Hall of Fame Members

Talk to Wally about his hometown coaching career and you’re apt to hear him tell you that he is the answer to the trivia question: Who is the only man, over 27 years, who coached varsity boy’s hockey at all three Manchester’s public high schools and won five State titles?

His record:
2 seasons West (1966-67 and 1967-68)
9 seasons Central (1979-80 to 1987-88)
16 seasons Memorial (1988-89 to 2003-04)

State titles:
Central 1980, 1981
Memorial 1989, 1991, 1995

Wally’s teams, by the time he retired as coach in 2004, had accumulated 356 wins.

Born, raised and schooled in Manchester, Wally also spent 35 years as an educator, teaching business education at both West and Central high schools. He retired in 2002. The interesting facet to his dedicated career is that for the entire 16 years he had the hockey helm at Manchester Memorial HS, he was teaching across town at Manchester Central HS, his alma mater. He was class of 1958.

Wally also, in 1984, coached the Manchester Flames to the National Junior “Cs” Championship. Jeff Serowik, one of today’s inductees, was a defenseman on that team.

Wally traces his keen hockey interest to age 5 when he began skating. Later, came the outdoor games on Lake Massabesic and Dorr’s Pond. During his high school years, though, Central HS had no hockey program but his enthusiasm never waned.

In the fall of 1958, he enrolled at Brewster Academy where, under the tutelage of Paul “Pop” Whalen-another of today’s inductees-he finally was able to use those natural hockey skills as a varsity player. He also captained the baseball team to the 1959 Prep School Championship.

In the fall of 1959, Wally enrolled at Providence College and graduated in 1963. He played varsity baseball there but not hockey. Three years after leaving Providence College he arrived back in Manchester and began crafting his enviable coaching and teaching record.

Notable bits and pieces: won New England Intermediate Golf Championship (1959); NH Hockey Coach of the Year (1991); coach on the All-NH Millennium Team (1991); inducted Queen City Hall of Fame (1999).

He and his wife Alice live in Manchester. They have three children: Matthew, Michael and Melanie; and 5 grandchildren.

A native of Danvers, Mass., and a longtime resident of the Seacoast region, Tom Moulton was an assistant coach for the U.S. Sled Hockey Team that won its first gold medal at the Paralympic Games in 2002.

Moulton, 67, has been a supporter of youth hockey, men’s leagues and sled hockey in New Hampshire and the U.S. for decades. But it’s his role on the 2002 U.S. team at the Paralympic Games, as an assistant to head coach Rick Middleton, the former Boston Bruins great, that cemented his hockey legacy.

After finishing in last place at the 1998 and 2000 World Championships, Team USA entered the 2002 Paralympic Games ranked sixth out of six teams.

“The reasons Tom Moulton deserves to be inducted into the NH Legends of Hockey are the same reasons why I asked him to be my assistant coach on the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team for the 2002 Paralympics,” said Middleton. “I’ve been around hockey people for six decades now and I have never met anyone that is more passionate about the game of hockey than Tom.”

Moulton continued to assist Middleton with the National Sled Hockey Team and helped alter the course of the program. He received the USA Hockey Bob Johnson Award in 2002, and the four straight Paralympic gold medals (2010, 14, 18, 22) won by Team USA spurred greater interest in the sport, both in New Hampshire and across the country.

“I have fond memories of Coach Moulton as an outstanding coach that every day brought to the rink his enthusiasm and passion for the game,” said Kip St. Germaine, a player on that 2002 gold-medal team. “As athletes he challenged us and expected our best efforts. I cannot thank him for his generosity, giving of his time and energy in helping us achieve our ‘golden’ dream.”

A player his entire life, Moulton has been a big supporter of sled hockey, youth hockey and men’s league hockey. He has sponsored multiple adult amateur teams, helping them pay for jerseys, ice time, etc.

“And he continues to do so,” said Middleton. “He was always the consummate organizer and made sure that everyone got a chance to play who wanted to. All anyone had to do was show up at the rink and have fun. That passion and knowledge for the game of hockey is what I wanted the U.S. National sled hockey players to see. I knew that once they got to know him and see his passion they would respect him and come to love him as a coach.”

Tom Carroll is entering his 18th year as the head coach at New England College in Henniker, continuing to add to his reputation as one of the more successful Division 3 coaches in the region.

A native of Edina, Minn., Carroll played at the University of Wisconsin in the early 1980s under legendary coaches Bob Johnson and Jeff Sauer, playing on two national championship teams and also competing in baseball.  After graduation, he earned his Master’s degree from the Mendoza School of Business at the University of Notre Dame.

Carroll spent several seasons as the top assistant coach at Notre Dame, where he recruited and coached 19 NHL draft picks and six players who participated in the World Junior Championships.

Following a stint coaching in Des Moines of the USHL, Carroll arrived in Henniker prior to the 2002-03 season and immediately made an impact, leading the Pilgrims to a 20-6 record and the ECAC East championship.

In 17 seasons at NEC, he has compiled a record of 241-170-43, including trips to the conference postseason every year, five trips to the conference championship game, and an NCAA Tournament bid and trip to the Division 3 Final Four in 2005, when he was named runner-up for the AHCA National Coach of the Year award.

The Pilgrims are now consistently ranked in the USCHO.com top 20 teams in all of Division 3 hockey.

During his tenure at NEC, Carroll has coached four All-American selections, 38 All-conference selections, three Rookies of the Year and three Goaltenders of the Year. His players have also excelled in the classroom, boasting program-record numbers of ECAC East/NEHC All-Academic Team honorees.

An active member of the hockey community, Carroll has coached in the USA Hockey Development program for several years, and recently authored and published “Hockey’s Greatest Drills for Great Practices,” a popular coaching manual for all levels of hockey.

Some of his greatest accolades have come in recent seasons.

In 2016-17, Carroll led the Pilgrims to their best season in a decade with a 19-8 record. The team made it to the NEHC championship game, and goalie Brett Kilar earned All-America honors.

The 2017-18 season was highlighted by defeating reigning national champion Norwich. In 2018-19, the Pilgrims set a program record for the longest unbeaten streak in school history. Stretching from Nov. 20, the date of a 3-0 win at Becker College, until the team fell to Norwich on Feb. 8, NEC was not beaten for 16 games.

A Concord, N.H., native who grew up playing on state champion Concord High School teams alongside, among others, Olympic Gold Medalist Tara Mounsey, the late Ryan Frew coached junior hockey in the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs organization from 2004 until his death in 2020, making him among the longest-tenured junior coaches from New Hampshire ever.

As a player, Frew helped Concord to a 62-1 record and three consecutive Division 1 state titles in his high school career. He was an All-State selection, played on the N.H. Make A Wish team, and was named the 1998 CHS Male Athlete of the year. He went on to play four years of college hockey at New Hampshire College/Southern New Hampshire University.

Starting in 2004, Frew coached junior hockey in the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs organization. His teams qualified for the Empire Junior Hockey League, Eastern Hockey League or and United States Premier Hockey League playoffs in fifteen consecutive seasons, amassing a 483-133-16-19 regular-season record and going 54-19-2 in the playoffs.

Under Frew, the Jr. Monarchs won a USA Hockey Junior National Championship in 2012, and he was recognized that same season as Coach of the Year by Hockey Night in Boston. The Jr. Monarchs were USA Hockey national semifinalists in 2008 and ‘09, and national runners-up in 2007 and ‘11.

They won the Empire League playoff championships in 2010 and ‘12 and, most recently, they won the Eastern Hockey League championship in 2016.

During his career as a head coach/GM, Frew was selected to coach All-Star teams five times, was named Executive of the Year by the Eastern Hockey League, and had a hand in placing over 120 players into college programs at the Division 1 and Division 3 levels, many of them performing with distinction.

Off the ice, Frew’s teams engaged annually in a variety of community service projects, including “Cold Ice, Warm Feet” – collecting over 2,500 pairs of socks for the needy and homeless; “Pink In the Rink” – fund-raisers to support cancer research and survivors; Operation “Make Life Better” – helping senior citizens and others who need an extra hand; yard work for military families on duty; honoring veterans and first responders in special ceremonies; regularly reading at elementary schools in the area; and many more.

Of those, the most meaningful to him was the “Make-A-Wish” captains, recognizing children from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a non-profit that helps fulfill the wishes of kids with a critical illness. Each year, for several years, Frew’s teams had honorary Make-A-Wish kids serve as captains who were recognized at home games and were responsible for delivering inspirational comments at various times to his teams.

Frew passed away at the age of 40. That year, the USPHL renamed its NCDC Coach of The Year Award as the Ryan Frew Memorial Coach of The Year Award.

Rick Middleton is known to a generation of Boston Bruins fans as a skilled right winger whose play embodied his nickname – “Nifty” – and who scored nearly 1,000 points in his NHL career, but he’ll enter the Hall of Fame as a coach thanks to one amazing triumph in 2002.

In 2001, Middleton had been out of pro hockey for 13 years when he was contacted by a friend of his from the U.S. National Ski Team. The friend mentioned that the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team was seeking a coach for the 2002 Paralympic Games in Salt Lake City.

Middleton applied for the job and got it, knowing he had an enormous task. The Americans had only won one game – a consolation game – four years earlier in Nagano, and had fared poorly at the recent World Championships. They would be seeded sixth of six teams at the 2002 Games, where Norway and Canada were considered big favorites.

“It was an eye-opener for me,” said Middleton. “I’d never really been around disabled people in my life. I wondered things like, ‘Should I hold the door for them?’ In fact, it was the opposite that was true. They were so able, it’s scary.”

Middleton, who has called Hampton home since 1997, needed to build team chemistry and get his team to play better positional hockey. He wanted his team to get better at cycling the puck on offense to extend possessions and play an ‘I’ formation on defense to reduce the number of breakaways allowed.

“Rick did a remarkable job in bringing the players together, rebuilding their self-confidence, and devising new offenses and defensive strategies,” said Rich DeGlopper, then the president of the U.S. Sled Hockey Association.

The Americans outscored their six opponents 26-6, beating Norway, 4-3, in a shootout in the gold-medal game with Kip St. Germaine scoring the winning goal. The Americans have since medaled in every Paralympics, becoming the first country to win back-to-back gold medals in 2010 and ’14.

In Boston, playing on some excellent Bruins teams, he had five straight seasons of at least 40 goals and 90 points. In 1981-82 he scored a career-high 51 goals and won the Lady Byng Trophy for excellence and sportsmanship.

Dick played hockey at St. Paul’s School during the 1943-44 and 1944-45 seasons, and during his senior-year vacations traveled south to play for the Jamaica Hawks in the New York Metropolitan League. He also played football and baseball and track and was awarded the Gordon Medal for the Best All-Around Athlete and Sportsman.

After his 1945 graduation from St. Paul’s School, Dick served in the US Armed Forces for two years.

After his honorable discharge, he enrolled at Princeton University and played hockey during the 1947-48 season and part of the 1948-49 season. After leaving Princeton, he played three seasons for the Schenectady Generals of the New York State League. In 1952-53, he began teaching and coaching at the Berkshire School where he played hockey for the New Milford Tomahawks for two of his three years. The Tomahawks, during his tenure, were runners-up in the A.H.A. National Championships. In 1955-56, he returned to school, enrolling at Wesleyan University where he played hockey and graduated in 1958.

In 1958-59, he began a 12-year stay at the Tilton School in New Hampshire as a history teacher, serving also as head hockey coach and athletic director. His teams in the very competitive Lakes Region League played against New Hampton, Holderness, Proctor, Brewster, Berwick, Fryeburg Academy and Vermont Academy. In 12 seasons, Tilton won five Lakes Region Championships. In addition, they played Middlebury, UNH, Bowdoin and Dartmouth freshman teams.

In the early to mid-Sixties, while working at the Tilton School, Dick played forward for the Laconia Lakers in the Granite State Hockey League.

In 1970, he began a tenure at Concord High School as Assistant Hockey Coach while teaching at Rundlett Junior High School in the Capital City. In 1973, he became Head Hockey Coach, overseeing the program for the next six seasons. Ultimately, Dick led the Crimson Tide to two state championships. In 1977, Concord defeated Bishop Guertin,
3-2, and in 1979 defeated Bishop Brady, 6-1. In 1975 and 1978, his teams were runners-up.

He was named Coach of the Year in New Hampshire in 1977 and 1979.

He also coached in the Concord Youth Hockey system at all levels and coached at the Exeter Summer Hockey School for more than 10 years.

Dick played hockey at St. Paul’s School during the 1943-44 and 1944-45 seasons, and during his senior-year vacations traveled south to play for the Jamaica Hawks in the New York Metropolitan League. He also played football and baseball and track and was awarded the Gordon Medal for the Best All-Around Athlete and Sportsman.

After his 1945 graduation from St. Paul’s School, Dick served in the US Armed Forces for two years.

After his honorable discharge, he enrolled at Princeton University and played hockey during the 1947-48 season and part of the 1948-49 season. After leaving Princeton, he played three seasons for the Schenectady Generals of the New York State League. In 1952-53, he began teaching and coaching at the Berkshire School where he played hockey for the New Milford Tomahawks for two of his three years. The Tomahawks, during his tenure, were runners-up in the A.H.A. National Championships. In 1955-56, he returned to school, enrolling at Wesleyan University where he played hockey and graduated in 1958.

In 1958-59, he began a 12-year stay at the Tilton School in New Hampshire as a history teacher, serving also as head hockey coach and athletic director. His teams in the very competitive Lakes Region League played against New Hampton, Holderness, Proctor, Brewster, Berwick, Fryeburg Academy and Vermont Academy. In 12 seasons, Tilton won five Lakes Region Championships. In addition, they played Middlebury, UNH, Bowdoin and Dartmouth freshman teams.

In the early to mid-Sixties, while working at the Tilton School, Dick played forward for the Laconia Lakers in the Granite State Hockey League.

In 1970, he began a tenure at Concord High School as Assistant Hockey Coach while teaching at Rundlett Junior High School in the Capital City. In 1973, he became Head Hockey Coach, overseeing the program for the next six seasons. Ultimately, Dick led the Crimson Tide to two state championships. In 1977, Concord defeated Bishop Guertin,
3-2, and in 1979 defeated Bishop Brady, 6-1. In 1975 and 1978, his teams were runners-up.

He was named Coach of the Year in New Hampshire in 1977 and 1979.

He also coached in the Concord Youth Hockey system at all levels and coached at the Exeter Summer Hockey School for more than 10 years.

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.

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.

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.

Attended Notre Dame High School from 1944 to 1948 and was a member of the first hockey team and they won the High School State Championships in 1947 and 1948. He was voted the Most Valuable Player of the 1948 State Championship.

Husky was named in the “Who’s Who” publication for High School Athletics for his abilities in Ice Hockey and Baseball for the year 1948.

Husky was a member of the Berlin Maroons from 1948 to 1962. In 1949 and 1954, the Maroons won the AHA New England Hockey Championships. Also, in 1954 the Maroons won the National AHAUS Hockey Tournament.

Husky was instrumental in organizing the youth hockey program in Berlin by forming and coaching teams at all levels of the youth hockey program from 1963 through 1972.

In 1963, Husky organized and played in the Berlin City Hockey League. He also organized a traveling All-Star team that played in tournaments.

Husky was instrumental in the cleanup and rebuilding of the Notre Dame Arena when the original building collapsed in 1969.

Husky has received many awards for his efforts as a player, coach and builder of the sport of ice hockey in Berlin, NH.

In 11 seasons as coach of the girls hockey team at Hanover High School, Dodds has built the state’s preeminent program and will be inducted into the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame as a coach.

A native of Philadelphia, Dodds has long been involved with coaching hockey in the Upper Valley area, recently concluding his 22nd season. He began in 1994 with the Valley Mites of the Hanover Hockey Association. He was an assistant coach on a Hanover Mites team that won the NH Tier I championship and continued to coach Hanover Youth Hockey through 2003, winning multiple state tournaments and making New England regionals.

He joined the Hanover High School program as an assistant coach in 2003, serving in that capacity for three seasons. He took over as head coach in 2006 and has compiled a record of 20829-8 since then.

In 2007-08, the fi rst season the NHIAA sponsored girls hockey, the Marauders won the championship with a 20-2 record. The team went 11-8 the next year, and starting with the 2009-10 season, has won the last seven state championships. Dodds was named Coach of the Year in 2014-15.

This past season, the Marauders finished in second place in the regular season behind Berlin-Gorham, but earned the right to play that team in the championship game at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Tied 0-0 after two periods, the Marauders got goals from Julia Montgomery, Cate Wagner and Matti Hartman in the opening fi ve minutes of the third period on their way to a 4-1 win and seventh straight championship.

Only Barney LaRoche, with 12 titles at Notre Dame, has won more boys or girls high school state championships than the eight won by Dodds, who has also coached in three Make-a-Wish All-Star games against Vermont, either as the head coach or an assistant.

Several of his players at Hanover have gone or, or are going on, to play Division 1 college hockey, including this season’s state MVP Hartman, who is now playing at Northeastern.

“John’s legacy will be dominated by victories and state titles, but what made him so successful at every level he has coached is his passion for the game, his preparation for games and practices, and his overall commitment to his teams,” said Dick Dodds, the boys hockey coach at Hanover High School and his brother. Dick Dodds was inducted into the N.H. Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame as a coach in 2012.”He has touched the lives of many, many hockey players in the Upper Valley, and each and every one of them is important to John. He has developed/ coached Division 1 and Division 3 college hockey players and also helped turn girls and boys into terrific young ladies and young men.”