Fans Turn Out for the First Home Game of the 2019-2020 Season at Snoopy's Home Ice

Photos courtesy of Austin Miller
The SRJC Polar Bears were back at Snoopy’s Home Ice for the highly anticipated addition of new boards and full glass surround. Friday night’s game was a nail-biter until the end against the Fresno Bulldogs with a 2-3 loss in overtime.  

The Polar Bears are part of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 2.  The team is entering their eighth year in the Pacific Collegiate Hockey Association Division 2, which includes club teams from Stanford, Santa Cruz, Davis, and Santa Clara Universities. 

Friday’s spectators filled up the stands to see the Polar Bears take on their rival to the south, the Fresno Bulldogs, who compete as an independent D2 team. As the excitement built prior to the drop of the puck, fans were asked to stand for the National Anthem sung by Andrea Giles, players entered the ice one at a time to be introduced for the season, and as homage to the Military Appreciation theme for the night, we honored three generations of military from the Giampaoli family; Ernie,Ray, and Joey. The Polar Bears thank you for your service.

Going in the third the score was 1-0 Fresno.  The Bulldogs scored again making it 2-0 halfway through the period.  Grant Snetsinger scored the first Polar Bear goal bringing the game within one goal.  With 12 seconds left in the game, Zach Zweber tied the score as the fans exploded with excitement.  

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In four on four overtime play, the teams battled for control of the puck, until Fresno scored with a minute left. 

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Fans were treated to some intermission fun when the Santa Rosa Flyers' MItes team came to scrimmage for us at the first intermission, and contestants competed in a Turkey Trot musical chairs for a prize.

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The Polar Bears will be traveling to Boise State the first week of December for a two- game weekend.  Their winter break will include an alumni game on December 28th, at 5:45, which is a friendly reunion of  Polar Bear team members joining in an annual scrimmage. Their next season home game will be on January 24th against Stanford. It will be First Responders Appreciation Night.  We are asking our fans to show up en masse wearing red or blue to honor our first responders and cheer on the Polar Bears.
Photos courtesy of Austin Miller, [email protected]