A month before the weekend-long celebration of Albert Prettyman, the Hamilton hockey coach who brought the sport to the Mohawk Valley, alumnus and former Utica Observer-Dispatch sports writer John Pitarresi ’70 penned a summary of the upcoming festivities and Prettyman’s accomplishments for the paper.
He noted that the first hockey game, played on February 9, on Hamilton’s then outdoor rink, “gave birth to the Mohawk Valley’s century-long love affair with hockey, turned the little village of Clinton into one of America’s most passionate hockey towns, and led to the development of the game in the region at every level, from youth hockey through scholastic, collegiate, amateur and professional, right down to today’s Utica Comets of the American Hockey League.”
One hundred years of Mohawk Valley hockey with “Thank You Albert Prettyman,” will include a series of games and events to be held in the village and at the college February 9-11. According to Pitarresi, “The highlight … is expected to be Saturday afternoon gathering at Clinton High School featuring former Clinton Comet coach Pat Kelly, former Hamilton star and NHL goalie Guy Hebert ’89, and hockey historian Stan Fischler, who often has written about Clinton hockey, but who will be making his first visit to the village.”
