Mike Vecchione scored one of the biggest goals in Hershey Bears’ history last season. He also invented the team’s defining celebration. Now both are being immortalized in bobblehead form.
The first 4,000 fans who enter Giant Center for the team’s March 26 game against the Providence Bruins (tickets here) will receive Mike Vecchione ROAR bobbleheads. The collectibles feature Veccs doing his signature bear pose after scoring.
Who else: our game 7 OT hero, the ROAR himself… it was always Mike Vecchione!
The first 4,000 fans on 3/26 will take home a Mike Vecchione bobblehead, thanks to Toyota!
🎟️: https://t.co/HU86dGh7Oj pic.twitter.com/CEaLBA7FXR
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) January 26, 2024
Per the Bears, here is a proof of a finished bobblehead.
The bobblehead announcement comes seven months after Vecchione scored the overtime-winner in Game Seven giving Hershey its 12th Calder Cup in franchise history. Vecchione ROAR’d immediately after scoring as the Hershey bench emptied onto the ice to celebrate.
“Being part of the Bears organization — you see the banners, you see the retired numbers, everything,” Vecchione said at the team’s championship celebration at Giant Center shortly after. “It’s such a special place to play. The fans are unbelievable. You play around the league, they don’t have the same support that we do. Every night here it feels like a pro game.”
Vecchione, a Saugus, Massachusetts native, did celebration during the preseason game ahead of Hershey’s 2022-23 season to the excitement of his teammates.
“It really stems back to being a Bruins fan growing up,” Vecchione said to RMNB. “I grew up in Boston, I used to go to the Garden all the time to watch the games. They had almost the same bear head. At the end of their intro before they hop on the ice, there’s a big bear roar and I’d be on the balcony just like roaring.”
The celly caught on with other players, including current Capital Connor McMichael, and became a memorable part of the team’s championship run.
The celebration has become so popular that Vecchione even launched a merch store called MV19 Brand.
Earlier in the year, the Bears honored AHL Playoff MVP Hunter Shepard with a bobblehead of his own. The beardy bobble featured Shepard lifting the Calder Cup and was wildly popular with fans.
