Though tiny geographically, Salmon River Central School looms large on the ice. Under Plante's leadership, the Shamrocks have become a dynasty, skating to six Division II New York State championships and more than 400 wins since 1979.
The Architect of Success: Bill Plante
A native of West Utica, Bill Plante is the winningest high school hockey coach in New York State history. In 1979, he began his 23-year career as an elementary and high school physical education teacher and the varsity hockey coach at Salmon River. His teams have amassed 442 wins, placing first in the league 17 times, and placing second six times. Salmon River also has 14 sectional titles.
Plante first attended Kernan School and went on to New Hartford Central School, where he played baseball and hockey. After graduating in 1968, he attended Herkimer County Community College, again becoming involved in baseball and hockey. Plante returned to college at SUNY Cortland, where he played hockey and baseball. Following his graduation in 1976, he organized and coached the Utica College hockey club.
In 1977, the expansion Toronto Blue Jays named him director of operations for their New York -Penn League baseball team in Utica. In the middle 1970s, he was instrumental in organizing and coaching the O. W. Hubbell Kings, a top semi-professional baseball team in Utica. In the seven years that Plante coached, the Kings earned six city titles, five state titles (league), four New York State playoff titles, three Northeastern United States championships, and made three trips (0 the national playoffs.
In 1975, he coached a women's softball team from Holland Patent to the New York State Championships, and qualified for the Northeastern United States Tournament.
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The New York State Hockey Coaches Association named him its first Coach of the Year in 200 1. He has subsequently served as the association president. He received a national coaching award in 1988.
Record-Breaking Achievements
Plante's 2001 hockey team finished with a state record 27 wins-2 losses, and was ranked fourth nationally, the highest ever achieved by a New York State team. It was also the highest in the seven times that Salmon River has been nationally ranked.
The Landscape of High School Hockey in New York
Boys' ice hockey is a popular and growing sport in the state of New York. The sanctioned teams compete from end of November till mid-March with a maximum number of practices and games. These teams are divided into two divisions, I and II, based on school enrollment (Division I being larger schools).
The sanctioned Varsity teams are divided into sections used by every sport under NYSPHSAA; Sections I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, IX, and X. There are only a small handful of teams which participate from Sections IV and XI, and no teams participate from Sections VIII and XI. Each section has different sets of rules for eligibility of Catholic teams to participate in the State Tournament.
NYSPHSAA, each section has different sets of rules for eligibility of Catholic teams to participate in the State Tournament. Section I and VI do not allow Catholic schools to compete for the Public State Tournament. The Catholic schools from Section I and VI meet in Catholic High School State Athletic Association one game championship. NYSPHSAA has pre-determined state tournament brackets with each section sending one team per section and at-large teams in one-game elimination.
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NYSAHA is the New York state affiliate of USA Hockey. The non-sanctioned Club teams are divided into sections used by all amateur hockey teams under the NYSAHA umbrella. NYSAHA has set guidelines on the state bound teams and depending on the number of teams' from each section that are state bound determine how many teams' from each section will attend the three-day state tournament for large and small school tournament. The non-sanctioned teams have no official start and stop date and no limit on the minimum and maximum of games.
The "club" teams are divided into two divisions, large school and small school. Each section is divided into four regions East, West, Central, and North who all follow the NYSAHA Guidebook for state bound eligibility. The majority of the teams come from Long Island, Broome County, Hudson Valley, and Western New York. West Section begins league play around the end of November and end the season in March. NYSAHA club teams retain their "club" label, though many are branded as high school hockey similar to a traditional varsity team. Due to this, the skill level varies from club to club despite all being "high school hockey".
Though high school hockey in New York can be dated back to the mid-1940s, the first league-called the Northern New York Scholastic Hockey League-was formed in 1948 and comprised teams from Massena, Norfolk, Potsdam and Saranac Lake. One of the League's founders, Don Spotswood, was a 1934 Clarkson College graduate who taught high school mathematics in the then Norfolk School District (today Norwood-Norfolk).
Clarkson College, along with St. Buffalo Explorer High School Club Hockey League was the first club hockey league in Western New York, starting in 1972. NYSPHSAA recognized high school hockey starting in 1980 with official state tournament being held. Not every section started at the same time and not every team that was sanctioned was allowed to participate in the sanctioned State tournament. Section VI (Western New York) did not allow its champion to participate until 2001. NYSAHA recognized high school hockey in 1982 but league championship were being held as early as 1972 in Buffalo. In 2008-09, there was no club state championship.
Organizations:
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- New York State Public High School Athletic Association. N.Y.S.P.H.S.A.A.
- New York State Amateur Hockey Association.