Memorial hockey game honors memory of Marc Parrott / iBerkshires.com

Holly Parrott meets the players on the ice before the start of Friday’s game.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The Boys and Girls Club scoreboard showed that Team Gold took a 6-2 victory over Team Violet.

But the only number that really mattered was the one on the backs of each player from both teams: 34.

Twenty friends of Pittsfield native Marc Parrot gathered to play a memorial hockey game in his honor on Friday night.

His wife, Holly, said it was a fitting tribute for the 52-year-old St. Joseph Central High School graduate who died in August.

And she said that Marc would have been among the first to register for such an event.

“I really appreciate that the whole community has come together to honor my husband,” said Holly Parrott.

John Hinkell, who helped organize the event but was unable to play due to injury, said a hockey game was the perfect way to remember Parrott, an athlete and fan of several sports who had a special passion for it.

“Marc was a great hockey player,” said Hinkell. “And he was a mentor too. I was a baseball player, and he convinced me to go out and try hockey. One day in Deming Park, he pulled me aside and said: “What do you do in the winter? ‘I said,’ Damn, I don’t do much in the winter. ‘ He said, “Why don’t you come and play in the Boys Club hockey program?” “

“I said, ‘I can’t skate and I don’t have any equipment.’ He said, “It’s not a problem. I’ll get you the equipment. You just have to get permission from your parents and ask them to register. “

“And, really, hockey has become my sport. And all because of Marc. He was just a good guy, a really special person. “

For an hour on Friday night, Parrott’s friends fought to the delight of a large crowd of relatives and friends.

The event opened with the presentation of commemorative swimsuits to Marc and Holly’s daughters. Alexa, a student at Pittsfield High, performed “The Star-Spangled Banner”. And Marc’s brother, Ray, performed a dropping ceremony in the center of the rink.

The match kicked off a weekend of remembrance for Parrott, known to many in the community for his time as the owner of the family-owned A-Mart on North Street. After the final blow, the stage moved to the Berkshire Hills Country Club for a reception in honor of Parrott. On Saturday, a celebration of her life was scheduled at New Life Church in Dalton.

“In all fairness, this thing happened in three days,” Hinkell said. “We got ice time thanks to Dan Kearns at the Boys and Girls Club. We had a place locked down with Berkshire Hills in a day and a half. And on the third day, I got a call from Mark Reynolds of Reynolds Team Sales saying he heard through the vineyard we were hosting a memorial hockey game for Marc.

“I knew when I started getting phone calls that it wasn’t myself or any of the players setting it up. It was orchestrated by Mark. He made it possible. He had all the connections. in place.”

Thanksgiving weekend was a logical time for the game as it allowed multiple players to make the event part of a vacation weekend in the Berkshires.

“We had people coming from all over the country,” Hinkell said. “We had Shaun Risley from Colorado. We had people from Boston. We had a lot of players from Boston. I came from Virginia. Westfield [Mass.], Springfield, Hartford, Connecticut, people from all over have gathered to honor Marc.

“It was just a really big event.”