Hall of Fame Members

Manchester native Matt Myers has risen to the position of video coordinator on the coaching staff of the Boston Bruins.

Like many players with a passion for hockey, Myers began skating at a young age. He played hockey until the age of 12, when the physical dangers of the sport made it unsafe for him to continue, as he was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism.

Myers wanted to stay in the game and ended up taking on some off-ice roles – from running the scoreboard at his brother’s games, operating the clock during games at his hometown arena and becoming the student manager of the hockey team at Trinity High School.

He went to college at UNH where he was hired as a student manager for the men’s hockey team by then-head coach Dick Umile, and his role eventually expanded to take on video duties.

After he graduated, and worked for a while in a non-hockey profession, a breakthrough came when USA Hockey, aware of his duties at UNH, hired him as a video software consultant. He would be on the staff of three U.S. Women’s National Teams that would win gold medals, including at the 2015 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Sweden.
His next goal? Making it to the NHL.

He reached out to three teams – the Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators. When the Predators had an opening for a video scouting role for the 2015-16 season they reached out to Myers.

A year later, after a promotion, he was part of the staff that helped Nashville reach the Stanley Cup final, where it lost in six games to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Myers followed Preds assistant coach Phil Housley when Housley left to become the head coach in Buffalo, becoming the organization’s lead video coach. And then a big break came in the summer of 2019, when the Bruins had an opening for a video coordinator.

Myers interviewed with GM Don Sweeney and was offered the position on then-coach Bruce Cassidy’s staff.

As the lead video coach, he is responsible for making sure every second of every game is accessible to the rest of the coaching staff, He prepares video of opponents for pre-scouts and assists the coaches with challenge calls for offside or goalie interference.

For a man born with achondroplasia, who was told it would be difficult to even find a professional job, Myers has not just found one, he’s thrived in it.

Fred Quistgard has been developing the region’s goalies for nearly five decades and is currently goaltending coach for the Maine Mariners (ECHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins). Since the 1980s, Fred has been involved with New Hampshire goalies at the youth, high school, junior and college levels. He’s shared his talents at local clinics, private lessons, Puckstoppers Goaltending in Exeter, summer goalie schools, advice columns and USA Hockey Development Camps.

Graduating from New Hampshire College in 1982, now known as Southern New Hampshire University, Fred played goal in both hockey and lacrosse. Quistgard began coaching while still in college, volunteering at the nearby Derryfield School and with the Manchester Flames Youth Hockey Organization and worked summer goaltending schools under his first coaching mentor, Louis Chabot.

Fred next joined the St. Paul’s School hockey staff as goalie coach where his boys’ and girls’ teams were leaders in the Independent School League. Fred worked with such notables as NH Legends of Hockey Hall of Famers Bill Matthews and Sanford Sistare. Many goalies went on to play hockey at Division I or Division III levels.

Fred adopted a more formal goalie training approach as his career advanced. He ran summer goalie camps in Manchester and Dover and clinics for local youth hockey in Manchester, Concord, Rochester, Laconia, Wolfeboro and Hanover.

In addition to SNHU, he coached goalies at UNH, St. Anselm, New England College and Phillips Exeter Academy. He offered special goalie sessions for the Dartmouth women’s team, the New England College women’s team, and at Brewster Academy, Tilton Academy, Proctor Academy and the Dover Stars junior team.

As Head Coach, Fred led the undefeated NH Boys HS All-Star Team to a national championship at the 1991 Chicago Showcase and throughout the mid-’90s, his coaching helped capture the Silver Medal with the U.S. Women’s National Team at the 1994 IIHF World Championships in Lake Placid. With Fred behind the bench as Assistant Coach, the UNH women won the 1996 ECAC DI Championship. Fred became Head Coach at Bowdoin in 1997-98 where he helped the women to the ECAC semi-finals while also handling the men’s goalie coaching duties.

From 1998-2004, Quistgard coached the Union College Women’s Team, navigating that program as a Club Team in the ECAC D III that went Varsity the following season. While there, Fred was a finalist for ECAC Coach of the Year in 1998-99.

ln three seasons with the Mariners, Fred helped Jonathan Gillies, Brandon Bussi and Mike DiPietro find success with Boston’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. Gillies later moved to the NHL, first with the St. Louis Blues before being traded to the NJ Devils.

Ron influenced New Hampshire hockey through his various ownership affiliations. His local teams included the Jr A Generals, Blackhawks and Jr A Canadians. He was also a co-owner of the Sherbrooke Beavers in Quebec.

Gosselin Hardware opened in 1933 and Ron took over from his father in 1965. He introduced the hockey department around 1967 with the equipment exchange being an annual highlight for hockey players. In fact, the sports department was such a success that after Ron sold the Hardware Store in 1990, he moved the business to a new location under the name Gosselin Skates & Sports. Players, young and old, were enthusiastic patrons until its sale in 1997. Ron was the sole proprietor of the Sports Elite Distributor Company and the Don Awrey Sales Agency. Through these ventures, he became well-known in the New Hampshire hockey community. In addition, he owned and operated the Manchester Professional Hockey School.

The school operated for fourteen years and included such notable coaches as Montreal Canadien’s Bunny LaRocque and Bruin’s Terry O’Reilly. Ron assisted many players in their quest for college scholarships and recalled two Manchester locals in particular. Former Generals Jack Lampron went to Ohio State and Jon Rheault, who played for Colgate credits Ron for his long-term impact. Rheault coached for over thirty years and both his son and daughter played D I hockey. Ron later scouted for the Sherbrooke Beavers, eventually partnering with hockey icon Guy Lafleur and ten others to become a co-owner. During Ron’s tenure, twenty-eight players advanced to the NHL. He took particular delight seeing them in the big league, especially when they showed up at The Boston Garden.

Hockey business can be challenging. Ron owned the Manchester Jr. A Canadians from 1982 – ’84. Don Awrey was his first coach before Don Marcotte took over for the next season and a half. Midway through the third year, the league folded and Ron formally ended his involvement in hockey ownership. Instead, he shifted his attention to other business opportunities.

His new company, Sports Elite Distributor, came into existence in 1988 and was the designated agent for the New England Region with sales throughout the United States. But Ron still had time for the local players. For over twenty years, he sponsored Pee-Wee Teams in the Manchester Regional Youth Hockey House League. Ron’s generosity and dedication consistently demonstrated his desire to build local hockey.
We recognize Ron’s unique variety of achievements and contributions to positively influence others during his many years in hockey.

The city of Berlin traces its rich hockey history back to the year 1903, and at Berlin High School back to 1922. Dan Dagesse has contributed to the more recent part of that rich history greatly.

Beginning in 1976, Berlin hockey and Notre Dame Arena began running into difficult times. That’s where Dagesse comes into the picture. It is difficult to imagine Berlin without Notre Dame Arena and its hockey heritage, but the arena would have shuttered were it not for Dagesse’s support.

Dagesse graduated from Colebrook Academy in 1972 and, in 1977, purchased a Ford automobile dealership in his hometown of Colebrook. Combining a strong work ethic with an entrepreneurial spirit, he purchased several small car dealerships and created Berlin City Dealerships, which settled him in the Berlin area and gave him an up-close look at its hockey history.

From fully sponsoring a Berlin Youth Hockey team; becoming a main sponsor of Berlin Youth Hockey, women’s broomball teams and men’s teams in Berlin’s adult leagues; and serving on the board of directors of the Berlin Maroons when they played in the New England Hockey League, Dagesse became embedded in the city’s hockey culture.

Nowhere was his support greater than it was for Notre Dame Arena. For years, the arena’s non-profit board of directors struggled to cover costs, to the point where the arena needed a massive cash influx to stay open. Dagesse donated $250,000, which was used for state-of-the-art lighting and new fixtures, new dasher boards and perimeter glass, safety netting, an all-new propane-powered dehumidifier system, the replacement of one of the two compressors in the ice plant room with all new electronic controllers, and the replacement of one of the of the two facility boilers.

Dagesse would later donate another $300,000 to the arena for more upgrades, and pledged $30,000 annually to be shared between the arena and Berlin Youth Hockey to help kids who struggle with the costs of playing the sport.

The benefits of Dagesse’s financial support are felt today, with Berlin Youth Hockey having the largest enrollment in its history. The significant energy savings and other improvements have allowed ice time rental costs to remain the same since 2001, the lowest in New Hampshire.

In 2001 he funded an outdoor lighted ice rink with provision for its maintenance.

Rev. Msgr. Omer Bousquet

Fr. Bousquet, pastor of the Guardian Angel Parish in Berlin, New Hampshire for 36 years, was one of the pioneers of North Country hockey. With the help of an entire city, Bousquet built the Notre Dame Arena board by board, providing a home to local high school teams as well as the famed Berlin Maroons. With Fr. Bousquet’s blessing countless New Hampshire High School Hockey Tournaments were held at the Notre Dame Arena, providing young people with a true opportunity to display their talents on the ice. For his efforts, Fr. Bousquet was honored as “Man of the Year” by the Berlin Chamber of Commerce in 1951.

A state champion at Concord High School playing with his big sister, future U.S. Olympic gold medalist Tara Mounsey, Mick went on to become one of the best defensemen in University of New Hampshire history. He
played four years for the Wildcats from 2000-04, winning two Hockey East championships and helping the team reach two Frozen Fours.

As a freshman defenseman at Concord, he scored 13 goals – including the game-winner in the Division 1 championship game against Bishop Guertin – and had 31 assists for a team that finished the year undefeated. He was the runner-up for Division 1 Player of the Year, finishing only behind sister Tara, who was a senior.

Declining an offer to go to Michigan and play for the U.S. National Team Development Program, Mounsey moved on to Avon Old Farms, helping that team win a New England prep school championship.

He was an impact player at UNH from the day he arrived. He played in 37 games as a freshman and finished as the runner-up for Hockey East’s Best Defenseman award. As a sophomore he led the team and Hockey East in plus-minus, as the Wildcats won the first of two straight league championships and advanced to the first of two straight final fours.

Mounsey finished his UNH career with a stellar plus-68 rating. He scored six goals and assisted on 38 others for a career 44 points, but brought much more to the ice than scoring.

“Mick was the ultimate team player,” said former UNH assistant coach David Lassonde. “He understood what he needed to do to bring value to his team, and he performed that role to a ‘T’. Every successful team has glue guys and for us he was exactly that.”

Mounsey’s 157 games played at UNH rank among the most in program history, and he enjoyed a brief career in the ECHL, winning a Kelly Cup with the Idaho Steelheads. After his professional career ended, he settled in Concord and got involved with youth sports including the Concord Youth Hockey Association, serving as its president in 2012.

Please welcome to the Class of 2023, Mick Mounsey as a member of the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame.

Players come and go in the Rochester Men’s Hockey League, but the one constant through the decades has been Nelson Hutchings. Now 100 years young, having celebrating his milestone birthday in July, Hutchings has spent the last forty-five years as the scorekeeper and publicity agent for the Rochester Men’s Hockey League, only rarely missing a game. It is estimated that Hutchings has been on hand for nearly 3,000 league contests. In addition to keeping the clock and the scoresheet, he also reports results and stats to local newspapers.

Born in Portsmouth in 1923, Hutchings served in the Army during World War II with the 544th Engineers Boat & Shore Regiment in the Pacific Theater from 1943-46, and was decorated.

Age has not prevented him from pursuing his passion or maintaining his independence. He has lived on his own, in a log cabin, in a remote section of Farmington since 2007. More often than not he drives himself to league games on Monday evenings at the Rochester Ice Arena.

“He is the league. He is the constant,” said Portsmouth’s Tom Ferguson, a past league president who played in the RMHL from 1980 to 2001. “Everybody knows him. Nelson’s the gold standard. He’s there all the time.”

Although Hutchings never played ice hockey, it has long been a passion of his. He enjoyed watching his two youngest sons play, and became scorekeeper for the league in 1978, when his son, Howard, was playing in it.

In forty-five years, Hutchings has been on hand for nearly 3,000 contests. The league’s teams play a twenty game schedule from October to March — three games every Monday night. The playoffs are single-elimination with the
championship being a best-of-three series. “I liked doing it,” he said. “I never had any problems. It makes (the winter) go by so quickly.”

Many of the former players regard Hutchings with fondness. It’s not uncommon on Monday for several ex-players to find their way to the booth to spend part of the night with him. “He’s just always there through rain or snow,”
said Hampton’s Bob Moore, who played in the league from 1984-94. “Whatever was going on, he was always there. I thought he lived there.”

Please welcome to the Class of 2023, Nelson Hutchings a member of the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame.

A native of Biddeford, Maine, who now makes his home in Belmont, N.H., Caron is credited with spearheading the creation of the Belmont-Gilford cooperative team, bringing together a diverse network of people to garner community support and, ultimately, New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association approval.

It was an idea that dated back more than twenty years ago, to a summer gathering on the back deck of Caron’s house, finding a way to give local student-athletes a chance to play high school hockey. As Town Administrator, Caron oversaw the development of a diverse group which included a teacher, business entrepreneurs, a lawyer, referees and coaches. They brought a proposal to both school districts, attended meetings and worked on finding solutions until their plan was approved.

The next step was to propose this innovative idea to Jim Desmarais, then the Executive Director of the NHIAA, who seemed open to it. After many more meetings attended and checkpoints reached, the NHIAA allowed the program to begin as a club team playing a sub-varsity, eventually growing into a team that would play its first varsity season in 2004-05.

Funding was a major challenge, but Caron got the support of Will Fay, the manager of what is now the Merrill Fay Arena in Laconia, to schedule the most and best ice time within a minimal budget. Thanks to the acceptance and openness of the school boards, administrators, athletic directors and the financial support of the local businesses, boosters, communities and parents, the team continues to flourish.

Cooperative high school sports teams have become numerous in New Hampshire in the two decades since Belmont-Gilford first took the ice together. In sports like boys’ and girls’ hockey, football, and boys’ and girls’ lacrosse,
which require larger rosters and costlier equipment, cooperative teams have allowed hundreds of more athletes the experience of playing high school sports.

Caron also served as a coach and on the Board of Directors for the Lakes Region Lakers from 1989 to 2007 and as a USA Hockey referee from 1999 to 2019. He currently serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the non-profit Winnipesaukee Skating Club, owner of the Merrill Fay Arena.

Please welcome to the Class of 2023, Dave Caron as a member of the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame.

Paul D. Comeau

For nearly thirty years, the late Paul Comeau was actively involved in youth hockey in both the state’s Seacoast region and also at the state level for USA Hockey. A native of Everett, Mass., who later made his home in Nottingham, N.H., Comeau spent many years as the President of New Hampshire East Youth Hockey before later becoming the Director of Hockey for that organization. He coached many teams for New Hampshire East from 1992 until 2019, from Mites all the way up to Midgets. Many of his teams attended and won their playoffs, state championships and/or regional championships.

He helped develop NHE’s learn-to-skate program and also coordinated a partnership with the Boston Bruins organization to provide 25-50 boys and girls under the age of 9 each year with all the necessary equipment (skates, helmet, stick, gloves, etc.) and on-ice training with Boston Bruins staff. This was Paul’s way of reaching out to the youngest, to get them interested in hockey, and to work towards developing the future of youth hockey in New Hampshire.

Additionally, Comeau spent several years as a referee and scheduler. He made sure that all home games for New Hampshire East had officials; during the many times when an official couldn’t make it to a game, he would suit up and officiate the game himself.

Comeau was an advocate for making youth hockey affordable for families, while at the same time demanding that NHE offer the highest quality level of instruction in order for players to hone their skills and excel at each level. During his tenure with New Hampshire East, more than 2,000 players skated for the program. These players were on many of the teams that won state and regional championships, advanced to USA Hockey Nationals, and excelled at the high school and collegiate level.

In an era when many youth hockey programs in the region dissolved for various reasons, Comeau would work with those organizations to accommodate and absorb their players into New Hampshire East. He coordinated several fundraising activities for NHE that included the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival, Comedy Night with silent auction and Tag Days, plus raffles and concession stands at Phillips Exeter Academy during tournaments.

Comeau served on the Board of Directors in various capacities for the New Hampshire Amateur Hockey Association. At the time of his passing, he was serving as the organization’s president. Under his leadership, the NHAHA continued to see that the youth hockey players of New Hampshire were given every opportunity for success.

Accepting for Paul Comeau is his wife Robin Comeau.

Walter J. Nadeau

A native of Berlin, a city whose hockey story he would tell, Nadeau’s impact in his community and its proud hockey history cannot be understated. Nadeau’s more than thirty years of service to the Berlin and Coos County Historical Society has established him as the keeper of the hockey legend in Berlin, overseeing a permanent exhibit that celebrates the city’s long and robust hockey tradition. He served as a board member and Secretary in that organization, and currently serves as Vice-President. He spent more than two years researching and editing biographies and acquiring photos of the forty Legends of Hockey members from Berlin as part of that exhibit.

Nadeau graduated from Berlin High School in 1966, playing on a state champion football team as a senior. His passion for physical fitness led him to Springfield College, where he completed his Bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1970, after which he then spent nine years as a physical education teacher in Berlin, a tenure that included him founding the Spartan Weightlifting Club, a Berlin mainstay. This was followed by twenty years as a patrolman with the Berlin Police Department where he was promoted to Deputy Chief.

Walt’s passion for hockey was ignited through his service with the NH Legends of Hockey Board of Directors. He’s been credited with nominating five individuals from the greater Berlin area who were inducted into the Legends Hall of fame. His involvement continued through his many years of research and chronicling the evolution of the sport and how it had made an impact on his city, state and nation. Thanks to his efforts and interviews with so many of those who made hockey happen in Berlin, people learned about the Berlin Maroons, the storied rivalry between Notre Dame High School and Berlin High School, and how the city became known as “Hockey Town USA.”

His work did not go unnoticed by the community, as the historical society was approached by the late Legends Hall of Fame member Rod Blackburn as to how a permanent exhibit to the city’s hockey tradition and heroes could be created and funded. Nadeau, with his integrity and strength of purpose preceding him, was the man to handle the job. He had become Berlin’s hockey historian. He and Blackburn discussed the concept of creating an area in the Moffett House Museum dedicated to these Hall of Famers, which was unanimously approved by the Historical Society’s Board of Directors. The exhibit was dedicated on Dec. 10, 2022.

Please welcome to the Class of 2023, Walter J. Nadeau as a member of the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame.

Willie ‘The Barber’ Bibeau

Attended the Canadian School systems where he started playing ice hockey at the age of 5 until he attained the age of 15 years.

Willie then played junior hockey for the Richmond Flyers of Windsor, PQ, where he was a major factor in their winning the championship in 1964.

In the 1964-1965 hockey season, Willie started playing for Manchester’s Alpine Club in the Granite State Hockey League, where in his first game he scored 7 goals. At the conclusion of the ’64-’65 season, Willie won the coveted high scoring title of the Granite State Hockey League.

In 1968, Willie broke a scoring record that had existed since 1948 by scoring 53 goals and 42 assists for a total of 95 points in 38 games.

Willie’s hockey career from 1964 through 1974 encompassed playing for the Alpine Club, Manchester Blackhawks and Manchester Monarchs braking many scoring records and was a fan favorite over that period of time.

Willie was a coach in the Youth Hockey League where his Merrimack Pee Wees won the State Championship in 1972.

Willie “The Barber” continues his 30+ years career as a professional barber.

A British Columbia native, the late Wayne Pecknold made his mark in New Hampshire with the Concord Eastern Olympics. In seven seasons between 1967-74, he put up 57 goals and 181 assists for 238 points, the only defenseman among the team’s all-time top 10 in scoring.

Born in Victoria, B.C., Pecknold was a standout in several sports before settling on hockey. At the age of 13, he led his Victoria bantam club to a provincial championship in lacrosse. He won a juvenile football scoring title with 48 points in five games and was a main cog on his high school’s basketball team.

In hockey, after leading the Juvenile Canucks to the Pacific Coast League title, Pecknold joined the Prince Albert Mintos of the Saskatchewan Junior League. His play with the Mintos earned him an athletic scholarship to Michigan State in 1959, though he was later ruled ineligible because he had signed an ‘A’ form with Prince Albert.

He became an honor student at Michigan State, receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in 1963. He’d go on to earn a Master’s and Ph.D in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and remained at MIT as a professor of civil engineering.

He joined the Concord Eastern Olympics in 1967 and played with them through 1973-74, serving as captain over that entire period. Often times he would coach the team during practices and, at times, in games in Pat Eagan’s absence.

“Wayne Pecknold was easily the most talented, the most efficient, the most unselfish, the smartest and the most complete defenseman with whom I had the great good fortune to have been paired with while playing for the Concord Eastern Olympics,” said teammate and Legends of Hockey Hall of Famer Bruce Parker. “Wayne was skilled both offensively and defensively. He possessed a great comprehension of the game and utilized that understanding to play with a special ability to anticipate where teammates, as well as opponents, were about to be and about to do.”

He finished his career playing for the Concord Budmen. He also coached youth hockey in Manchester, where his players included his son, Rand, a Legends Hall of Famer and now the successful coach at Quinnipiac; along with Jeff Serowik and Kyle McDonough.

Pecknold passed away in 2000 at the age of 60 after a lengthy battle with colon cancer.