Spending the weekend in Hershey, Pa., watching one of the American Hockey League's stellar franchises. If you've got the opportunity to get up to Giant Center for a game, by all means do it! It's a wonderful venue and the action on the ice is pretty good, too.

Last night's game, of course, was not one of the Bears' better performances. They stormed to a 3-0 lead in the first period, then allowed the Philadelphia Phantoms to reel off five unanswered goals. No killer instinct, playing back on their heels from the second period's start, trying to be too fancy with the puck -- just the kind of stuff that drives coaches nuts.

Walking around Giant Center last night made me long for the Bears' former Chocolatetown home, Hersheypark Arena. The old barn is still there, on the fringe of the amusement park, and hosted a district wrestling tournament this weekend. Oddly, Friday's wintry mix forced basketball tournament action at Giant Center to be postponed, but not wrestling at Hersheypark Arena. In other words, not all things that are newer are better!

Hersheypark Arena is, was and always will be my favorite place to watch a hockey game. The seats rose from the ice in one continuous deck, creating an intimate venue. Bad seats? Not a one. You could sit in the highest seat, as far away from the ice as possible, and still have a bird's eye view. If you were lucky enough to have seats next to the benches, you might be sitting next to a team's backup goalie, who had to sit on a folding chair in the runway from the dressing rooms because bench space was at a premium.

And then there are the Hershey fans. No offense to the few thousand die-hards who always showed up to see the Clippers, Skipjacks and Bandits, but the chocolate farmers know puck. They're among the best fans in any sport I've ever encountered, especially when it comes to the subtleties of the game. From the opening faceoff to the final horn, they're totally into what's happening on the ice. That hasn't changed since the Bears switched buildings. But I still miss the old barn.

Hershey is also the site of two of the funniest sports  lines I've ever heard -- one I witnessed, one was passed along to me from a friend.

Years ago, while waiting in the lobby of Hersheypark Arena for tickets that had been left for me and some friends, one of the chocolate farmers sauntered in. He must have been about 350 pounds, dressed in overalls over a slightly-too-small Bears jersey. He took one look at the marquee advertising that evening's Skipjacks-Bears clash and uttered these now famous words: "What the hell is a Skipjack?" Only when he said it, it came out "Skeeeeep-jayyyyyyck."

Then there was the time, years ago, that some of my friends came to Hershey to see the Clippers play. At Hersheypark Arena, you either ponied up extra money for preferred parking or parked and hiked from the amusement park lots. But there wasn't really a clear demarkation of what started and ended and where. So my buddies drive in, breeze past the entrance to the preferred lot and park near the door. Mind you, this upsets the delicate balance of all things in the universe, and the lot attendant quickly rushed to them -- they were now out of the car and walking to the front entrance -- pointing out their faux pas.

"Excuse me, but that's preferred parking," the lot guy said.

Never skipping a beat, my friend replied, "Well, I prefer to park there," and into the arena he went.

Priceless.