Hall of Fame Members

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He had enough. After pinning one player under his knee, taking another off his back and throwing a third over the boards, the 6-foot-2, 250-pounder glided over to the Montreal Police bench and in so many words told them if they didn’t clean it up, the game wouldn’t continue and they could settle their issues off the ice.

After he removed his officiating shirt, that is. One of eight children, Red Brochu learned his English in the basement of the Sacred Heart Church in Concord, where he attended Concord High School in 1946. Red skated for the hockey team through his senior year in 1950, playing an influential role in guiding the Crimson Tide to the semifinals as a senior, where it fell to Berlin, 2-1, in double overtime.

Red continued his career, playing for Sacred Heart in the team’s final year of existence. He moved on to play for the Shamrocks, who played at White Park, in the 60s. It was during this time that he also helped assist Concord High Coach Paul Dupont in 1961.

Red’s brother, Robert Brochu, was the superintendent of the construction company that built Everett Arena.

Red was also a part of starting the Concord Youth Hockey Association. Red and John Healy were amongst a group that helped founder Russ Martin start the youth hockey program in 1959-60. And it was at this time that Red began officiating.

Sometimes four to five games a day, Red officiated youth hockey games on weekends, donating his time and energy to the game he loved. In the evenings he would officiate high school, college or senior games.

Known to always carry two pairs of skates with him, so he’d always have a dry pair, Red officiated somewhere between 90 to 120 high school, college and senior games per year.

Red also officiated league games for the Eastern Olympics, Blackhawks, Maroons and Budmen. It was during one of these games that he had his run-in with the Montreal Police, who were in town for a game against the Eastern Olympics.

After a third back surgery in 1979, Red retired from coaching. And when Charlie Holt was re-writing the collegiate hockey officiating book he called upon Red for his input.

Red returned to coaching during the 70s, following the birth of this son, Len, in 1966. He coached Len from clinic all the way through peewees. Bishop Brady Coach Bud Luckern coached Len for one year before retiring, thus handing over the reins to Red, who took over the helm and coached Bishop Brady from 1981-86.

Red passed away in June of 2007 at the age of 73 while he building a stone wall for his business, Brochu Nurseries. He did get a chance to see most of his grandchildren play hockey; Ryan, DJ and Greg Proulx, and Hannah and Lenny Brochu III. His youngest grandsons William and Henry Brochu were only one year old when he passed away.

One of his greatest joys was watching how his love of hockey transferred down to his children and grandchildren.

Whenever there’s a conversation about the forefathers of Concord hockey, the name “Tarzan” always comes up.

“Tarzan” was John Healy and he left an indelible mark on several hundreds of youth hockey and high school players in the community, both for his officiating and for his coaching.

He was a lifelong resident of Concord and in 1978, after 30 years of dedicated service, John retired from officiating. During that time, he was a commanding presence on the ice, known for his fairness and broad knowledge of hockey and its rules. In 1962, he served as President of the National Ice Hockey Officials Association and earlier had designed that group’s crest, which today is still worn by referees and linesmen in 30 of the NIHOA Chapters. He also served as Referee-in-Chief of the Granite State Hockey League between 1962 and 1966.

From its 1959 inception at White Park, the Concord Youth Hockey Association had the benefit of “Tarzan’s” leadership and commitment and he was the choice to become the CYHA’s first President. He had two tenures on the Board: first from 1959 to 1966; then again from 1969 to 1971.

From 1959 to 1978 as Head Coach of the entire CYH program, he coordinated all house and travel team coaches. He also served on the Everett Arena Board of Directors from 1964 to 1966 while the facility was being planned and later while it was being constructed.

His coaching extended beyond the city’s icehouse and for the 1975-76 season, he served as Assistant Varsity Coach at St. Paul’s School, working with Head Coach Jim Stohrer.

As a player in the 1930s, John was captain of the local Millville Bruins. In the 1940s, he starred for the local Sacred Heart team, while also playing for the Boston Olympics of the Eastern Amateur League. To get himself back and forth to Boston, he rode the milk train.

A 1938 graduate of St John’s High School, John received the nickname of “Tarzan” while he was a member of the Concord Police Department. A towering presence, he was known to be a physical force when subduing unruly patrons at local drinking establishments. When someone smilingly used the name “Tarzan” to describe him, it seemed a fitting nickname and remained with him his entire adult life. There were some who never knew that his given name was John.

John J. “Tarzan” Healy Class of 2007

Please welcome Debi Healy Hauser, accepting for her late father.

A New Hampshire resident since 1960, when he moved to Durham to assist his wife’s father in the millwork business, Don McKinnon became one of our state’s most accomplished on-ice officials calling five NHIAA state championship games, hundreds of college games, and many games in the Granite State Hockey League and New England Hockey League.

An Ontario native, he began refereeing in the Toronto Hockey League doing youth games, and eventually worked his way up to the Ontario Hockey League, where he worked Junior B games.

In New Hampshire, he refereed games at all levels of hockey. His first NHIAA championship game was between Hanover and Berlin in 1966, the last year the championship game was held in Berlin before it moved to Snively Arena at UNH, where McKinnon refereed four more state championships.

Over the years, he worked many college games, particularly at Bowdoin and Colby College, which were relatively close by. His normal college schedule with the ECAC would be 10-14 games per season, with a few of those at the Division 1 level. It was estimated he worked more than 200 ECAC games in his career.

When the Granite State Hockey League was formed in 1962 with six teams, the need for good officials was there, and McKinnon got involved, along with men like John “Tarzan” Healy, Dutch Morse, Dan Crowley, Arthur Mudge, Ernie Fredette, George Healy and John Carter. He refereed more than 75 GSHL games, including playoffs.

In addition, when he could fi t into his schedule, McKinnon refereed about 12 games per season in the New England Hockey League from 1969 through the 1973-74 season. Friends remember a game between the Manchester Blackhawks and Concord Eastern Olympics, where due to a crease violation McKinnon disallowed a Blackhawks goal and the Olympics held on to win, 2-1. McKinnon and one of his linesman (Legends Hall of Famer Red Brochu) needed a
police escort to exit the JFK Coliseum in Manchester.

McKinnon spent 25 years as a member of the National Ice Hockey Officials Association, the first two (1962-64) with the Northern New England chapter before New Hampshire broke off and formed its own chapter. He was a member of the New Hampshire chapter for 23 years (1964-87).

From 1970-73 he served as the representative of the New Hampshire chapter at the NIHOA National Meeting. He served as president of the New Hampshire chapter from 1971-73.

Dick Theriault isn’t exactly sure. He never kept count. He is confident, though, that his seasonal average was about 40 high school games, plus a dozen or so college games. And, too, there were those many youth hockey games all of that officiating spread across 31 years, non-stop.

The grand total? Oh, let’s conservatively say, somewhere between 1400 and 1500 hockey games!

And who knows how many miles of skating those numbers represent!

What Dick is sure of, though: He does love the game. Having grown up in Berlin, it couldn’t be any other way.

Dick went to Notre Dame High School in the late 1950s, at the time when the Rams were on a hockey roll, winning the state title four consecutive years.

As a freshman (1957-58), he played center on the JV squad, and then, for the next three seasons, he skated varsity. He graduated in 1961.

In 1970, he enrolled at New Hampshire College (now Southern NH University) in Manchester, graduating in 1974 with a business degree.

By that time, he and his family were comfortably settled outside of Manchester, in the town of Raymond, where in 1972, they had moved into a brand new house.

In the early 1970s, one of Dick’s close friends suggested he get involved with the Manchester Youth Hockey Association as a referee. And he did. He was hooked, too. And committed.

By 1975, his officiating skills had been sharply honed and he regularly was assigned to do high school games, including several state playoffs and championship games in Durham.

By 1980, he was at the college level, calling Division 1 and Division 2 ECAC games.

When Hockey East was founded in 1984, Dick opted to remain affiliated with the ECAC.

“At that time, I thought Hockey East wouldn’t survive.” He laughs about it now. “I guess I didn’t call that one right.”

Perhaps his single brightest officiating memory is the night in 1984 he called an exhibition match-up between the University of New Hampshire and the US Olympic team. The face off was in Manchester at the JFK rink. “I’ll never forget that one,” he says. “The speed of the game that night was remarkable. Up and down. Everyone was flying.”

Throughout his 31-year tenure, Dick has been a constant dedicated presence in the New Hampshire hockey community. Among his credentials: 1975-2008, served as member of National Ice Hockey Officials Organization (NIHOA), and served as president from 1991 to 1993 – 1980-90, New England Junior and Senior hockey leagues official – 1984-95, USA Hockey instructor of officials – 1990-2008, supervisor of New Hampshire high school officials – 1995-2009, University of New Hampshire goal judge – 2001- 09, Manchester Monarchs official scorekeeper – 2001-04, rules committee member of the National Federation of Ice Hockey – In 2001, became charter board member of the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey and from 2005-08 was the group’s treasurer.

Dick, in 2005 at age 62, retired as an on-ice official but his hockey life hasn’t slowed down one bit. Now splitting his time between Raymond (summers) and the town of Denver, North Carolina (winters), he works twice a week with kiddos in the Learn-To-Skate program in nearby Charlotte.

He also is the regular home scorekeeper for the Charlotte Checkers, the AHL farm team of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.

Dick and his wife, Diane, have two children, Melissa and Greg, and three grandchildren, Jacob, Olivia and Riley.

Brian Murphy, who grew up in downtown Dover, spent 32 years as an official in the National Hockey League. He is one of just a handful of men to officiate more than 2,000 games in the NHL and one of just two Americans.

Murphy was a player himself growing up, a goalie for Dover Youth Hockey and Dover High School, and enrolled at the University of New Hampshire in the fall of 1983. His officiating career began at this time working local youth, adult and eventually New Hampshire high school games.

He credits his former high school hockey coach, Dan Raposa, for being a major influence in his officiating journey. Raposa, who was at the time a USA Hockey and Hockey East referee, got him started and helped him get into the USA Hockey development program.

In the 1986-87 season he started working lines in Hockey East where NHL officiating boss John McCauley and Bryan Lewis ultimately “discovered” him. He made his debut as an NHL linesman on Oct. 7, 1988 during a Pittsburgh Penguins-Washington Capitals game in Landover, Md.

Since that time he has been selected to work nine Stanley Cup Finals (including two game 7s), the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the 1999 NHL All-Star game, the World Cup of Hockey in 2004 and ‘16, and the Winter Classic that was played at Fenway Park on New Year’s Day in 2010.

Murphy finished his officiating career having worked nine Stanley Cup Finals:

1995: New Jersey versus Detroit
1996: Colorado versus Florida
2002: Detroit versus Carolina
2003: New Jersey versus Anaheim
2004: Tampa Bay versus Calgary
2013: Chicago versus Boston
2015: Chicago versus Tampa Bay
2016: Pittsburgh versus San Jose
2017: Pittsburgh versus Nashville

In addition to significant games worked as an official, Murphy’s other legacy is the hundreds of officials he has mentored, instructed and introduced to the game.  Many are now the next generation of U.S.-born officials working with their mentor in the NHL.

For his service to USA Hockey, Murphy was awarded the 2019 Distinguished Achievement Award, just months after celebrating his 2000th NHL regular-season game at the TD Garden.

He was also voted by his peers to serve on the NHL Official Association executive board from 1994-99, and 2004-13, when he held the position of the NHLOA president for eight years (2005-2013).

In May of 2020, Murphy was named the supervisor of men’s officials for the Hockey East Association, where he once worked as an official.

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.