Taking nothing away from the Cedar Park Center, the Giant Center, home to the Hershey Bears, is the premier facility in the American Hockey League. It is a 10,500-person facility purpose built for hockey. It is simultaneously expansive and intimate. Sleek and new but steeped in a long tradition. Fans are rabid but knowledgeable.
"I played in Lehigh Valley last year, and [Giant Center] was always a hostile environment," said Austin Fyten, a former Star who now wears the Bears chocolate and white. "It's hard [for visitors] to win in this building."
On a business trip for the day job, I took the opportunity to visit the Giant Center for a preseason game between the Hershey Bears and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.