place to celebrate such a hard earned victory than your own home town brewery? And there is none bigger or better to celebrate in Pennsylvania than Troegs Independent Craft Brewing in Hershey, PA. Located right on HersheyPark Drive, right down the road from the famous HersheyPark itself and the Giant Center where the Hershey Bears play their home games.

Calder Cup Championship

The Hershey Bears are the 2023 Calder Cup Champions

The Calder Cup Championship is not an easy endeavor to win, just like any sports championship. The AHL (minor league to the NHL) is not easy, with all the trials and tribulations that normal sports have, the minor leagues have added issues with having less budget, having their players getting called up to the pros, and all kinds of other issues that plague smaller teams than major league sports have.

The Hershey Bears certainly deserved this year’s win; winning the championship on the road in Coachella Valley in overtime, in a best of seven series, in game seven. There’s no more dramatic way than that to win it!

From Wikipedia:

The 2023 Calder Cup playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Hockey League (AHL) to determine the winner of the Calder Cup, which is awarded to the AHL playoff champions.

The 2023 playoffs began on April 18, 2023, with the 23-team playoff format that was introduced in 2022. All teams except the bottom two teams of the Atlantic, North, and Central divisions, as well as the bottom three teams of the Pacific division qualified for the playoffs. Each division has a best-of-three series in the first round to determine the top 16 teams for the division semifinals, with various teams receiving byes based on regular season performance.^[1]

The 16 teams that remain—four from each division—will play a best-of-five series in the division semifinals, with the playoffs continuing with another best-of-five series for the division finals and a best-of-seven series for the conference finals and Calder Cup finals.

The Hershey Bears defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds in overtime of game seven, granting Hershey their 12th Calder Cup in team history and first since 2010.
2023 Calder Cup Playoffs (Wiki)

This is the Hershey Bears 12th Calder Cup Championship. Their last win before this was in 2010. They won Calder Cup championships in 1947, 1958, 1959, 1969, 1974, 1980, 1988, 1997, 2006, 2009, 2010, and now 2023.

From Wiki:

The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg. 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.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The Bears organization currently serves as the primary development club for the NHL’s Washington Capitals since 2005-06. Since 2002-03, 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 12 Calder Cups, more than any other AHL team. They won their most recent title in 2023.

Chocolate manufacturer Milton S. Hershey first established the “Hershey Hockey Club” in 1932 to manage professional hockey teams based in Hershey. Now in its ninth decade, it has operated four 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.^[1]^[4]

Gordie Howe, who was selected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972 and was known as “Mr. Hockey”, once remarked, “Everybody who is anybody in hockey has played in Hershey,” although he himself did not play there.^[5]
Hershey Bears (Wiki)

The Hershey Bears are possibly best known for their Teddy Bear toss every year. The Hershey Bears hockey team annually host a charity event called the Teddy bear toss. In 2018, they broke the world record for the amount of teddy bears collected, as they counted 34,798 in total. For 2019 they counted 45,650 bears. In the 2021 season, which was their 20th Teddy Bear Toss, they racked up 52,341 bears. In 2023, After the Bears lost 2–0 to the Bridgeport Islanders, the fans in attendance threw teddy bears with 5.4 seconds left. They counted 67,309 Stuffed teddy bears.

Calder Cup Playoffs

The Hershey Bears entered the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs as the number one seed from the Atlantic Division.

They faced off against the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the Calder Cup Championships.

The Coachella Valley Firebirds were the number one seed overall and got to have home ice advantage for the finals. The series was structured to be two home, three away, two home in the home team’s favor.

The series was a home sweep until the final game. Coachella Valley won their first two games at home with commanding scores of 5 – 0 in game one, and 4 – 0 in game two.

The series then came to Hershey, and the Bears took charge, winning all three games. But all very close, tight victories. Game three they won 5 – 4 in overtime, in game four they won 3 – 2, and in game five they won 1 – 0 again overtime.

The series then went back to Coachella Valley with the Bears leading 3 – 2. Immediately in the first game back home, the Firebirds won with an impressive 5 -2 to even the series at 3 a piece. At this point in the series, the Firebirds had a total score of 20 to the Bears 11.

The final game didn’t start out great for the Bears, with the score being 1 – 0 and soon 2 – 1. But the Bears tied it up and made it 2 – 2, the third period saw no goals, which left yet another game (the third of the series) to go into overtime. With under four minutes to go in the first period of overtime, the Bears find the back of the net and “tickle the twine” for the victory, and securing their 12th Calder Cup Championship!

The 2023 Calder Cup Champions – The Hershey Bears

Celebration at Troegs Brewery

Getting back to the subject of the matter, some of the Hershey Bears players decided they would spend the day with the Calder Cup Championship today at Troegs Brewery in Hershey. Celebrating with their friends, enjoying delicious craft beer our of the prestigious trophy cup.

News of them being at the brewery spread quickly in Central PA and many came out to the brewery to see them hoist the trophy up and to drink from it. They even went around letting their fans sip from it.

Conlan Budwash drinking from the Calder Cup (photo courtesy of Conlan Budwash)

As Conlan Budwash, former Troegs Brewery employee, and currently part owner of Pilger Ruh Brewing said on our Facebook page: “I drove right from Pottsville just to get a pic then they offered me a sip and I couldn’t say no.”

I have to agree with Conlan on this one, you can’t say no to that. Its not everyday that you get to drink out of a major sports trophy.

Plus to get to do it while drinking incredible craft beer (in this case, Troegs Independent Craft Brewing’s Perpetual IPA) at one of the best breweries in the state, how could it get any better?

Perpetual IPA being poured into the Calder Cup Trophy

From the Troegs Brewing Facebook page:

We don’t fill outside cups here at the brewery, but we made an exception. Cheers to your 12th Calder Cup, Hershey Bears!
Troegs Independent Craft Brewing (Facebook Post)

Hershey Bears Celebration at the Giant Center

Tomorrow at 3 PM the Hershey Bears are celebrating their 12th Calder Cup Championship at the Giant Center. For more information, you can check out this article: Hershey Bears to celebrate Calder Cup championship with fans on Saturday.

For More Information on Troegs Independent Craft Brewing

According to Untappd, Troegs Independent Craft Brewing is a regional brewery with 133 unique beers listed (despite them being up to well over 400 different scratch beers released). They have nearly 2.3 Million ratings and as of 6.23.23 have a global average rating of 3.79. Their Untappd bio reads:

“Founded in Pennsylvania in 1997 by brothers John and Chris Trogner, Tröegs Independent Brewing is driven by a sense of adventure and curiosity. Our brewery has been built by family, friends and kindred spirits who share a love of great beer. Together, we all make Tröegs. You might know our Perpetual IPA, the best-selling IPA in Pennsylvania. Or the dark, malty and crisp Troegenator. You may have come across such iconic beers as Nugget Nectar or Mad Elf in your beer travels. Perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to try one or two of the hundreds of experimental Scratch Series beers we’ve brewed over the years. Whether you’re already a member of our extended family or you’re just getting to know our brewery, there’s always something new to discover with Tröegs.“

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