Founder - MVHA
John F. (Jack) McCarthy

It was in the fall of 1972, that three young men met to organize a local amateur hockey league, to be named the Mohawk Valley Hockey Association (MVHA). Since there were youth hockey leagues already established in the area, it was decided that MVHA would be limited to men 25 years of age and older and would adhere to NHL rules with one exception - this would be a non-checking league with incidental body contact allowed. Full 60-minute stop-clock games would be played with two referees. Early on, the referees would be two players from teams that were not scheduled to play that night, but later, when ignorance of the finer points of hockey rules by the players became apparent, professional paid referees were hired. This improved the quality of the games significantly.

The three co-founders of MVHA were Michael Gettman, President; Brian May, Secretary; and Jack McCarthy, Treasurer. In the first year games were played on natural ice in the Excelsior Avenue Youth Commission Rink in Saratoga Springs, so the season was subject to the whims of winter weather. There was no Zamboni, so the ice was swept between periods by the players and flooded with a fire hose. The game clock consisted of a hand-held timer ingeniously created by Brian May. The cost for the ice was completely supported from the dues paid by the players and was $17 for the season which covered the eight games that the weather allowed each team to play. The second season for MVHA was split between Excelsior Ave. and the Frear Park rink in Troy which had just opened with artificial ice and a primitive Zamboni for resurfacing - we were now going high-tech!

After the first year, Mike Gettman got a promotional transfer to Virginia working on mainframe computers. Brian May took his place as president, but upon completion of our second season, Brian left the league while remaining in the area. This left McCarthy as the only one of the three co-founders still associated with the league. Through the years since, there have been a number of players filling in for president and secretary. This left Jack to fill many of the administrative functions of the league and he did so for 19 years until he retired in 1991. He was effective in administering the league for one reason - he couldn't skate a lick (and never had the desire to) so he could devote all his time to taking care of the "administrivia". Upon retirement, Jack handed over the reins of the league to his son Terry who is still the contact person for the league (518-384-0436).

The four original teams had no names, so were designated A, B, C, and D. Each team consisted of 16 players, three lines, three sets of defense and one goaltender. There was a substantial waiting list, so it was easy filling the rosters before the season began. In 1974, the teams were officially given NHL names with Team A renamed the Blackawks, Team B the Blues, Team C the Bruins, and Team D the North Stars. These particular names were selected in order to give the teams contrasting colors (red, blue, black, and green respectively) no matter which two teams were playing.

The league continued to progress and expand and, as new venues opened, MVHA moved some of its games to the Center City Rink in Schenectady. In 1975, Achilles Rink at Union College was completed and became the home rink of MVHA and has remained so to this day.

In 1975 MVHA expanded to six teams with the addition of the Flyers and the Kings. The following year, all games were played at Achilles Rink and each team had a 35-game, one hour, stop-clock schedule with professional referees. Registration fee by this time was $100 per person and we still had a waiting list. Today the facility is known as the Frank L. Messa Rink at Achilles Center on the campus of Union College.

Over the years, the rising cost of ice became so burdensome that applications dropped off and the league was forced to cut back the number of teams from six to four, eliminating the Bruins and North Stars. The ice cost also resulted in reduced game time from one hour to 45 minutes in 2001 and the dues beginning that year were $435.

In 2005, the total registration fee for new players was $495 for new players (less for returning players who already had their uniforms). Twenty-four regular season games plus a minimum of two playoff games were played, all games being 45 minute, stop-clock contests.