Bears Upcoming Jerseys and Practice Update

The front of the New Years Eve jerseys for this Saturday’s game (Photo by Kyle Mace)

The Hershey Bears have another special jersey night coming up and they are very…interesting. The New Years Eve jerseys this year include the words “Happy New Year” along with “2012” on the front showing the upcoming year. The Bear on the front also has a party hat on it’s head to give it that “I’m ready to party” look. The back has a clock with the time showing midnight. Both sides have balloons, streamers, and fireworks (what every New Years Eve party should have.)

Bears veteran center Keith Aucoin had the same opinion most Bears fans had when they first saw the jerseys. “I saw the back of them. I’m really looking forward to wearing it,” he said, with a sarcastic roll of his eyes. “They are pretty loud and bright. You won’t be able to miss us out on the ice with those things on” said D-man Patrick McNeill.

This is not the first time Hershey has done New Years Eve jerseys. Now Pittsburgh Penguin, Deryk Engellandd sported this jersey during the 2005-06 season’s New Years Eve game. (The back of the jersey can be seen here. Can you spot the difference in the clocks?)

I also got a sneak peak at the Bears’ Outdoor Classic jerseys. The white one is the one that the Chocolate and White will wear for warm-ups in the game against the Phantoms next Friday. The brown ones will be the ones that they wear for the game. Both have a patch on the shoulder that is a baseball diamond along with both team’s logos and script. The players name will be in white on a brown plate on the back.

After practice, the Bears announced that they are assigning forward Maxime Lacroix and defenseman Brett Flemming to the South Carolina Stingrays. Lacroix, 24, has not played a game for Hershey since December 16th against the Norfolk Admirals. Brett Flemming, playing in his first pro season, has four points in 21 games for Hershey this season.

Versus/NBC Sports play-by-play announcer Mike “Doc” Emrick was watching practice today before he headed off to Philadelphia for this Monday’s NHL Winter Classic. Very cool to see a living legend always come back to Hershey, the town where he once lived.

The Bears face-off against Norfolk at Giant Center, 6 pm, Saturday. 1,750 New Years Eve Top Hats and 1,750 New Years Eve Tiaras distributed to fans when they come into the game. 1,750 noise makers will also available at different locations on the concourse before the game.

More photos of the jerseys and some bonus ones from practice (Click to enlarge. All photos by Kyle Mace.)
The back of Sean Collins New Years Eve jersey

The front of the Outdoor Classic warm-up jersey

And the back of Hershey’s warm-up jersey.

The front of the game jerseys that the Bears will wear for the outdoor game

Braden Holtby looks on during practice

Fresh off scoring in three straight games, Cody Eakin looks on during a drill

Keith Aucoin smiles during a break in the practice

The Bears gather around Mark French as he draws a drill

Hershey and the AHL’s second leading scorer, Chris Bourque skates around at the end of a drill