In the storied history of the Hershey Bears hockey club, the 1969-70 season was an unremarkable one. Losing as many games as you win and getting knocked out in the first round of the playoffs will do that.

And yet members of that squad helped make history by embracing the dream of a local entrepreneur who achieved some

In 1969 in an alley garage on the southwest corner of Hummelstown’s square, a Long Island, N.Y., native by the name of Dominick Vasco Dadiego began making wooden sticks under the name of Dominion Manufacturing Corp.

The Harrisburg Patriot-News featured Dadiego and his company in a February 1970 article. It was accompanied by a photo of Dadiego, who was 43 at the time, with Bears players Bud DeBrody and Michel Harvey, racks of sticks behind them.

An Army veteran, Dadiego had spent 15 years as a salesman for “one of the larger stick manufacturers,” according to the story.

The article didn’t mention why Dadiego chose this area for his business, which supplied sticks to players of all ages, from amateurs to more than 100 professionals with the Bears and other teams.

“The advantage I have over the larger recognized companies is quality control,” Dadiego said. “When I was a salesman, I’d (drop) the sticks off and there would be mistakes in the curve or the weight. I couldn’t do anything about it. “Now when a dozen sticks go out to a player I know they’re right … same curve, same

shaft. They get the personal touch. The players help design their own patterns and know they’ll be getting what they want.”

Another Bear, Roger DeJordy, said of Dominion sticks: “I like them quite a bit. They’re easier to get and you always get what you ask for. I think they hold up better than the others.”

For a couple of seasons, Dominion advertised in the Bears’ game program, identifying itself as a “locally operated enterprise” with a Hershey post office box. Dominion endured at least through the 1972-73 season, with three skaters sitting in the front row of the Bears’ team photo that year clutching Dominion sticks in their gloved hands.

It was always an uphill skate for Dominion against bigger, more established competitors and changing production techniques. Wood long ago gave way to composite sticks, most of which are now made in China.

Dominion is gone but not forgotten.

A Dominion stick hangs on the wall of my store, Stay Apparel Co., at the Hershey History Center, above rows of pucks and three vintage seats from Hersheypark Arena. In the middle seat sits a pile of our newest tee design. It’s gray with red ink and features Dominion’s simple hockey stick logo, our homage to a little bit of hockey history that played out here more than a half-century ago.