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While Rochester's local hockey rinks fill with prospective talent, it was not always so. The pipeline leading toward greater opportunities had to start somewhere.
Insert the Rochester Monarchs who, some 50 years ago, were the area's first offering of an advanced level of hockey. Composed of the area's top amateur-level talent, the Monarchs were Rochester's first Junior A hockey team — a level of competition that, at that point, was common in Canada but infrequent in the United States.
This week, members of that team will gather for the golden anniversary of a special winter, one that proved Rochester's skaters were the cream of the crop.
Who were the Rochester Monarchs?
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While professional, high school and youth hockey were ever-present in Rochester in the early 1970s, it wasn't until 1973 that junior hockey gained foothold in the area.
The Rochester Monarchs hold the designation as the first such team. A member of the now-defunct New York-Penn League (sharing a name with its minor league baseball counterpart) the Monarchs competed against teams mostly throughout western and central New York.
Andy Laing, a native of Ottawa, Ontario and a former goaltender at Brockport State, was the team's head coach and general manager. Laing, whose prior coaching experience included two years at Irondequoit (where he led the Indians to the first two Monroe County league titles) and the Rochester Lions club, had previously pushed for higher-level hockey in Rochester, to no avail.
“There’s no place for the accomplished player to play hockey,” Laing told the Democrat and Chronicle in September 1973. “The high schools play only 16 games, and that’s not enough ice time for most youngsters to develop enough to earn a college scholarship.”
The Monarchs finished third out of four teams in the inaugural 1973-74 season. The league doubled in size in 1974-75, and the Monarchs' talent base grew with it.
The team's 22-player roster in its second season included players from 14 different Rochester-area high schools, from Gates Chili to Edison Tech, to now-closed schools like James Madison and Charlotte.
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After playing its first season on the campus at RIT, the Monarchs moved to the newly-opened Lakeshore Hockey Arena (then known as "Lakeshore Twin Rinks") in Greece ahead of the 1974-75 season.
With limited ice available in the area at that time, Lakeshore's debut was of major benefit, for both the Monarchs and local youth players.
"We had the Amerks obviously, but they were trying to grow the sport a little bit and there wasn't much ice," said Dave Bagley who, as an 18-year-old from Gates Chili, was the Monarchs' captain and leading scorer. "If you played in youth leagues, you skated at 5 a.m. in the morning or 9 p.m. at night. When they created this team and built Lakeshore, that was a big deal."
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The Monarchs' schedule had some quirks. Following a 36-game regular season, the team simultaneously competed in the New York State Junior Hockey championships and New York-Penn League playoffs, which included a stretch of five games in four days.
While the Monarchs' trip to Long Island for the state tournament wrapped with a loss in the final, there was still a league to win. After beating the West Seneca Cougars in the semifinal in seven games, Rochester swept the Buffalo Blades in the final, in front of a raucous crowd at Lakeshore that, while at capacity filled about a thousand seats, "felt more like 5,000."
"There were some really good players here. It was a unique blend that worked. A good amount of skill, but back then you could also fight," said Tosh Farrell, who joined the Monarchs for his senior year after starring at Bishop Kearney. "There was toughness, there was skill, and we had great goaltending. It was a great mix."
Hockey after the Rochester Monarchs
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If the organization's goal was to provided increased opportunity for Rochester-area players, the Monarchs successfully checked that box.
After the season, the Democrat and Chronicle reported that five Monarchs players — Bagley and fellow forward George Harrington, defensemen Tim Hervey and Kraig Wall, and goalie Mike Parker — traveled to Exeter, New Hampshire for the eastern tryouts for the 1976 US Olympic team (a team that, in its finality, featured future Miracle on Ice heroes Mike Eruzione and Buzz Schneider).
Parker, arguably, had the most extensive career of the bunch. The goaltender had a brief stint in the American Hockey League, and has the designation as the first Rochester-born player to appear in a game for the hometown Amerks. Bob Weickgenannt, a forward from Brighton, later played major junior hockey in Quebec.
There was Scott Empey, then a 19-year-old defenseman from Irondequoit, who later made a breakthrough in coaching. Empey was the longtime bench boss for Brockport's high school team prior to his death in 2015, and led the Blue Devils to the New York state title in 2003.
Farrell, meanwhile, made his way to Notre Dame and played for the Division I Fighting Irish who, at one point, were among the top teams in the nation. He returned to Rochester after school and, despite approaching his 70s, still skates to this day.
Skating won't be part of the festivities this week, as a majority of the team will reconvene — some traveling from as far as California, others from the southern United States — to share spirits and memories of a special season long past.
Social media has surely helped some stay in touch, but not all. Bagley, who remained local to Monroe County after his Monarch playing days, said he hasn't seen some of his teammates in about 45 years.
"We're all at the age now where we have grandchildren. I played in a senior tournament last weekend with Tosh Farrell, haven't skated with him in years," Bagley said. "But we sat down and were looking at pictures of each other's grandkids. It was a surreal moment. Like, we're that old?
"I'm looking forward to seeing these guys that I haven't seen in a long time and hearing about their families. It should be a lot of fun."
This article originally appeared on MPNnow: Rochester Monarchs won Empire Cup in New York-Penn League in 1975
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