Hershey Hockey Game

I have yet to see the Hershey Bears win a game.

The game started out all right. The Binghamton Senators scored two goals early in the first period, but the Bears answered with two goals of their own. Then Senators scored again early in the second period and then once more early in the final period. The Bears pulled their goalie to try to make a comeback, but Senators slip past them and scored one more, clinching the game 5-2.

You can’t put all the blame on the Bears, though. They’ve been having a pretty good season this year, and last year they even won the Calder Cup, the American Hockey League equivalent to the Stanley Cup. The Senators’ goalie was phenomenal. The Bears just couldn’t get enough shots past him.

The Senator's goalie, Andy Chiodo, in action.

It was still a great night though. Hershey, Pennsylvania is only an hour’s drive from campus. Holly’s car bounded through deep puddles on Chocolate Avenue while billboards welcomed us to “The Sweetest Place on Earth.” The town smelled like roasted peanuts as we passed the Hershey Factory on our way to pick-up Megan, a friend of ours from Hershey. We ate lunch at a place called Houlihan’s, in the shadow of the Kissing Tower and the Great Bear rollercoaster.

The game, while not as exciting as it could have been, was still full of all those crazy spectacles you’d expect at an amateur-league sporting event: The cameras panned the crowd looking for the Almond Joy “Nut of the Game,” a small blimp circled the arena and sprinkled cash on the crowd, t-shirts tossed into the stands by Coco the Bear.

During the Kit-Kat "Break" between the first and second periods, they brought two women out to center ice dressed in inflatable sumo suits so we could watch them bump into each other.

During the second break, one lucky fan won $1,000 for hitting a puck through a bean-bag sized opening placed in front of the goal. Then there was the Hershey's Kiss Cam, the "Dish of the Game" cooking segment played up on the jumbotron (we learned how to make corn pudding), and a guest appearance from the Red Robin mascot for a gift card giveaway.  Somebody even won a free oil change.

Like the Bears, Holly, Megan, and I didn't win anything ourselves, but the tickets were only $22.  It was a great way to spend a Saturday.

More about Hershey, PA
More about the Hershey Bears

Driving down Chocolate Avenue, note the Kiss-shaped streetlights

The Hershey  Chocolate Factory

Houlihan's on Chocolate Avenue

Houlihan's on Chocolate Avenue

The Giant Center, home of the Hershey Bears

Late Night Pancakes

There is nothing fun about studying for midterm exams.  But when you do find yourself stranded in the middle of midterm week, there’s something you can turn to for relief: pancakes.

Every semester during midterm week, Susquehanna’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity sets up an electric skillet in the lower level of the campus center, and from 8 PM to midnight, they cook pancakes.

"People just come right up to us,” Kenny, one of the Habitat volunteers, told me as my pancakes sizzled.  According to Kenny, the pancake sale relies primarily on word-of-mouth advertising around campus.

But the real secret to Habitat’s success has to be the warm smell of freshly made pancakes. The scent hits your nose as soon as you walk through the door. You can’t escape it. The campus center is filled with with that delicious smell. It’s no surprise Habitat sells about a hundred pancakes a night.

It’s only a dollar for two pancakes, and for fifty cents more, they’ll add chocolate chips to the batter. Every sale brings Habitat one step closer to building another house here in Selinsgrove. The money also helps supports the Collegiate Challenge, a spring break trip that puts students to work building houses for low-income families.

It’s a win-win situation.

88.9 WQSU-FM "The Pulse"

“You don’t have to keep backing up,” Kristen—that is, DJ K-Ri—tells me.

Sitting in a swivel chair behind the glowing mixing board in the WQSU control room has me feeling a little jumpy, but Kristen seems confident enough.

WQSU-FM is the 12,000-watt radio station in Susquehanna's campus center. The station broadcasts FM music and talk to places as far away as Bloomsburg and Williamsport and also streams its audio online.  I’ve walked past the place plenty of times—it’s got big glass windows that let you look in on the DJ as you walk by—but I’ve never been inside before.

The neon-blue clock in the corner is a reminder that everything has to be perfectly timed out. At the top of the hour, Kristen plays the station ID then the news report—which lasts exactly three minutes—before she goes on the air and gives the weather forecast.

Kristen is a creative writing/religion double major.  Her shifts at the station count as practicum for her broadcasting minor, but the station isn't reserved for communications students. The mic is open to any would-be DJs on campus.

After Kristen puts on “Poison” by Alice Cooper, she pulls off her headphones and turns to me. “Okay, we can talk now.”  The music plays softly through speakers that hang over our heads.

“So how do you make sure the news goes on right at 4:00?”

She smiles, nodding toward the paper and pencil sitting in front of her. “I use math.”

Once the music’s playing, things become more relaxed.  Kristen's friends pop in and out of the station, plopping down on the couch to talk to her for a few mintues before heading out again. 

Kristen mostly fills her two-hour shifts with contemporary, classic, and alternative rock with an occasional request mixed in. The station has two computers loaded with music: 15,000 songs on the one and another 18,000 on the other!

Half way through the Audio Slave track, a small strobe light above the telephone announces a call-in request. Kristen shakes her head as she hangs up the phone.  "I hate Bob Dylan," she says, but she cues up “Isis” anyway on the second Mac.  Bob Dylan is a step up from last week when she got a request for "Total Eclipse of the Heart." 

"Everyone walking by was looking at me like 'What are you doing?' and the song lasts like seven minutes."  Kristen shakes her head.  "It was awful."

Then as the Audio Slave song finishes up, she turns to the mixing board and fades the first computer out as she fades the second computer in.  A seamless transition.

Listen to WQSU-FM online.

More about WQSU.