Hall of Fame Members

Rev. MSGR. J. Alpheri Lauziere

Monsignor Lauziere arrived in Berlin in 1922, when the young sport of hockey was growing rapidly, as the local mill had just formed a mill league and Berlin High School finished its first year competing in the sport. Msgr. Lauziere organized a city league whereby the mill teams, the High School, and various local clubs would play each other with playoffs held at the end of the season. His team, The Canadiens, won two city titles in four years.

Beginning in 1930, the depression was taking its toll on local hockey. Msgr. Lauziere persuaded several of the teams to merge, forming the Berlin Hockey Club, which became the Berlin Maroons in January 1937. Under his leadership and Hall of Famer “Navy” Labnon, the Maroons became a powerhouse and won the New England AAU championship in 1941.

After WWII, the Maroons resumed play in 1946/47. Described in newspaper accounts as having a “cool business head,” Lauziere financed the club year after year finding innovative ways to raise money to keep the club afloat. Under his guidance and quiet support, the Berlin Maroons won 7 New England and three national Senior AHA Championships. In 1949, Msgr. Lauziere and fellow priest Fr. Omer Bousquet were cited by the Amateur Hockey Assoc. for their outstanding contributions to hockey.

In 1966, as the treasurer of the Notre Dame Arena, Inc., he convinced the arena board to install artificial ice. He set aside $25,000 and had faith that the community would raise the balance. In 1969, the arena roof collapsed. He was one of those who spearheaded the arena rebuild which was completed in one year. His title “Patron Saint of Hockey” in the North Country was well earned.

Rene Cy LeClerc

Rene grew up in Berlin, known to all as Hockeytown USA, first learning about the game when he was 3 years old.

He graduated from Notre Dame High in 1964 and graduated in 1971 from NH College, now Southern New Hampshire University. He served as Captain his junior (1969-70) and senior (1970-71) seasons. Later, a job transfer landed him in Chicago where his stellar coaching career began. He first became Head Coach at Driscoll, a Parochial High School in Addison, Ill. Driscoll had just 250 boys enrolled, while their rivals, in some cases, had total enrollments of more than 2000. Rene took charge of a team that was 1-13 the previous season and established a contender, finishing in second place. For that accomplishment, the Metropolitan High School Hockey League named him Coach of the Year. Over the next three years, his teams compiled a 79-38-6 record and Rene earned one more Coach of the Year Award.

In 1975, he returned to Manchester, settled in, and became involved in the Manchester Regional Youth Hockey Association, coaching Mites to Midgets, while winning several New.England championships.

Then, in 1987 he was named Assistant Coach at Manchester Central High School and the following year became Head Coach, serving for 12 seasons. Under his tutelage, his teams compiled a 129-101-11 record and made it to the State Tournament finals in 1987 and 1994.

In 1999, he returned to Southern NH University, this time as Head Coach. His teams have been in the conference finals several years. They have amassed a record of 111-80-16.

Rene also spent 20 years as an official beginning in 1971 in Chicago. He worked games for local colleges, the US Hockey League, and the WCHA. Upon returning to NH he officiated the NE Junior Hockey League, as well as ECAC Division I and Division II, calling the Division II National Championships of 1982 and 1983. Also during that span he worked the Beanpot tourney . He also officiated the NHIAA State finals several times and served a two-year term as Association President. In 1980 Rene worked the pre-Olympic Romania-versus-UNH game, and in 1984 UNH-versus-the US Olympic team game.

• Played for the Manchester Alpine Club in 1964.
• Centered the Manchester Blackhawks from 1965 to 1970.
• Played for the Manchester Monarchs from 1971 to 1977.
• Also played for the Manchester Freedoms in 1984.
• Co-holder of the New England record of 55 goals in a single season. Accomplished the feat in 40 games during the 1971 season
• Scored over 400 career goals with the Blackhawks and the Monarchs, members of the New England Hockey League.
• Led his team to consecutive NEHL championships in 1971 and 1972.
• Named MVP of the NEHL in 1971.
• Began a coaching career with the Manchester Generals Junior Hockey team in 1973.
• Skated with the Concord Budmen for one season in 1975-1976.
• Also officiated high school and college hockey for a 10-year period beginning in the late 1970’s.
• Also ran the Manchester Professional Hockey School.
• Still skates and coaches at the Tri-Town Arena in Hooksett, New Hampshire.

From growing up in Bedford and skating for Manchester West High School, to building one of the top college programs in the country, Rand Pecknold has impacted the game at both state and national levels.

After playing for two years at West and two more at Lawrence Academy, Pecknold attended Division 3 Connecticut College, where he was a standout player. As a senior, he led the Camels to the ECAC South championship. He set school single-season records for goals (17) and points (47) by a defenseman.

He earned first-team All-ECAC South honors and a spot on the Division 3 All-England Team as a senior. Playing as a forward in his first three collegiate seasons, he led the Camels in goals as a sophomore (19) and junior (23). Overall, Pecknold scored 59 goals and 64 assists for 123 points, the eighth-most in program history.

But it’s as the head coach at Quinnipiac that he has achieved national renown, and is currently in his 23rd season. Twice in the last four seasons, he has led the Bobcats to the Frozen Four and NCAA championship game.

To date, Pecknold owns a career head coaching record of 446-26483 and currently ranks sixth among all active Division 1 coaches in career victories. Since Quinnipiac qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2012-13 — the first of four straight times it would make the NCAAs — and advanced to the national championship game, the Bobcats have the second-most wins (109) among all Division 1 programs in the country, behind only North Dakota (110). In addition, over the last fi ve years in the NCAA, Quinnipiac is #1 in Power Play, #1 in Penalty Kill and #2 in Wins.

In 2015-16 Quinnipiac won a program-record 32 games while winning the ECAC Hockey regular-season (Cleary Cup) and tournament (Whitelaw Cup) championships. The Bobcats’ 32-4-7 record made them the first team since Michigan in 1997 to finish the season with only four losses for the year.

Quinnipiac then went on to win the NCAA East Regional with wins against RIT and UMass-Lowell before advancing to its second Frozen Four. The Bobcats defeated perennial power Boston College before falling to North Dakota in the national championship game.

Pecknold has the most wins of any coach in Quinnipiac hockey history (446). He is a four-time Spencer Penrose Award finalist, given to the national Coach of the Year (2002, 2005, 2013, 2016), and the award winner in 2016.

He was hired at Quinnipiac on May 5, 1994, following three years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Connecticut College. He has overseen the program during its move from Division 2 to Division 1 (for the 1998-99 season), from the MAAC to ECAC Hockey (for the 2005-06 season) and into the TD Bank Sports Center, regarded as one of the top rinks in college hockey.

Ralph ‘Navy’ Labnon

Every hockey player in New Hampshire knows about the Berlin Maroons. It wouldn’t be that way if Navy Labnon hadn’t cared so much.

When the Berlin Maroons hockey team was first being organized back in the late 1930’s, finances and promotion presented major problems. In addition, the young hockey club needed someone who could present a positive image for the budding organization in order to encourage spectator attendance at the games. The team turned to Navy, then a young and imaginative businessman. With his guidance, success promoting the Berlin Maroons was almost meteoric .

In short order, the team began traveling far and wide to play games and eventually developed a reputation that became almost mythic. To nearly everyone’s disbelief, Navy soon had the Maroons practicing and playing at the Boston Garden. Navy helped take the band of devoted players from a sandlot team to a great hockey attraction.

Navy served as General Manager of the Berlin Maroons from 1938 to 1942. In 1941, the Maroons were New England Champions and runners-up in the National Championships. Navy later was named Sportsman of the Year by the Athletic Booster Club.

Throughout his tenure, he was recognized as a shrewd promoter as well a successful businessman. His contributions made it possible for the Maroons to become a national force.

In an anecdotal history of hockey in Berlin, Navy Labnon’s name will forever be linked with the two Catholic priests who conspired to help make the city widely known as Hockeytown USA. Monsignor Bousquet is the man who built the Notre Dame High School and arena. And it was Monsignor Lauzier who worked so hard with the youth of the city and also became the manger for the Maroons. Hockey in Berlin has the fingerprints of these men on it.

Between 1943 and 1945, Navy took timeout to serve his country in the military. He returned to the Maroons, though, for the 1946 and 1947 seasons. He couldn’t stay away.

Navy and his family have been proprietors of the Town and Country Inn in Shelburne, NH since 1956.

Played three years of varsity hockey at Berlin High School, where he was a co-captain and the top scorer his junior and senior years, as well as New Hampshire’s leading scorer his senior year. He moved on to Oswego State University where he was a captain for three years and the team’s top scorer for two years. He still owns the school records for most goals in one game (7), most assists in one game (8), most points in one game (12), and average number of points in a game (3.45) at Oswego State, which made him a clear choice as the first ever inductee into the Oswego State Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989. Pierre was a member of the Johnstown Jets and Long Island Ducks in the Eastern League from 1969-1970. He also refereed eight Beanpot Tournaments, seven NCAA Final Fours, and games in the AHL, and the North American Hockey League. Belanger now dedicates a great deal of his time to officiating at the high school and collegiate levels, in addition to his current position as Supervisor of Off-Ice Officials for the Manchester Monarchs AHL team

Peter Maher forever etched his name in University of Maine hockey history when he scored the Black Bears’ first-ever goal in a Hockey East game, in 1984-85 against the University of New Hampshire.

It wouldn’t be the only milestone during a career that saw Maher grow up in Exeter and eventually play professionally in Denmark before coming back to New Hampshire for good.

Like so many players growing up in Exeter, Maher picked up the game through coach George Crowe’s (2004 inductee) “Learn to Skate” program at Phillips Exeter Academy. He prepped at Canterbury School in Connecticut after coach Charlie Huntington, who’d helped run a summer camp at the Academy, invited him down. In his senior season of 1980-81, Canterbury won the Division I prep title and Maher amassed 99 points in just 25 games. He’d leave as that program’s all-time goals and points leader, with 212 of the latter.

He used that as a springboard to college hockey at Maine. During his sophomore year Maher was one of the tops in the nation for points per game for the Black Bears. Before his senior year, the program joined with six others in New England to form Hockey East and Maher finished his final season with 10 goals and 27 points.

The first of those goals, against UNH at Snively Arena, was the first the Black Bears would score in a Hockey East game. “I always had some pretty decent games at Snively. I always got up for those games.”

For Maher, the induction is special for several reasons. For nearly a quarter century, he played on a line with good friends Dana Barbin (’11 Inductee) and John Normand (’07 Inductee) at adult tournaments across New England and Quebec. In addition he and John skated with the Concord Budmen.

“Being part of an elite group, with Dana and Johnny and other players I’ve played with or against, that’s special,” said Maher. “To be part of this group, I am very honored.”

Barbin helped him land a professional contract in Denmark after his graduation, playing in the Elite Series League for HIK. In his first year of professional hockey, in the top league in Denmark, Maher took home the Carlsberg Award as the league’s leading scorer. Before returning to Denmark in 1987-88 he played for the Budmen one season then led his team in scoring and had an opportunity to skate against the famed Red Army team in the Europa Cup in Norway.

Maher still makes his home in Exeter. Since 2000 he has operated Power Sum Technologies, which sells voice and data technology components.

But those who played with or against him remember the hockey most of all. “When the chips are down, he does not like to lose,” said Normand. “There’s an inner drive that he has. People have different gears – low gear, middle gear and high gear. When it’s time to turn it on, it’s like a switch goes off on this guy, and it’s contagious.”

When the Sacred Heart Church in Concord formed a four-team local hockey league in 1931, and selected top players from those teams to represent the parish, one of the first standout players was the late Paul Colgan, who’d go on to play 15 years for the renowned Sacred Heart team, including the last nine as captain.

A Concord native, Colgan was the son of Philip Colgan, who designed and built the Sacred Heart ice rink on Pleasant Street, along with Elphege Couture, in 1930. Paul Colgan, a forward, started playing for the team in 1931 and rarely missed a game for the next 11 years.

Between 1931 and ’42, he was the team’s leader in goals (73), assists (34) and points (107). During this period Sacred Heart posted a record of 82-26-5. Colgan held the team record for most goals (seven) scored in a game in 1933 until it was tied 15 years later by St. Paul’s School great Richard “Doc” Mechem.

The outbreak of World War II caused a threeseason (1942-45) cancellation of play. During this time, Colgan served honorably in the U.S. Army, in the Pacific theatre, until being discharged from the service in 1945. Ice hockey resumed in Concord in 1945-46 and Colgan was again named captain of the Sacred Heart team, an honor which he held until his retirement as a player in 1949. In 156 career games, he was Sacred Heart’s all-time leading scorer with 89 goals, 47 assists and 136 points.

Moving behind the bench, Colgan coached Sacred Heart during its famous game against the U.S. Olympic team on January 9, 1952, right here in Concord, at the Pleasant Street rink It was a game that saw Sacred Heart leading the American All-Stars through two periods.

According to people who knew him, Colgan will be remembered for his great sense of humor, quick wit, gentlemanly manner, high moral character and gracious camaraderie. On the ice he was a fleet skater, a keen play-maker, a great passer and stick-handler with a hard shot.

Colgan passed away on Oct. 16, 1992 at the age of 79. His legacy was one that inspired many New Hampshire youths, who went on to later play for local schools and leagues.

Paul Chalue left his mark on the state’s hockey landscape through the decades he spent building the game and the opportunities for people to play it in Dover.

Chalue grew up in Needham, Mass., where he was close friends with the family of future NHL player and coach Robbie Ftorek. It was when he moved to Dover in the summer of 1977 that he began shaping the hockey culture in the state’s Seacoast region.

As the City of Dover’s arena director, he oversaw operations as the newly-built outdoor recreation rink, which would transform the access to hockey opportunities for decades to come.  With little staff and minimal resources, he was instrumental in building the outdoor facility into the modern Foster Rink as it is known today.

Chalue served in his arena position from 1977 until 1994, when he was then promoted to be director of city buildings and grounds, a job he held until his retirement in 2007. For 30 years. Dover’s skating and hockey community had an innovator and tireless worker who provided the city with two ice sheets (Holt Rink was later added to the facility that became known as Dover Ice Arena) and a sustainability plan, which included energy efficiency, and modern locker room and support functionality.

Chalue became a national player in the rink business, and was a founding member of the New England Ice Skating Managers Association” lecturing and leading conferences and creatively finding supplemental resources to produce longer ice seasons. The regional increase in both youth and adult hockey players skyrocketed in the 1980s, with ice time usage nearing 20 hour per day.

He was a visionary with the New Hampshire Amateur Hockey Association, serving as vice president for midget/junior hockey, and obtaining a grant from the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States to institute a three-man officiating system in the organization’s junior C division. Many officials, including Class of 2021 NH Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Brian Murphy (who worked for Chalue while he was in college) would credit the initiatives he created to opening doors for countless skaters wishing to enter officiating.

Chalue also coached the hockey team at Dover High School during the 1979-80 season (with Murphy as his starting goalie). The mentor/mentee relationship between them would establish a model the player would follow during his own accomplished career would follow during his career.

Paul ‘Pop’ Whalen

The beloved Paul Whalen, so the story goes, was christened Pop sometime in the middle 1950s, perhaps when he was 27 years old. He became a father figure to many of the teenage Brewster Academy hockey players he was coaching and they looked at him through reverent, admiring eyes. At first, they called him Dad. He felt, though, the name was inappropriate because each player already had a dad. Then someone offered up Pop as a substitute name and it stuck. To this day, just mention Paul Whalen to older New England hockey players and fans and you’ll hear, “Oh, you mean Pop!”

Paul Whalen was a player, a coach and mentor, a friend to many far and wide, and he greatly loved the game of hockey. He grew up in Massachusetts, in the cities of Somerville and Medford. At Medford High School, he played varsity hockey, graduating in 1945. He then served in the US Navy and in the fall of 1949 enrolled at Boston University as a 22-year-old freshman. A degree was on his mind but so, too, was hockey. Among other things, he played in the first Bean Pot Tournament in 1952, losing to Harvard, 7-4, in the final round. In 1953, BU won the Eastern College title and Pop was named an all-star center and an MVP. He also received the Ray Speare Award as an outstanding scholar-athlete before graduating in 1953. Later, he played with the Berlin Maroons and the Laconia Lakers of the Granite State Hockey League.

Pop arrived in Wolfeboro with his wife Wini in 1954 and for the next 17 years was Mister Everything at Brewster Academy. He taught physical education, history, psychology and accounting. Then he became Brewster’s first Athletic Director and later the Assistant Headmaster.

It was as hockey coach, though, that he left his most indelible mark. He first revived the hockey program for the 1956-57 season and then won the Lakes Region title 11 of his 16 coaching years.

In 1971, Pop moved across the state line to Maine to become a faculty member and coach at Berwick Academy. In 1973, he was named Athletic Director and Director of Admissions. Later, he was named Assistant Headmaster.

His Berwick Academy hockey teams became legendary. Notable nuggets: four Lakes Region League titles, two New England titles, a 1974 NE Junior A title with a #4 national ranking, a 4th-place finish in a National Junior AHA tournament, and a stellar tour of Scandanavia. Also, more than 50 graduates from Pop’s era went on to play college hockey. One of the more familiar names is Eruzione.

In 1980, Pop left Berwick Academy to become principal of Windsor High School and in 1990 retired, ending a stunning 36-year career in education. He died on October 10, 2008.

In 1977, the Skating Center in Wolfeboro was named in his honor.

Omer Robert Morin

Omer Morin attended Notre Dame High School in the early days of its hockey dynasty in New Hampshire. Starting midway in his freshman year he had an immediate impact scoring nine points. Omer started as a wing and a defenseman in his three years at Notre Dame with the team winning the second, third and fourth New Hampshire Hockey Titles that would go on for another 12 Years. Omer captained the team his junior year and scored a total of 75 points during his high school years. After his junior year, in 1950, Omer decided to join the work force and became a valuable member of the Berlin Senior Maroons. As a young rookie defenseman on the Maroons team, he scored five goals and 2 assists that season playing on the second line and helped the Maroons win their Fourth New England Amateur Hockey Association (NEAHA) championship. Known by hockey officials and sports writers for his crashing body checks and accurate “screaming slap shot,” the stalwart defenseman was an important part of the 1954 Maroons team that won the National AHA Championship in 1954. Omer continued to be a member of the Maroons until 1965. In the 1959/60 season, he was voted on to the NEAHA All-Tournament team and was considered the best all-around player on the ice. Omer was the player/coach for the Maroons in the 1962/63 and 1963/64 seasons, winning the NEAHA Invitational Championship in 1964 compiling a record of 19-19-8 in the two seasons.

Normand A. ‘Kangaroo’ Hebert

“Kangaroo.” He was a scorer, a jumper and always an annoying opponent. He also, when he was on the ice, was faster and more acrobatic than any of those who tried to catch him. Beloved by many but not by all, “Kangaroo” was Normand Hebert and he had the ability to bring the crowd to its feet, no matter which town he played in. He grew up in Quebec and in 1962 settled in Manchester, bringing with him a long list of hockey credentials. His earliest skating history traces to age 5 and by age 12 he was being scouted by Les Canadiens. During high school, he played for the Aces of Magog (1955-57) and during his second season was the top Scorer (25 G/40 A.) Later, he played three seasons of Junior Hockey in Granby, PQ, followed by a semi-pro season in which he was the team’s leading scorer. Once settled in Manchester, he found the local rink and signed on with the Alpine Club, playing four seasons in the Granite State Hockey League (1962-63 through 1965-66.) Among others, his teammates were Ray Champagne and Willie Bibeau. For two seasons, Norm was the AC’s leading scorer, and was selected team MVP in another. Then came his tenure with the famed Manchester Blackhawks of the New England Hockey League. He played four seasons (1966-70) and twice led the team in scoring (’67 and ’68.) When the Blackhawks became the Manchester Monarchs, Norm was right there on opening night. The Monarchs existed for four seasons (1970-74), first as a member of the NEHL then as a member of the Can-Am League. In 1970, “Kangaroo” was selected to play on an All-Star team that traveled to Lake Placid to take part in the Kennedy International Games. In two games, he scored two goals and assisted on four others. Also in 1970, he recorded 68 assists, which was an NEHL record and he finished fifth in scoring with 80 points. Overall, the Monarchs won the regular-season title in 1970-71 and also two League Championships. In his last two years of competitive hockey prior to his return to Quebec, Norm played for the independent Tri-City Coachmen (1974-75) and for the Concord Budmen in the NEHL (1975-76, their first season). He returned to Canada the summer of 1976. Three of his children were born in Manchester and two sons played in the Manchester Youth Hockey travel team program. Norm has participated in several Blackhawk Alumni games including the Big Reunion games against the Concord Eastern Olympics. He still plays in a checking league once a week back home and surely continues to bring the crowd to its feet. Normand A. “Kangaroo” Hebert – Class of 2007.