1969 – Nat Heintz

One of the great things about being on the ‘69 Sectional Championship team was the next several years playing in college against our Clinton friends and teammates. For the Williams teams that Joe Hameline and I led, that meant getting humbled by Steve Eckerson’s goaltending, and the speed of forwards Ricky Burns and friends at Vermont, coasting past Connecticut teams with Tom Dockrell and Tom Adams (briefly), and playing through an intense rivalry with the Hamilton teams of Jim Rishel. For any of you Clintonians who played as visitors at Sage Rink during those years, the combination of Rish lurking on D ready to plant you into one of the I-beams lining the rink, and the fans screaming epithets at you from the upper deck, was perfectly balanced by the clot of Clinton kids that came to see us play, the final handshakes (win or lose), and the ever-classy Coach Batt.

– Nat Heintz