As an organization, it is important to understand our heritage, and some of the key people that have dedicated their time to build Watertown Youth Hockey to what it is today.  This is not just the team of volunteers that we see around us today, or the last few years.  It's much more than that - it goes back to the mid 50's when John H. Cassidy and some of his associates approached Taft with the thought of giving children the opportunity to play hockey, and made it happen through a lot of hard work.  It's the people who spent many years holding things together so that the tradition could continue to what it is today. People like Rick Brandt (who spent 17 years as an active member), Terry Barber, Pete Montesano, Bob Maruca, Larry Wagner - just to name a few.  And there are many more, who aren't known to you or I, but who have contributed significantly to the success of the organization.

In addition, there have been many players that have come through our organization and continued with their hockey careers at a higher level. well after Watertown Youth Hockey - playing in college, and perhaps in other organized leagues.  I can name a few who have done well at the college level - Vic Vicenzi III (CCSU), Jillian Giardina (UVM),  Mark Mansour(Marist), Brian Brandt(CCSU), Kevin Leger(Marist), and just recently Matt Whitney(Franklin Pierce).  I know that there are many more. 

Finally, there are many others who have returned to the hockey ranks as referees and coaches.  Although not playing, still engrained in the sport because they love it, at all ages.  People like Seth Greenlees, Spencer Baughn, and Vic Vicenzi Jr.

Unfortunately, as time goes on, we forget about a lot of this... once in a while, you might be lucky enough to run into people who have some history, memories, or funny stories.. but that's where it ends.  And sometimes you might hear some good stories at a bar, but after a few beers, you forget the next morning.

We are planning to build a bit of our history here on this website, as well as to highlight those who have moved on to other levels of hockey, reffing and coaching once they have left Watertown Youth hockey.  Because I am the oldest person here from a tenure perspective (since 1991), I am probably the best person positioned to attempt to piece this together.

I will be calling some of the "old guys" that I know to pick their brain and get as much history as I can from them.  If any of you know some of the key people from "the old days" please send me a note , with as much as you know.  I will try to piece something together so that we can continually build on this history.

From a player perspective, if you know of anyone that has come through our program and played college hockey or other higher level hockey, or is now coaching or reffing, ask them to send me a note at I will probably put together a form for them to fill out, so we can build some type of biography.

While I am sure some of you will have additional ideas for this page, I would like to limit to what I have stated above.  We need to start small , then we can build off of additional ideas.  What's important is to know how we started, who were the people along the years, and some of the children that continued in the sport albeit playing, reffing, coaching. 

This is not something that will happen overnight.  It is something that will take a while to build.  Then we will build more onto that.  But once we build it, it will be something that we can look at, better understand all the hard work that played into the last 50 years, and understand that we actually turned out some kids that conitnued to play, ref and coach - something to be proud of. 

You can reach me at .

Mark Mansour