Hall of Fame Members

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.

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.

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.

The town of Melrose has long been an incubator for Massachusetts hockey talent, a quiet hamlet where a deep love for the game has always burned brightly.

So, it’s easy to understand why Seaver Peters, being a product of that place, has been able to make major and lasting impacts on hockey in and around Hanover, New Hampshire.

He landed in the heart of the Upper Valley 60 years ago, fresh out of Melrose HS (Class of 1950), to enroll at Dartmouth College.

Among the things he brought with him that day were the hockey skills he had been honing since the 7th grade, playing for the Green Street Reds youth team. Later, at Melrose HS, as a sophomore he was a first-line left wing for coach Charlie Holt, who later became UNH’s legendary coach. Holt was succeeded by Henry Hughes, a Massachusetts coaching legend. By the 1949-50 season, Melrose was at its mightiest, in the end winning every title in sight: Champions of the GBI League; of Massachusetts; of New England!

At Dartmouth, Seaver played for an undefeated freshman team, followed by three varsity seasons under famed coach, Eddie Jeremiah. As a junior and a senior, Seaver was a first-line center. He also was team captain as a senior. His greatest hockey accomplishments were still ahead, to be off ice.

He graduated from Dartmouth in 1954 and then, via the ROTC program, served two years at Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod.

By 1959, he was back in Hanover for good, becoming an integral part of Dartmouth’s administrative team. Initially, he worked as assistant comptroller and assistant athletic director.

He worked, too, in the local community, organizing what in 1962 became the Hanover Youth Hockey Association, collaborating as co-founder with Dartmouth hockey alum, Ab Oakes. Seaver then served the Association as president for 17 consecutive years.

In 1964, he briefly took over as freshman hockey coach in the absence of Eddie Jeremiah, who was on leave to coach the US Olympic hockey team at the Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

Then came 1967 and Seaver ascended as Dartmouth’s athletic director. Over the next 16 years, he was a major administrative force, on campus and in Hanover, making many hockey things possible.

Perhaps the largest nugget of his tenure was the building of the Rupert Thompson Arena, which replaced Davis Rink, opened in 1930, as the venue for Dartmouth hockey. Seaver, among others, helped guide the project from its inception and he smiled broadly when construction began in 1973. The first hockey game was in November of 1975: Dartmouth and the US Olympic team skated to a 3-3 draw.

In October of 1976, The Friends of Dartmouth College Hockey was created. Needless to say, the Peters’ administrative thumb was in the pie. The group today remains a vibrant supportive varsity adjunct. Also during the 1970s, he served a few years as chairman of the ECAC Playoff Selection Committee.

Next came the creation and development of the Dartmouth Women’s Hockey Program. The roots reach back to 1977, three years after Dartmouth ceased being an all-male institution. In the ensuing 33 years, the program has enjoyed great success, producing 8 Olympians, 38 1st-team All Ivy League skaters, 27 winning seasons, 8 NCAA appearances, and 4 ECAC titles.

In February of 1983, Seaver stepped down as Dartmouth athletic director and moved into the investment world full time. His sense of community hockey development never dimmed, though, and in 1988 he saw the James W. Campion Rink open. As you might suspect, he was involved with the planning and development. Located in contiguous West Lebanon, the rink gave the community a facility to replace Dartmouth’s old on-campus Davis Rink, which has been razed. Campion Rink serves and supports both local youth hockey and high school programs, as well as community recreational programs.

Today, Seaver and his wife, Sally, live in White River Junction, VT. They have six children and eight grandchildren.

Derided and mocked, girls’ hockey wasn’t taken seriously in the city of Concord. Of course, that all changed when Sandy Sistare took over the girls program at St. Paul’s School.

The school’s first girls’ hockey coach, Sandy poured everything he had into the program, grooming, shaping and nurturing it into the successful program that still stands tall today.

It all began in 1979, when two students approached then-Athletic Director Bud Blake with a proposal to develop a girls-only hockey team. Bud was excited about the idea and immediately thought of Sandy, who he believed would be “a super coach for the girls – right temperament, great personality (and a) go getter.”

The first official season began in 1980. A group of former figure skaters, sisters of hockey-playing brothers and recreational players joined forces to play a four-game schedule. The Big Red went 0-4, but the fact that the girls received time at the rink (like the boys) and not on the pond was a step in the right direction.

Cynthia Ferris, one of the first females to lace up her skates for St. Paul’s, remembers that “it was exciting to be part of the first wave” of girls hockey and was comforted by Sandy’s way of applying gentle, consistent pressure to see that the team got the necessary equipment and ice time, games scheduled and goalie coaching.

Suzanne Walker, who played for Sandy in 1985 and ’86, evoked memories of Sandy pulling her out of club hockey on the pond and into the rink, where she eventually played goalie and moved on to play for Bowdoin College.

During his time as bench boss, Sandy put together a pair of trips to Scandinavia, where his teams experienced European hockey along with the educational benefit of seeing and interacting with other cultures. He was also instrumental in beginning the St. Paul’s/Taft Tournament, a tourney for high school girls that takes place every year in December, and that is still being played almost 30 years later as the Patsy K. Odden Hockey Tournament.

In his decade-long run as the girls’ coach at St. Paul’s, Sandy coached roughly 80 girls, many of which went on to play Division I and Division III puck at college’s like Bowdoin, Brown, Harvard, Middlebury, Princeton and Yale.

In 1986, four years before Sandy would retire, St. Paul’s endowed a prize in his name called the Sanford R. Sistare Memorial Award, which is given every year to the player who distinguishes herself in individual and team play.

In his eight seasons as girls’ hockey coach (1980-1987), Sandy finished with a record of 59-29-3. The team won the ISL title in his final season and the leagues first girls’ hockey championship in 1987. A proud alumnus of Bowdoin College, Class of 1950, Sandy returned to Brunswick, Maine after retiring from St. Paul’s in 1990. He volunteered as an assistant coach with the Bowdoin women’s team, and played host to several visiting players on an annual basis. There is a plaque at the Bowdoin arena that reads: “In honor and memory of Sanford “Sandy” R. Sistare of the Class of 1950. His devotion to hockey, at St. Paul’s School and Bowdoin, was unparalleled.”

Sandy spent most of his professional life of 37 years as an educator. Twenty two of those years were spent at St. Paul’s School in Concord, where he taught, worked as an administrator and coached. Sandy died at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, Maine, three days before Christmas in 2008. His obituary noted that, “among the many accomplishments in his long career as an educator, he was most proud of starting the SPS girls’ hockey team and serving as head coach for many years.”

Impressive. That, in a word, best describes Russ Martin. He was a leader of men, a civic-minded citizen and an outstanding hockey player and coach.

It all started at the University of New Hampshire where Russ excelled on the ice, playing three years of varsity hockey. As a captain his senior year (1937-38), he scored 39 points for a 4.2 points-per-game average. Although records weren’t then kept, it undoubtedly is UNH’s highest single-season total ever.

He holds the University record for goals-per-game average with 1.45 and has a share of the record for the most points in a game with 10. Russ also posted 45 goals and 30 assists in 31 games, which is a 2.4 points-per-game average. That is the best mark in school history.

After graduation, he played three seasons for the Boston Olympics, based at Boston Garden.

Martin, in 1959, settled in Concord and that winter with high energy and enthusiasm led a revival of ice hockey in the Capital City, forming the Concord Youth Hockey program. He heavily emphasized hockey fundamentals and sportsmanship.

In 1963, Russ joined hands with Dudley W. Orr and Malcolm McLane and with their leadership, vision and dedication it led to the design and ultimate construction of the Douglas N. Everett Arena in Concord. The facility was dedicated December 7, 1965.

As the Arena’s operations evolved, Russ led its volunteer Board of Directors, serving as President of Concord Ice Skating Arena, Inc. His tenure continued through the year the City of Concord purchased the Arena.

Russ also was involved with the operations of three Capital City senior teams: the Concord Shamrocks, the Concord Coachmen, and the Eastern Olympics.

High School hockey in Concord existed between the 1933-34 and 1951-52 seasons but thereafter was shelved. Prior to the 1961-62 season, Russ, as a member of the school board, persuaded City officials to restore hockey as a varsity sport. Since then, Concord has had seven championship teams.

Russ never lost his love of the sport and for 20 years was a top-notch official, blowing the whistle at many college, prep and high school games. He also served a term as President of the New Hampshire Official’s Association.

In 1986, Russ was inducted into the UNH Hall of Fame for football. He also was a recipient of the Carl Lundholm Memorial award for distinguished service to NH youth in athletics. During World War II, he saw combat with the 10th Mountain Division in the Italian Alps.

Russell F. “Russ” Martin – Class of 2007

Please welcome Rusty Martin, accepting for his late father.

No doubt, Ron Peters is the only man in the room today who has safely guided 747 jets onto Logan Airport runways and then, after getting off work, hightailed it to a rink to make line changes while coaching a hockey game. Ron, for 37 years as an air traffic controller, worked first in Boston and later in southern New Hampshire. That move north was our good fortune and it was in Nashua he became revered as the local “Father of Hockey.”

His robust hockey life started long before he came to New Hampshire, though-back in the late 1930s, on Jamaica Pond outside of Boston. At first, he was a skater, a grade-schooler then, who later put on the pads and became a standout high school District League goaltender.

Ron, in 1963, arrived in Nashua via a job transfer and with his vast experience immediately immersed himself in hockey. His player resume included practice goaltender for the Boston Olympics (Eastern Hockey League); goaltender Boston Barons; stalwart in the Newspaper League whose players all worked at Boston dailies (Post, Herald, Globe); a regular in the Mayflower Hockey League; and starter for the Wetzell Hockey Club of Braintree. Also, he and a few friends in 1958 had inaugurated the first youth hockey program in Brockton, MA. So, he was well prepared to give southern New Hampshire hockey a needed boost.

First, he became coach of the Nashua Royals in the Granite State Hockey League and won the 1964 league championship. He later served as GSHL president. When he met Adrien Labrie, a local general contractor, they conspired to raise funds and build the Nashua Garden rink.

Ron organized the first youth hockey program in Nashua, calling it the Greater Nashua Youth Hockey Association. The program was open to all hockey players, no matter which town they were from. He had lots of help from other lovers of the game in this creation. Ron became the first GNYHA president and served more than 10 years. It is estimated that more than 6000 youngsters benefited from the program.

Ron also formed the Twin State Youth Hockey League and coached mite level through junior teams. Some of his other duties included setting schedules, hiring officials, keeping records and statistics, selling ice time and driving the Zamboni. He even became a news correspondent, writing youth hockey and NEHL game stories for the Nashua Telegraph.

Later, he formed the Nashua Maple Leafs, an entry in the New England Hockey League, and became general manager and eventual coach of the team. When the Nashua Garden was forced to close its doors and the Maple Leafs were disbanded, Ron was hired to coach the Manchester Monarchs.

As time wore on, Ron became a certified AHA referee and joined with Paul Fischer, George Marineau and Brother John Paul, as prime movers in inaugurating the Nashua High School and Bishop Guertin High School hockey programs. Marineau became the first hockey coach for Nashua HS. Brother John Paul became Bishop Guertin’s first head coach.

Ron Peters – Class of 2008.

For 12 years, Ron DeGregorio’s leadership helped USA Hockey evolve into one of the world’s most respected hockey federations.

A resident of Salem for the past three decades, DeGregorio has been involved with the sport for more than 40 years as a player, coach and administrator, whose work and forward-thinking has resulted in notable improvements to the success, popularity and safety of hockey in the United States.

DeGregorio’s first appointment with USA Hockey came in 1973 when he was named registrar for the New England District, where he oversaw the reorganization of the district into several smaller, more manageable affiliates.

DeGregorio was first elected to the USA Hockey board of directors in 1975 and was the organization’s first vice president of youth hockey. In the 1980s, he served as treasurer of USA Hockey.

He has represented the U.S. at countless events during his tenure with USA Hockey. His first official role came as team leader of Team East at the 1979 U.S. Olympic Festival, from which the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey team was chosen.

DeGregorio also served as team leader for the 1994 U.S. Olympic hockey team that competed in Lillehammer, Norway. DeGregorio has represented the USA at the 1998, 2002, ’06, ’10 and ’14 Olympic Winter Games and at numerous International Ice Hockey Federation championships.

He was elected president of USA Hockey on June 14, 2003, and unanimously re-elected to his fourth term on June 10, 2012. He stepped down from the position in June.

He was one of the architects of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, a two-year residency program for the top 16- and 17-year-old players in the United States. The program has greatly influenced U.S. success in international competition.

In January 2009, the organization launched the American Development Model, which, for the first time ever, provided associations nationwide with a blueprint for optimal athlete development. USA Hockey furthered the enhancement of those efforts by advancing the USA Hockey SafeSport Program in June 2012.

The former Boston Latin and Middlebury College goaltender is also known throughout the region as the originator of “Mini One-on-One,” a youth hockey competition that is broadcast through the Boston Bruins’ television network.

• Graduate of Berlin High School, class of 1943.
• U.S. Air Corp veteran with service in World War II.
• Coach and mentor for the City of Concord Youth Hockey at the Whites Park outdoor rink in 1964.
• Served as coach, and general manager for the Concord Shamrocks in 1964-65. The adult league Shamrocks set the stage for the Concord Coachmen and an indoor arena in Concord.
• Served as a member of the Board of Directors at the newly built Douglas N. Everett Arena and began association with the Coachmen in 1966-67.
• Helped bring high school hockey to Bishop Brady High School in 1967.
• Director of player personnel and general manager for the Concord Eastern Olympics of the New England Hockey League from 1967 to 1974.
• Talent scout with the Boston Bruins from 1967 to 1974.
• Active in senior hockey with the Concord Budmen, organizing charity events and coaching from 1975-76 to 1990.
• Known as “Mr. Hockey in Concord.”

The late Dr. Roy grew up in Berlin, but it was the contributions he made to Rochester, where he moved in 1962, that still impact hockey in the state. He was one of the men responsible for starting the Rochester Youth Hockey Association in the early 1970s, and he gave back to the community in ways that included, but were not limited to, fundraising for a new rink and inspiring others to donate their time.

Born in Berlin in 1931, he spent one year at Notre Dame High School and then attended St. Charles School in Sherbrooke Canada. He graduated from the University of Montreal, where he attended medical school. After serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in Portsmouth, he made his home in Rochester, where he opened his private practice and was the first pediatrician on staff at Frisbee Memorial Hospital. He would practice there for 35 years.

“Doc” Roy, as he was known by many in the community, was heavily involved in it, serving as chairman of the school board at Holy Rosary School and on the parish council at Holy Rosary Parish, and he was the team doctor and coach for many sports teams in town.

By the late 1960s, Roy and some of his colleagues began taking steps to grow the game in the area. In 1969, Berwick Academy coach Pop Whalen wanted to upgrade the school’s outdoor rink and the boards were donated to Rochester to replace the current rink at the school grounds.

Roy reached out to parents from the community and three of his friends — Skip Kendall of Kendall Insurance, Charles Baxter Jr. of Baxter Woolen Mills and Jim Bisbee of Varney’s Insurance — to sponsor the teams by providing jerseys, pants and socks. This four-team league was the start of the Rochester Youth Hockey Association.

With Roy serving as its president for the first three years, the RYHA grew from four neighborhood teams to over 200 participants. With the money being raised, he applied a down payment for a new indoor rink in town, getting local businesses on board to support it. He went to fi ve other local communities — Dover, Somersworth, Oyster River, Portsmouth and York, Maine — for commitments to start youth programs and created what would eventually become Seacoast Hockey League.

In 2008, the Rochester Ice Arena was renamed the Dr. Roy Ice Arena. In 2015, Roy was posthumously inducted into the Rochester Sports Hall of Fame as a contributor, two years after he’d passed away at the age of 82.

“When it comes to youth hockey contributions over the last 40 years, he ranks at the top,” said Rochester Sports Hall of Fame chairman John Creteau. “It’s obvious when you look at (former Spaulding High School coach) Paul George’s program and the many state hockey championships for Spaulding over the years. We thank God for Dr. Roy, as he is one individual who has made an impact in the lives of a lot of children.”

Dick is one of the legendary hockey players to come from Hockey Town USA (Berlin). His hockey career began in grammar school where he starred on the Angel Guardian team and won two Parks and Recreation championships. Dick played wing for three years on the Notre Dame varsity team from 1950 through 1953. Notre Dame won three state championships during his tenure and Dick also participated in three New England High School Championships held in Providence, RI.

From 1953 to 1962, Dick 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.

From 1962 to 1965, Dick played for the Concord Shamrocks, and the Alpine Hockey Club when a serious injury ended his playing career.

Dick was one of the original organizers of the Manchester Blackhawks and was the team business manager from 1965 through 1971.

Because of his playing abilities in High School Hockey and at the Senior Amateur Level, Richard received the honor of being given honorable mention on the All New Hampshire Millennium Team.

Richard is the Chairman of the Board was the prime organizer of the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey.

Dick is one of the legendary hockey players to come from Hockey Town USA (Berlin). His hockey career began in grammar school where he starred on the Angel Guardian team and won two Parks and Recreation championships. Dick played wing for three years on the Notre Dame varsity team from 1950 through 1953. Notre Dame won three state championships during his tenure and Dick also participated in three New England High School Championships held in Providence, RI.

From 1953 to 1962, Dick 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.

From 1962 to 1965, Dick played for the Concord Shamrocks, and the Alpine Hockey Club when a serious injury ended his playing career.

Dick was one of the original organizers of the Manchester Blackhawks and was the team business manager from 1965 through 1971.

Because of his playing abilities in High School Hockey and at the Senior Amateur Level, Richard received the honor of being given honorable mention on the All New Hampshire Millennium Team.

Richard is the Chairman of the Board was the prime organizer of the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey.