This PA town is halfway between Philly and Pittsburgh, has a mayor named “Hockey,” and a Flyers/Penguins divide

Chambersburg, Pa., is a quiet borough, tucked away in south central Pennsylvania, not far from the Maryland border. It is best known for its Civil War history; in 1864, it garnered the unfortunate distinction of becoming the only Northern town to be completely destroyed in a fire by Confederate troops.

Every year, the Franklin County Visitors Bureau holds a ceremony to commemorate this event. Smoke fills the night air, as red lights beam out of the town’s historic courthouse to simulate a blaze. Actors, dressed in blue and gray military uniforms, abound.

Together, Chambersburg’s citizens celebrate their community’s resilience, in the face of an unthinkable tragedy. It’s meant to be a time of healing and mutual respect.

That is, until the Eagles play the Steelers. Or the Phillies play the Pirates. Or the Flyers play the Penguins.

When that happens, Chambersburg becomes a very different place.

The borough of just over 23,000 people is almost exactly in-between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, give or take two or three miles. This has led to some contentious nights at the local sports bars, and on Monday, after the Flyers secured their playoff matchup against the Penguins, it resulted in some fierce “[expletive]-talking.”

“A lot of Sidney Crosby hate,” said lifelong Penguins fan Sam Colangelo. “Bob [Cullinan] started talking [expletive] on Pittsburgh immediately.”

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Cullinan, a lifelong Flyers fan, confirmed this.

“We don’t wish no harm to him,” he said of Crosby. “But we hate him.”

On Saturday night, Philadelphia will play Pittsburgh in the opening round of the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2018. Chambersburg is already abuzz, according to the borough’s mayor, Kenneth Hock, who unironically goes by “Mayor Hockey.”

“Everybody wears their jerseys, shows up to the local bar, and pretty much slugs it out,” he said.

Added Colangelo: “It’s the battle of PA. The Turnpike Series. You can just feel the excitement in the air. It’s been a long time.”

Colangelo, a realtor in town, was born and raised in Chambersburg. Cullinan, the manager of a veterans’ club, was born in Southwest Philadelphia, and moved to the borough in 1994.

He was brought up on the Flyers’ teams of the 1980s, led by head coach Mike Keenan and captain Dave Poulin. Cullinan can still remember watching the 1984-85 and 1986-87 Stanley Cup finals over the summer with his neighbors. (Neither series produced the result they’d hoped for.)

“We would take our little TVs out on the sidewalk, and sit out on the stoops,” Cullinan recalled.

Moving to Chambersburg was a bit of a culture shock for the bar owner, and not just because of the lack of Delco and Northeast accents. He described it as “small town USA.”

“The people are not used to what we’re used to down in Philly,” he said. “Things are a little different. You don’t drink a soda up here, you drink a pop.

“And I keep telling everybody, a sub is what you get in school, when your teacher’s out. It’s called a damn hoagie.”

But the biggest adjustment, by far, was having to live among Pittsburgh fans. And Cullinan said that despite Chambersburg’s equidistant location between the two cities, the ratio is not close.

“We’re definitely outnumbered,” he said. “It’s more Pittsburgh. Definitely Steelers, definitely Penguins. Probably a 75%, 25% split.”

Mayor Hockey thinks the chasm is smaller than that, and hopes that for the next week (or two) the fanbases can remain civil. At least in person.

Social media — especially Facebook — is another story, and Colangelo has already started clapping back.

“Crosby owns the Flyers,” he said. “Over his lifetime. Just go look at the stats and look at the Stanley Cups. So basically, that’s it. There’s not much more you can say about that.”

He added: “There’s a lot of Pittsburgh fans here. There’s a lot of Flyers fans here. So there is obviously talking. The rivalries run deep.”