On Thursday, Oct. 21, the Rye Rangers surprised longtime club president Eric Bommer with the 2021 Rye Rangers Good Skate Award ahead of his squirt practice at Rye Playland. Bommer, who was joined by wife Lizzie and children Mackay, Reese, Lachlan, and William, was honored for his longtime service as a coach and club official, particularly in steering the club through a challenging 2020-21 pandemic season.

From left: William, Mackay, Reese, Lachlan, Lizzie and 2021 Rye Rangers Good Skate Award winner Eric Bommer

2021 Good Skate winner Eric Bommer with past winners

Also on Thursday, the program honored two longtime players, Reece Dorfman (left) and Kevin Francella with Rye Rangers Scholarships for their exemplary tenures as players and leaders in the program. 

With the start of the season approaching, now's a good time to go through your bag to make sure everything is there, and fits appropriately. 

Thanks to Coach Jay for this simple checklist.

On December 15, 2001, the Rye Rangers staged a memorial hockey game and fundraiser for the families of the three members of the club who died in the tragedy at the World Trade Center.  These individuals are Tommy Palazzo, Teddy Maloney, and Ward Haynes. The day was a huge success.

At the Rye Rangers Memorial Cup, we dedicated an award called the “Good Skate Award.”  What struck each of us as we remembered our friends was how genuinely good they were, how helpful they were to their friends, how loving they were with their families, and, generally, how much fun they were to be around.  In rink jargon, each one was what you might call a “good skate.”  A black granite trophy with an imbedded silver skate was created by one of our members, Gerry Baum, to remind us of this goodness and to inspire us to be better individuals.

The inscription on the Good Skate Award states that it is to be: “Presented annually to the member of the Rye Rangers Hockey Club voted by his/her peers as best epitomizing the human goodness of these special individuals.  It shall be forever known as the “Good Skate Award.”  Its enduring legacy is to serve as a reminder that we are all better human beings for having shared our lives, both on and off the ice, with these guys.”  

The past deserving recipients have been:

2002    Rocky Shepard

2003    Kevin Burke

2004    Bart Lawrence

2005    Frank Effinger

2006    Diane Holmes

2007   Jerry Baum

2008   Jay Altmeyer

2009   Marty Clague

2009   Bob Tucker

2010   Thom O'Grady

2011   Rich Guthrie

2012   Steve & Sharon Ketchabaw

2013   Eric Budke

2014   Peter S Duncan

2015   Mark Finnegan

2016   Bill Steers

2017   Rob Dorfman

2018  Sam Weinman

2019 Terry Morris

2020 Drew Shea

2021 Eric Bommer