Hall of Fame Members

Bill graduated in 1961 from St. Paul’s School where he played varsity hockey, soccer and baseball.

He enrolled at Bowdoin College and was a three-year varsity starter in hockey, football, and baseball. He also excelled in those three sports as a freshman. In 1965, as a senior, he was elected varsity hockey Captain and named co-recipient of the Hugh Monroe, Jr., hockey trophy as Bowdoin’s Most Valuable Player. He earned nine varsity letters between 1962 and 1965.

Begining in 1973, Bill took over as Head Coach of the St. Paul’s School boys’ ice hockey program and remained on the bench for 17 seasons. In 1984, his team was the Independent School League Champion. His undefeated record of 14-0-0 remains as the only undefeated-untied record in League history. Between December 1983 and February 1985, his teams won 34 consecutive games. His career wins total 204, with a winning percentage of .609.

Two of his notable players who went on to NHL careers are Jeff Guiliano of the Manchester Monarchs and Los Angeles Kings, and Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins.

Additionally, Bill coached girls’ ice hockey at St. Paul’s School for 2 years (1992-1994). His teams complied an overall record of 20-11-4, for a .571 winning percentage.

Bill also found time to serve 11 seasons as Assistant football coach and four seasons as Head baseball coach St. Paul’s School. From 1981 to 1984, he served on the Board of Directors of the Concord Youth Hockey Association.

Bill has served as a teacher, coach and administrator for 40 years at St. Paul’s School. On January 10, 2006, he became the twelfth Rector (Head of School).

The institution currently is celebrating its 150th Anniversary.

Bill Dennehy was an excellent baseball player growing up, helping Springfield College reach the Division 2 College World Series in 1970.

But it was after he arrived at Phillips Exeter Academy shortly thereafter that he began building the career that has landed him in the Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame in the coaches category.

Dennehy coached and taught at Exeter Academy for 42 years, and remains an assistant coach with the boys hockey team. He has coached more than 1,000 games in each of three different sports: soccer, hockey and baseball, and helped advance the careers of scores of young men and women, including Oakland A’s outfielder Sam Fuld of Durham and Division 1 hockey player Russ Bartlett of Windham, among others.

He was a coach first, but one whose door was always open.

“He was very, very approachable,” said Scott Borek, who played hockey for Dennehy at Exeter and is the associate head coach at the University of New Hampshire. “Playing for him was like playing for your older brother. He’s always listened to you. He tried to put people in good situation in the rink and outside the rink.”

Dennehy’s hockey teams went 616-506 before he essentially traded head coach-assistant coach roles with current head coach Dana Barbin in the mid-1990s. They coached Exeter to a New England Division 1 championship in 1999.

“He said to me, ‘You’re younger than me. You have the hockey background. You have to take this now,” said Barbin. “That’s the way he is. He always made me feel, even when I was an assistant, that we were coaching the team together.”

Dennehy arrived in Exeter in the fall of 1971 and, by the 1972-73 season, he began coaching under George Crowe and continued for three seasons. He took over as the head coach for the 1975-76 season and held that position for the next 22 years.

Dennehy coached 14 players who were drafted by NHL teams, including three from New Hampshire: Brian Larouchelle from Manchester, Bartlett and Geoff Koch from Exeter.

He was a demanding coach, who could raise his voice when the situation called for it, but also someone they could look up to. Among the players he guided was his son, Pat who is now the head coach at Choate.

“He’s a tough coach,” said Barbin. “He’s honest and fair and demanding, and the kids love him. He’s got an arm around them when he’s kicking them in the butt.’

The story, so it goes, is that the young Bill Antonucci, in the early 1960s, was an enthusiastic basketball player-that is, until the day he was seen skating by Pop Whalen, Brewster Academy’s legendary hockey coach. Bill, that day, had laced ’em up for a turn on the school’s outdoor rink.

“Hey, Antonucci. Put away your basketball. You’re gonna be a hockey player for me, now.”

Those, of course, weren’t Pop’s exact words, but his message that day did, indeed, mark the beginning of Bill Antonucci’s dedicated hockey life. For those next four seasons, he was a varsity forward on Pop’s teams. In his junior year he scored 37 points, averaging 2.85 points per game. In his junior and senior seasons, Bill also skated with the fabled Laconia Lakers, a teenager taking a regular shift with “the big guys.” In fact, the 1963-64 Lakers won the Granite State Hockey League championship. In 1965, he went off to Colby College and kept on playing. Graduation came in 1969, followed by a hitch in the US Army.

Then, after arriving home, began the stunning chapter of his hockey history, packed full of hard work and accomplishment on behalf of others, especially youngsters. In the early 1980s, the Back Bay Youth Hockey Association was born. Bill was one of the founders, and over time he served as secretary, treasurer, vice president, president, plus coaching coordinator. Oh, yes. He worked behind the bench, too, coaching mites, squirts and peewees (but not all at one time.) Several state championships resulted. He even found time to serve a couple of seasons as assistant coach at Kingswood High School, later founding The Friends of Knights Ice Hockey. Perhaps his biggest single community contribution was the erection of the local rink. Fittingly, it was dedicated (January 7, 1989) as the Paul “Pop” Whalen Ice and Arts Center.

Before and after that golden evening, a lot of hard work was needed to find money. It took several hundred thousand dollars. Bill was project chairman and to raise funds he helped organize the Kingswood Klassic pro-am golf tournament that for three years brought LPGA members to town. Some days, he even jumped into the trench, literally, to help install some of the refrigeration pipe.

In 1992, he became executive vice president of New Hampshire Amateur Hockey, and the following year became president. Then came a 10-year run (1995-2005) as USA director from the New England district. Later, when USA Hockey began its developmental program, Bill served as general manager for all New England Select Teams, largely working behind the scenes with travel arrangements and caring diligently for all other logistical considerations. By the time 2005 rolled around, Bill, for a second time, stepped up as New Hampshire Amateur Hockey’s executive vice president and served until the spring of 2007.

So what is he doing now? This very minute? Well, he’s on the board of Back Bay Youth Hockey Association; he’s still president of The Friends of Knights Ice Hockey; he still coaches youth hockey; and he’s still New Hampshire Amateur Hockey’s president. He’s a special man!

Bill Antonucci – Class of 2008.

Ben started playing ice hockey while attending school in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada from 1944 to 1947. In the 1948 and 1949 seasons, Ben captained the Notre Dame’ hockey team and was the leading scorer in his senior year. In those two seasons, Notre Dame won the New Hampshire Ice Hockey State Championships.

In 1949, at the New England Hockey Tournament held in Providence, RI, Ben was voted to the All New England Tournament Team at the wing position. He was the first in New Hampshire to receive this honor.

From 1949 to 1964, Ben played for the Berlin Maroons, in 1954 he played wing on the team that won the Senior Amateur Hockey Association’s U.S. National Championship, except for the period of 1952 to 1954, where he served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

From 1965 to 1980, Ben officiated at all levels of ice hockey for ECAC, AHA, NIHOA, and NEHL. In summary, he officiated at Division I and III College, high schools, senior amateur and all house and travel league teams. He was instrumental in starting the ice hockey program at Winnacunnet High School.

In 1977, Ben was the president of the New Hampshire Ice Hockey Officials Association and he was the key person in making face protection mandatory for high school hockey headgear.

From 1980 to 1983, Ben evaluated the hockey officials at the UNH games for the ECAC.

Concord-born and Canaan-raised Ben Lovejoy starred at Dartmouth College and went on to have an 11-year career in the NHL, becoming the first New Hampshire-born player to lift the Stanley Cup.

Lovejoy’s family moved to Marion, Mass., when he was young but returned to the Granite State when he was 8 after his father, Carl, accepted a position at Cardigan Mountain School. Ben played four years at the school, also helping Hanover Youth Hockey teams win state championships at the Mite and Squirt levels.

Lovejoy played for three seasons in the Metropolitan Boston Hockey League for the Middlesex Islanders and played summer hockey for the Boston Elites, Boston Icemen and HoneyBaked (Detroit). He was twice invited to join USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, but declined, opting to stay at Deerfield Academy.

Recruited by Boston College, he spent one year at BC before transferring to Dartmouth College.  Over three seasons he played 86 games for the Big Green, scoring 54 points (11-43-54) as a defenseman. In 2006-07, he was a finalist for the Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England. He also played three seasons of lacrosse.

After parts of two seasons playing in the AHL, Lovejoy made his NHL debut with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 7, 2008, in a 4–3 loss against the Buffalo Sabres. After an All-Star season in the AHL, he’d be called up by the Penguins for the Stanley Cup playoffs, though he did not see any game action and the Pens won the cup.

After getting traded to the Anaheim Ducks in 2013, Lovejoy returned to Pittsburgh in March of 2015. The following season, he skated in 66 regular-season games (recording four goals and 10 points) and all 24 playoff games as the Penguins won their fourth Stanley Cup. He became the first New Hampshire native to win the trophy.

On July 1, 2016, Lovejoy left as a free agent to sign a three-year contract with the New Jersey Devils. He would conclude his 11-year NHL career with the Dallas Stars, playing a total of 544 games (the most-ever by a New Hampshire player), 70 playoff games, while amassing 101 points (20-81-101). Known as an elite penalty-killer, he ended his NHL career with a plus minus of plus-50 for his career.

At the time of his retirement, on Aug. 29, 2019, Lovejoy was the only active NHL player to donate his brain for concussion research to Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center.

He was the first Dartmouth alum to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as a player since Myles Lane (Class of ’28) did so in the 1929 Cup final.

Beatrice “Bea” Lambert

The late Beatrice Lambert’s title with the Berlin Maroons was secretary. Her life around hockey merits a label much more layered than that.

A Berlin native and lifelong hockey fan, Lambert watched the growth of the Berlin Maroons from that club’s infancy in 1937-38 to its national amateur championship in 1954, and came aboard as its secretary in the 1950s. She spearheaded fund-raising to keep the club afloat during lean times and became the first woman to serve on the board of directors of the New England Amateur Hockey Association.

Fund-raiser, publicist, statistician…Lambert wore many hats in her service to the Maroons, who played in the NEAHA through 1972.

“She was part of that glue that kept the legendary Berlin Maroons together and built them up to be twice national champions in the 1960s,” said Berlin historian Walter Nadeau, who nominated her for induction, “and continued to promote and build hockey as the first female to serve on the New England Amateur Hockey Association board of directors.” Lambert graduated from Berlin High School in 1929 and was hired by the city of Berlin as the Bookkeeper for the Welfare Department in 1934. By the 1950s she was fully involved as the Secretary for the Maroons, organizing fund-raising and writing up publicity for the local newspapers.

In 1959, as the Maroons officially became incorporated, Lambert was formally elected as the Secretary and Bookkeeper. According to Nadeau, she and Al Adams (Class of 2002) and Clarence Lessard were “the glue” that held the Maroons together for the next decade-plus. Lambert dutifully recorded the minutes at the Maroons’ board meetings, organized fund-raising events, served as team statistician and handled payroll.

For 10 years, beginning in 1968, she served on the board of directors of the New England Amateur Hockey Association. She was a director for three years and then NEAHA Secretary for another seven. She was also named “Miss Hockey of New England” by the U.S. Amateur Hockey Association.

She played a role in the building of a new hockey arena in Berlin after the tragic cave-in of Notre Dame Arena in 1969. Her fund-raising and tireless work helped the new building be ready for hockey less than a year later.

Lambert was a friend to many local sports organizations, including Little League baseball and youth hockey.

Anthony ‘Tony’ Urban

The late Tony Urban was a football coach, a basketball coach, a teacher, athletic director, a school administrator, a state administrator, a basketball referee and an umpire. He was a “go-to” figure in the North Country but also led and impacted organizations statewide.

Urban graduated from Plymouth State College and later attended graduate programs throughout the country. He also had a great love for hockey. Basketball was the “family business” but he chose to play hockey for Berlin High School for two years.

Urban knew how important the sport was to his hometown. His career would include 36 years as chairman of the NHIAA Hockey Committee. He served on the National High School Hockey Federation for Hockey Rules Committee from 1977-88. As part of this committee in 1977 he helped author the first consolidated High School Ice Hockey rules book to standardize national rules and benchmarks for high school play.

From 1968-94, he served as assistant principal at Berlin Junior-Senior High School, where he helped design and construct the “new” high school, which still stands today. He served as principal of Berlin Junior-High School and Berlin Middle School, and served on New England-wide school accreditation committees.

In “retirement,” he led efforts to restore the city’s athletic fields from disrepair and acted as clerk of the works. He promoted the BioMass project in Berlin after the mills closed, and served as a Police Commissioner and State Racing and Gaming Commissioner.

Urban served on many NHIAA committees, and spent one school year (1975-76) as president of the NHIAA. He was also a member of the IAABO (basketball officials) since 1963 and served as its president in 1977-1978. He was a member of the NH Baseball Umpires Association since 1961 (serving as its president from 1979-81). He was a member of the NH Women’s Basketball Officials Organization from 1984-2005 (serving as its president from 1984-85). He was inducted into the NHIAA Hall of Fame in 2008.

Urban was a founding member of the predecessor group to the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey. When Berlin’s Notre Dame Arena fell on hard times, again, he helped to set up fundraising opportunities.

He was instrumental in moving the NHIAA hockey championship games from the “big ice” of Whittemore Arena at UNH to the SNHU Arena in Manchester. He also arranged for sponsorships for these costs. Today, the cost is still zero.

He also helped the NHIAA sanctioning of women’s ice hockey as interest expanded in the sport for young women and also oversaw the divisional segregation of the high school hockey programs to allow equitable, safe play for all participants.

He passed away on Dec. 29, 2016 after a battle with a rare cancer.

Andre ‘Tinou’ St. Laurent

Attended the Parochial School systems where he started playing ice hockey at the age of 7 as a goaltender. Tinou then played junior hockey for the Richmond Flyers of Windsor, PQ, where he was a major factor in their winning the Eastern Township Cup and were Provincial Finalist in 1963.

In the 1964, Tinou played for the Junior “A” Thetford Mines Blackhawks, a farm team of the Montreal Canadiens.

In 1965, Tinou came to Manchester where he played for the Manchester Blackhawks from 1965 to 1970, and the Manchester Monarchs from 1970 to 1975.

His teams won several New England Hockey League championships and Tinou was named “Goalie of the Year” on three occasions.

Throughout his playing career he has participated in numerous hockey games in support of various local charities.

For ten years from 1965 to 1975, Tinou devoted a great amount of time in support of the Manchester Youth Regional Hockey Association teams as a goalie coach.

Tinou coached the Manchester Generals a Junior “A” team, and in 1993 until 1997 he was the Goalie Coach for the Memorial High School hockey team.

Andre ‘Pref’ Prefontaine

Whenever the conversation ’round the table in Manchester turns to the New England Hockey League of the ’60s and ’70s, the one name that always arises is “Pref” – Andre Prefontaine. To the locals, who back then filled the JFK Coliseum to root for the Manchester Blackhawks, “Pref” was a hero. He was a goal scorer, an aggressive forward with defense on his mind, always a needle in the necks of the opposition.

Originally from St. Hyacinthe in Quebec, his French-speaking family moved to Cornwall, Ontario when “Pref” was 5. For the next six years, he attended a school where only English was spoken. Then in 1950, just as Pref was entering the 7th grade, his father was killed in a railroad accident, forcing his mother to move Pref and his three siblings back to St. Hyacinthe. By then, he had a difficult time speaking French. His then-hockey coach, Father Romeo, made an offer: he would help “Pref” sharpen his French skills if “Pref” would play hockey. They agreed. There was one more catch, though. “Pref” would have to help his classmates improve their English by conversing with them during the day. “Pref” later entered Academy Girouard (high school) where he played on the same line with later-to-be Montreal Canadiens star, Bobby Rosseau. The goaltender that year was Dennis DeJordy, who later became a Chicago Blackhawk.

In the early 1960s, when a new league started locally, “Pref” signed on to play with the St. Hyacinthe Police Department team. In 1965, when he was 27, the team came to New Hampshire to play against the Manchester Blackhawks. In that game, he scored a few goals and afterwards was approached by Blackhawks owner, Claude Vaillancourt, who urged “Pref” to come to the States. His first full season in town was 1966-67.

Some Memorable Moments:

November 20, 1967: At the JFK, “Pref” agreed to switch teams for the evening, joining the shorthanded Merrimack Valley Chiefs. He scored 4 goals and an assist.

April 5, 1969: In game seven of the NEHL championship series, “Pref” scored 5 goals as the Blackhawks defeated arch-rival Concord Eastern Olympics for the title.

September 9, 1969: Al Dupont, then-Blackhawks owner, announced that “Pref” had been traded to the Nashua Maple Leafs.

January 13, 1971: “Pref” is selected for the NEHL All-Star team.

In 1970, the Blackhawks folded but quickly reappeared with a new name: Monarchs. “Pref”, after brief stints with both the Nashua Leafs and Lowell Chiefs, also came back to town and played for the Monarchs until the franchise folded in 1974. He later played a season with the Tri-City Coachmen then three seasons with the Concord Budmen.

In 1978, the old Blackhawks team, out of sight since 1970, was resurrected. And guess who was involved? For seven wonderful seasons, “Pref” was a player and the coach. For three of those years, he was team owner. The Blackhawks finally drew the curtain after the 1985-86 season ended. The memories, though, are still alive.

Al Corriveau was a founder of the Manchester Youth Hockey League and was instrumental in the building of the two local ice arenas. He served as president of the Junior Hockey League and Queen City Hockey, Inc. Al was an owner of the Manchester Blackhawks and the Manchester Monarchs of the New England Hockey League. He was also a sponsor of men’s Senior “A” Hockey League teams.

Al was one of the original “movers and shakers” of ice hockey in Manchester. He founded the Manchester Youth Hockey League, the genesis of what became the one of the largest and most respected youth hockey programs in the country, Manchester Youth Regional Hockey Association (MYRHA).

As a pioneer in developing youth hockey, he gathered coaches, organized teams, got ice time and scheduled practices and games. Al provided order by breaking down the players into age groups and insisting that every player, no matter his/her abilities get equal ice time. His system was first line against first line, second line against second line, etc. As the program got underway smoothly, some people objected to the equal ice time for all players, Al never gave in to the pressure of creating just winners, he ran his program the right way from day one. Al always insisted on equal ice time for all kids, period!

The results of his method can be seen by hockey players from the Manchester Youth System that have excelled in the sport of ice hockey at the high school and collegiate levels through professional play.

Albert ‘Barney’ LaRoche

Albert “Barney” LaRoche was born in Berlin, New Hampshire, on July 10, 1916. Also known as the “Rocket,” he played 22 years for the various town teams, and in 1937, they became known as the Berlin Maroons. He won six team scoring titles as the Maroons won five (senior) New England AHA titles, in 1941, ’48, ’49, ’51 and again in ’54. They won their first of three (senior) National AHA Championships in 1953-54 over Housatonic, Conn. He finished his playing career in 1956.

Barney coached Notre Dame (Rams) High School for 13 seasons and during that time, their record was 161-79-17. During his tenure, the Rams never lost a single game to another New Hampshire high school. He won an unprecedented 13 NHIAA championships while outscoring their opponents 83-11. The Rams played in two New England championships, finishing as runner-up to Hamden, Conn., in 1954 before returning the favor to Hamden in 1957.

Barney also went on to coach the Maroons four seasons, beginning in 1964-65, ’65-66, ’66-67 and again in 1970-71. During those four years, Berlin’s record was 61-37-7. The Maroons won their second National AHA Championship in 1966-67 over Muskegon, Mich. Of note, the Maroons also won their third and final AHA championship the following season, besting Walpole Mass,, although LaRoche was not coaching.

Albert ‘Albie’ Brodeur

• Graduate of Notre Dame High School in Berlin in 1954.
• Member of three state champion high school teams.
• Co-captain of the 1954 Notre Dame team that represented the state of New Hampshire at the New England Tournament in Providence, Rhode Island.
• Member of the 1954 All New England Tournament Team.
• Graduate of the University of New Hampshire in 1959.
• Broke a 21-year scoring record at UNH in just 50 games.
• Co-captain and recipient of the Roger LeClerc
• Memorial Award in 1959.
• Played for the Berlin Maroons from 1960 to 1972.
• Coached Notre Dame High School from 1962 to 1964.
• Won a state championship with Notre Dame in1962.
• Coached Berlin High School from 1966 to 1999.
• Won state championships with Berlin High School in 1974 and 1975.
• Finished coaching career with a 323-175-12 record.
• Inducted into the New Hampshire Coaches Hall of Fame in 1989.
• Inducted into the UNH 100 Club Hall of Fame in 1991.