The very rich and well-documented history of Amesbury High School hockey must include Albie Roy, head coach from 1954-1959 and 1961-1962. Albie took control and led a team 1951-1952, who were a club only, with no funding or sponsorship from Amesbury High. Words like discipline, character, tenacity and determination abound from his team and opponents. Newspaper editor Jack Bowes describes Albie as the “epitome” of a hockey coach. Player Leo Dupere, the captain of Albie’s 1958 team, cites his induction to the High School Hockey Coaches Hall of Fame 1982; a huge accomplishment and honor given the names of the coaches and highest caliber teams playing in that era of North Shore League Hockey (now Northeast Conference). Budgets were poor at best and Albie made the very best of this status with his competitive team play and sacrifice for the good of his sport and team.
In 1954, AHS begins winning games in the Lynn Arena, the only indoor ice rink this team knew. They win some, lose some and tie some with an impressive record of .500 +/-. Albie was the Department of Public Works Commissioner, not a teacher/coach, making communications with his team even more difficult. Players made their own arrangements to transport equipment and themselves to and from games. In 1957-58 the team record, including some non-league games, is 18-3-1. Impressively, Albie molded and trained his teams who competed hard for AHS hockey.
Practice ice time was at Stuarts Rink, now Clinton St Extension, St Jeans Club, Woodsom’s Pond or ponds in Kingston, NH, the Town Park Pond or Patten’s Pond. All outdoors; ice surface only. No shower, no locker, no boards. Anywhere that it was cold, with an ice surface, Albie loaded his team and goals into his red pickup truck and off they went, “gotta keep the boys skating”. If he drove around town and didn’t see you at a pond practicing with the others he would state: “Go get your hockey!” Practice times were scheduled in the early morning cold and sometimes two or three times that day. Ultimately, Albie has the tennis courts at the old high school (now middle school) flooded for practice. Albie lived on Hill St, abutting the dam to the “flats” on Clinton St. He was a master at damming up the creek there, and flooding the “flats” to create a pond to skate on. “Keep the boys skating!” he stated.
Albie thought ahead, how warmer than normal winters would idle his well-conditioned team. Bowes quotes “Amesbury had to work at it and it was Roy who orchestrated the “workload”. “If you don’t plan for the future, pretty soon the future is here and you’re not ready for it”, Roy was quoted as saying.
Team numbers were small and dedicated to each other to play at the highest level in the competitive North Shore League. Equipment was used, antiquated, non-refurbished and your own to maintain.
At the 1957 end-of-season banquet, the keynote speaker remarks, “I hope that Amesbury, a noted hotbed of this ice game, continues to produce the caliber of boys, both as athletes, students and gentlemen, to attend Brown University.” said Mr. James Fullerton who was the coach at Brown University at the time, lauded Roy.
Dick Michaud, an AHS 1953 alum who went onto excel at Boston College also has fond memories of the St. Jeans Club Rink on Friend Street and his eight teammates who played under Roy. John Carter, a teammate on the 1955 team recalls the opponents’ attitude; “play the whole game because those Amesbury guys just kept coming at you.” “Play smart, with fewer guys and superior conditioning, play your position.”
As a wingman in college in Quebec, Albie knew and executed what the hours of practice time taught. Albie was an astute student of the game of hockey, played for the Amesbury Maples, eventually becoming the general manager of the club. He also worked diligently to support the youth hockey program in its infancy in Amesbury; the feeder system, to learn the geometry and skills of the game to employ it later at AHS.
Many of Amesbury’s hockey guys are most proud of their multiple awards and accolades derived from the discipline and drive of their coach. Albie was old school to the core. Respect was demanded and returned.
Congratulations to the family of Mr. Albert J. (Albie) Roy. We thank you for all he gave and his love and devotion for Amesbury hockey.
