by Jesse Liebman | AHL On The Beat
For an injured hockey player, the press box can feel like a prison. It can be a place of exile, where the ice feels tantalizingly close yet frustratingly out of reach.
But for Hershey Bears winger Matt Strome, the view from the top of Giant Center has become a new kind of classroom – and a temporary stage.
Sidelined since late November with a lower-body injury, Hershey’s 2024 Calder Cup hero has found a way to stay in the game, trading his skates, stick and helmet for a headset as a guest color commentator alongside Bears senior manager of hockey communications and broadcasting Zack Fisch, who serves as the on-air play-by-play voice of the club.
For fans tuning into second-period broadcast coverage of Hershey’s home games over the last several weeks across the Bears Radio Network, AHLTV on FloHockey and television broadcasts on WPMT-FOX 43, Strome’s voice has offered something the typical broadcast cannot: the immediate, visceral insight of a player who was battling in the corners just over a month ago.
A Different Kind of Shift
After a hot start to the 2024-25 campaign that saw the winger rack up 10 points in 15 games, Strome sustained a lower-body injury during a November 22 game at Cleveland, facing a recovery timeline that would keep him out of the lineup for several weeks. Strome took inspiration from his older brother Ryan, a forward with the Anaheim Ducks.
“Maybe a month or so ago, Ryan was out with an injury and went on Anaheim’s broadcast for the second period. So one day I saw Fisch and kind of joked about wanting to try it out, and it went well the first time and then we just kept doing it for the next few weeks,” Strome recounted. “It was a lot of fun – I’d never done that before, and it was kind of something I always wanted to do. The guys that were up there really helped me out and cued me up for questions and let me run with it.”
It’s been a natural fit for Strome since first throwing the headset on during the middle frame of Hershey’s December 7 game against Lehigh Valley. Strome – who has come to be known among Bear Nation as both an intense competitor and an approachable fan favorite – cemented his status in Chocolatetown lore when he scored the overtime goal that clinched the Bears’ 13th Calder Cup title in 2024, and now fans of the team have been getting to hear the hockey IQ behind the heroics.
“It’s definitely different. You can kind of see the whole ice and where the play is going to develop next, so when you’re watching up there it almost looks a little easier,” Strome said of his recent stints on the mic. “When you’re down on the ice it’s all split-second reaction time, so to be able to call a couple of games from up top, I think it’ll help when I get back.”
Chemistry on the Airwaves
Pairing an active player with no broadcast experience with a seasoned play-by-play veteran can sometimes be a gamble, but the chemistry between Strome and Fisch has been seamless. Fisch – a veteran in his 10th season as the on-air voice of the team – sets the table, providing the who-what-where, while Strome adds further context, including the why and how.
“Any broadcaster will tell you that preparation is king,” Fisch says. “Stromer not only brought a great wealth of knowledge about the current team to the broadcast, but he also did his homework too. He was able to provide information on what the team is trying to accomplish, things he knows about the opposition, the x’s and o’s of the game, and he really gave the fans a good peek behind the curtain into the locker room. Matt is such a well-spoken guy and a smart player on the ice I’m not surprised he was a natural on the air, and we had a lot of fun in the booth together.”
During the club’s December 13 televised game against Charlotte, Strome broke down a Henrik Rybinski goal against the Checkers, noting Rybinski’s tendency to use a similar shot approach in practice with regularity that led to his tally against Charlotte’s Louis Domingue.
A history lesson from the broadcast team transitions to a goal highlight as Ryby connects for his third of the season!
Leason
Miroshnichenko pic.twitter.com/KjQfFNIUbe— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) December 14, 2025
A crowded booth of legends
In addition to Fisch, the Bears possess a robust and already-established color commentator team, featuring franchise legend and AHL Hall of Famer Mitch Lamoureux on the radio side, and recently retired former captain Garrett Mitchell on television duties. Strome is quick to clarify that he isn’t looking to steal a job; he is just borrowing the chair.
Mitchell, who made the transition from the ice to the broadcast booth the season following his retirement in 2023, knows exactly what Strome is experiencing. Mitchell – who served as Strome’s captain during the latter’s rookie professional season with the ECHL’s Reading Royals in 2019-20 – observed a natural ease in Strome.
“One of the most difficult parts as a player when you’re hurt is you want to be around the locker room, but it also gets exhausting, showing up while the guys are trying to be nice and asking the same question of ‘how are you feeling?’ but after a month or two of answering the same questions, it can be tough.” Mitchell said of his former teammate. “I’m sure for Stromer it’s been nice to be able to stay involved and stay in touch with the game. I think for him, he’s been able to jump into this and he’s done a great job, because at the end of the day you never know where it’s going to lead to.”
The arrangement saw Strome sliding into the “third man” chair during the second period, offering color commentary that bridges the gap between the technical analysis of the veteran color commentators and the fresh, on-ice reality of the current roster.
Stepping into that rotation – even for just a period of game action – can be intimidating. But Strome felt that he received nothing but encouragement from the trio, while receiving a crash-course in the amount of preparation done by the broadcast team.
“All three of them were great,” Strome said. “Being with Fisch the last three seasons, it felt just like having a conversation with them, but if nobody’s talking at the moment, you have to step up and be ready to say something. As we went along, it felt more natural to know when there’s a brief pause to hop in. The way they prepare, it’s impressive. Every game Fisch has at least one massive sheet of paper for each team with all of these stats on there. They do almost the same amount of work as us players for a game just to be prepared, so that really caught my eye.
“I thought it went pretty good. The first game was on the radio and the second game was on TV – I was a little more nervous for the TV game – but I got great feedback from some friends and family that were tuned in.”
The mental reps and eyes on a return
For Strome, the broadcasting stint has been more than just a way to kill time while he recuperates physically; it’s helped serve as a form of mental rehabilitation.
“It’s definitely helped,” Strome confirmed. “When you’re watching game after game, you’ve got to be there to support your team, but it been nice to be able to do that give a little bit of insight on what happens if you have an injury or if you’re not playing, and I thought it was just a great opportunity to get to do that.”
The experience has also given him a new appreciation for the media side of the sport. He has learned to navigate the rhythm of a broadcast, knowing when to jump in with color and when to lay out for Fisch’s play-by-play. It is a skill set that could serve him well long after his playing days are over, though he is in no rush to hang up the skates permanently.
Despite his comfort behind the mic, Strome has made one thing clear: his true home is down on the ice. The headset is temporary; the goal is to be back in the lineup, helping Hershey chase a 14th Calder Cup title. He has returned to skating with the team in practice, and if Strome has his way, the next time his name is mentioned on the broadcast, it will be this weekend against Rockford with Fisch calling his return to the lineup.
