Neither the Hershey Bears or the Coachella Valley Firebirds are on the brink of winning the Calder Cup, but the league’s prestigious championship trophy traveled to central Pennsylvania anyway.
Thursday, ahead of Game Four, the Calder Cup took a morning trip to Hersheypark where it encountered a wild Mike Vecchione bear.
The photos were taken by RMNB reader Chris Hamilton who said she was “in the right place at the right time.” The meeting between Calder and Bear was perfect because Hershey’s tagline for the 2023 Calder Cup playoffs is Roaring For More, which plays off their standing bear goal celebrations.
Zooamerica at Hersheypark houses two different black bears. Per its website:
Our two black bears have different stories. Chief, born January 2014, was found begging for food in Oregon as a yearling. He was likely a pet that was returned to the wild. Malnourished & small, he was taken to a wildlife rehabilitator, and then sent to us in June 2015. After given a nutritious diet and great animal care, he’s now very healthy. Murphy was born January 2015. He was hand fed by a Montana family, very comfortable around humans, and couldn’t safely live in the wild. He arrived in March 2016. Although he is a black bear, Murphy’s fur is a light reddish brown – this color phase is known as cinnamon.
While in the area, the Calder Cup also traveled around Hersheypark where it visited the CANDYMONIUM rollercoaster ride and rode on a merry-go-round.
While it’s nice to see the Calder Cup in Hershey, we hope it goes back to Southern California. The only way it can be awarded is if Coachella Valley wins two more games on Hershey’s home ice before returning to Coachella Valley for Games Six and Seven.
‘Twas the night before Game 4, when all through the house… pic.twitter.com/qSEWEXMRul
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) June 15, 2023
