Dave Aiello said, "This weekend, the mens' hockey team held its annual Alumni Weekend in conjunction with the last two home games of the regular season. My fiancee, Kathleen Kuykendall, and I travelled up to Troy for the weekend and we had a great time."
"Here's a picture that Kathleen took of a faceoff during the Alumni Game on Saturday afternoon. It was probably after a goal by the White Team, because the White Team beat the Red Team, 11-8."
"Read on for more pictures and descriptions of the events...."
Dave Aiello continued:
In the game, the White Team jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the first period, looking like they were going to run away with it. The Red Team battled back in the second period, but ultimately could not make up the hole they dug for themselves in the first period. As I said earlier, the final score was White 11, Red 8.
This is a picture of the handshake at the end of the game.
Each year, the game is played with a different number of players and coaches. Last year, if I remember correctly, we had four lines and six defensemen, plus goalies-- a huge turnout for the alumni game. This year, only 14 players and two goalies played. That meant we had to play 4-on-4 for the entire game, so that we could change two or three players per shift.
Most of the guys who played in this game were pretty tired at the end, because we almost never remained off the ice for more than a minute of playing time.
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Kathleen took this picture of me, near the RPI bench, after the game. Note that I was on the Red Team. We lost.
The White Team was in the locker room celebrating already.
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After the game, we had lunch in one of the meeting rooms in Houston Field House. It's a lot easier to identify people in this picture than in the ones that were taken of the game.
On the right side of the table, Bud Lindner is sitting in the foreground. Next at the table is Kathleen Kuykendall. Rick Borina '92 is the man seated next to Kathleen. Rick now lives in East Northport, NY, which is on Long Island.
There is another person beyond Rick who is totally obscured. Beyond them is Todd Hilditch '92 from Vancouver, BC. Head Coach Dan Fridgen is the man standing on the right side of the table, wearing the tan baseball cap. I can't identify the other people beyond him.
On the left side of the table, Jon Pirrong '96 is the only person I can identify. He is wearing the dark-colored baseball cap.
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Here's a picture of Kevin Mazzella '91 and me.
Kevin came up to Troy this weekend with his wife and their two children. He and I were at RPI at the same time, and I don't think I had seen him in about 8 years. Kevin lives in Middletown, CT and works for General Electric.
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That night, we all attended the game between Rensselaer and Brown University. We must have brought the team luck because RPI beat Brown 4-2.
Here is a picture of Burton Clarkson '50 and me at the game during the second period.
Burt was the captain in 1949-50, and he was the team's leading scorer that season. He now lives in Houston, TX.
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We even got a picture of two New Jersey alumni. This picture is of me and Tom Bellatty '51.
Tom was the leading scorer in 1950-51, and he was the team's captain. He lives in West Caldwell with his wife.
Tom was on the ice for the Alumni Game as one of the two referees. He regularly officiates mens' hockey at Clary Anderson Arena in Montclair.
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Between the second and third period of the game, most of the alumni who played in the game that afternoon were introduced. Left to right:
Dan Hershberg '62, Tom Bellatty '51, Paul Murphy '81, Pat Valiquette '76, Jeff Whiteside '86, Dave Aiello '89, Paul Krosney '68, Jerry Bailey '75, Chuck Rancourt '70, Bob Mattice '75, Scott Prekaski '00, Jon Pirrong '96, Don Cutts ('74?), Burt Clarkson '50.
I hope I identified everyone correctly in the photo.
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Here is a picture of me with Kathleen Kuykendall, my fiancee.
A number of the guys brought their wives and families with them. It's a lot more fun to have them there than it would be for us to attend by ourselves. I want to thank Kathleen for taking most of the photos that are seen in this article.
Thanks to Tom Bellatty for taking this photo.
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Note: These photos are 50 percent reductions from the originals, which are each 640 x 480 pixels in size. They were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 950. If anyone wants a copy of any or all of the full-sized images, please email me: dave_aiello@ctdata.com.
