“I kind of started out not knowing where the road was going to take you, then opportunities arose to step up and do other things and I did,” Palmaccisaid. “Eventually after 22-23 years of coaching, I stopped coaching at that point.”
Palmacci was also the Middlesex girls’ hockey league director before becoming Massachusetts Hockey director from 1990-95, before taking over as the District 9 registrar, holding that position from 1995-2007.
Palmacci became Massachusetts Hockey vice president and then president for his first stint from 2007-11. He received a lot of help from role models Duke Kumpel, Ron DiFilippo and Mike Cheever.
The next step Palmacci took was at the national level as a USA Hockey affiliate registrar from 2011-22.
He has loved holding all these administrative positions over the years.
“You feel like you’re doing something good and something good for the kids,” Palmacci said. “That’s the main thing, it’s really about the kids. The game of hockey’s a fun game and all that but providing an opportunity for the kids to play. Winter’s a really long time.”
Being a big proponent of the kids on the ice will be Palmacci’s biggest legacy during his hockey tenure.
Palmacci, who was inducted into the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016, feels like his biggest impact will be starting up a local girls’ hockey program in 1994.
“Grassroots hockey is really where it’s at, and being able to expand that, and, by accident really we started this District 9 girls’ league,” Palmacci said.
While he was the president of Arlington Youth Hockey, a local coach ended one of their monthly meetings by suggesting they should start a girls’ program. Palmacci said if he could get 30 girls on the ice, they could get the program off the ground.
The coach got 60 girls to sign up, and that league still exists today as the Middlesex Yankee Conference Girls Hockey League (MYCGHL). Palmacci said MYCGHL now consists of more than 150 teams competing each year.
Palmacci retired about a decade ago after 35 years working in research and development at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It could be a stressful job, and hockey provided Palmacci with an outlet from his daily grind.
During his four-year stint as president from 2007-11, Palmacci was able to help Massachusetts Hockey move in a positive direction, leaving a lasting legacy on hockey in the state of Massachusetts.
“The first time I was president for four years, I think I had an impact,” Palmacci said. “People nominating me for this award, they must feel like I did, too.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
