A Spectacular Op-Ed on the Region, as Team USA Beats Canada (Photos)

This past Saturday night, the United States Women's Hockey team faced-off in an epic battle on ice at the Adirondack Bank Center. There's a good chance, the two teams will meet each other for the IIHF World Championship on Sunday. I feel, we're witnessing the re-birth of the Utica-Rome Mohawk Valley region after decades of decline.

It all started more than 10 years ago, with the return of the Utica Comets. Because of a reignition of hockey enthusiasm with the Utica Pioneers, hockey made a comeback and so did the Utica spirit. We accepted the fact that we could support a quality professional AHL team, all the while supporting a men's college hockey program. That was then, and what we're seeing now has exceeded all of our expectations.

Today, the Greater Utica region is 100-percent behind the Utica Comets, the Utica Pioneers men's hockey program, the Utica Pioneers women's program, Utica City FC soccer, the NEXUS Center youth programs, and now, Team USA as they compete for a world championship. This really exceeds all of our expectations.

Over the last week, I've been at the Adirondack Bank Center watching games, and I've watched from home on the NHL Network. This area looks so amazing and the support we've offered has been tremendous.

While NCAA women's basketball programs have criticized Albany because they say, there's nothing to do - in Utica we hear nothing but praise about the support they receive and the things they're able to do while staying here. Heck, we even gave the newcomers a once in a lifetime solar eclipse - just minutes away from totality. That's impressive.

The truth is, this community is hungry for success. We've spent 60 years in decline and we're now ready to break from the past and end the wallowing in misery. We are not the same Mohawk Valley that existed in the 1950s and 60s. Our manufacturing history is in the rear view mirror, and we've finally found a way move beyond it. We're looking to a future in high tech, from Marcy to Griffiss; we're embracing our food culture and our rich history, our natural resources that include outdoor recreation, and we've found an opening in sports and youth sports that can generate revenue well into the future.

A lot of progress has been made over the last 10 years and we've created a new base for entrepreneurism that seems to be well focused into the future. The advances made in the Valley, at Marcy, at Griffiss, and in downtown Utica have created a new foundation of opportunity that we now must build off. A tremendous amount of hard work has been accomplished to create this new Greater Utica region, and now the hard part comes into play. We must now fortify the base we've created and build off it to create something far greater than our past that can grow into an economy that ultimately lifts us into a prosperity that we've never seen before here.

Is it possible that what we've created here in 2024 could develop into an economic engine that will serve this area multiple times greater than the manufacturing period that our parents and grandparents enjoyed in the decades before us? The amazing week we've enjoyed so far with the IIHF World Championships is just a small example of what we can accomplish here in Utica and the Mohawk Valley.

This fall, we'll be welcoming the box lacrosse championships to the area with more than 30 teams competing for the title. This week, we're entertaining the Olympics and athletes from around the world and so far, we're shining like we never have before. In nearby Cooperstown we'll be hosting Major League Baseball this summer with the Hall of Fame Inductions and in Canastota, the Boxing Hall of Fame will shine in June with their inductions. Combine all of this with the Boilermaker, and the power of the Turning Stone Resort and Casino, the Adirondacks, opportunities on the Erie Canal, and a newly invested Sylvan Beach, and we have the makings of something really special.

Historically, we tend to cut ourselves short. That's unfortunate - but I really feel that those negative days are behind us. What we're experiencing this week at the Adirondack Bank Center is finally the accomplishment that's showing us that the sky is the limit. Great things can happen here and in fact, they are happening here right now. This is all...just the beginning.

Is it possible that people like Rob Esche and Tony Picente were right all along? It sure seems like it. Still, there will be those negative types that will disagree and claim this whole resurgence will be short lived. It's nights like Saturday night as Team USA beat Canada in overtime in front if a record-breaking crowd at the Adirondack Bank Center that make me feel like this resurgence - is actually here to stay.

Check out these photos from TEAM USA vs. Canada from Saturday night. The Americans won 1-0 in overtime.