Our Mission

Albert Prettyman was the Hamilton College athletic director who iced over a tennis court in February 1918 to host the first-ever hockey game in our area. In addition to starting 100 years of hockey, Mr. Prettyman coached the bronze-medal USA hockey team in the 1936 German Winter Olympic Games. To show our gratitude, we are holding a hockey celebration weekend, documenting our history on this web site and, potentially, making a movie. Afterwards we will enter Clinton in the Kraft Hockeyville USA 2018 contest, which would award funds to the Clinton Arena and allow the Utica Auditorium to host an NHL pre-season game.

Bring Your Skates

During the weekend of February 9-11, 2018, all hockey fans, players, coaches, and referees will return to Clinton to watch both Hamilton College and Clinton hockey games, and attend hockey alumni events at the historic Sage Rink and legendary Clinton Arena. The success of the Clinton Town Team—later the professional Clinton Comets Team of the Eastern Hockey League—will also be recognized. Open skating—perhaps outdoors—and numerous alumni hockey games will be organized.

This Story Stars You

Whether or not you are able to attend the Centennial weekend, please help us document our rich hockey history by virtually sharing your personal stories, photographs, videos, and news stories through this web site. We need much more content to fully document those wonderful games at Hamilton and in Clinton, and the colorful stories about coaches, teammates, and tournaments. Memorabilia will also be collected for safe-keeping at Hamilton and in Clinton. Our goal is to use your stories to make a documentary film, “Thank You, Albert Prettyman”, which will take full account of our hockey success in the last century.

Contact Information

We extend our deep gratitude to the many contributors who have shared their accounts of our hockey history, including: