Hall of Fame Members

In October of 1967 the Concord Coachmen were preparing to launch their season with tryouts at the Everett Arena. Head coach Norm Burns, the former N.Y. Rangers defenseman, was returning for his second season. He and Director of Player Personnel Bob Tardif put the players through the paces trying to secure the best players available for the squad. The Coachmen had posted a 24-12-2 record the previous year. Suddenly, over the next week, the Coachmen merged with the Eastern Olympics of the Greater Boston area and became known as the Concord Eastern Olympics.

After the Everett Arena Corporation announced that it intended to build a new grandstand in the balcony, increasing the capacity to 2,440 spectators, the team made a blistering debut, beating the Buffalo Hawks 15-2 and 9-0 on Nov. 4 and 5. A combined 2,800 fans attended the two games. The new league was called the Northern New England Hockey League and competition included the Manchester Blackhawks, Berlin Maroons and the Lewiston Auburn Twins.

1967-68

Players from the opening roster included Camille Caissie, Pete Maggio, Jim Logue, Steve Murphy, Sandy Murphy, Buzz Littell, Buddy Emery, J.P. St. Laurent, Wayne Pecknold, Frank Seabury, Bill Seabury, Chuck Kyle, Jim Meehan, Dave Morse, Dick DeCaprio, Roger Letourneau, Mike Frigard, Bill Matthews, Dick Fuller, Dave Davidge and Charlie Stuart.

The team simply dominated, posting a 25-9-1 overall record, and scored an astonishing 247 goals while allowing just 117. Goalie Tommy Aprille played in 20 of the 35 games. The championship was a best-of-three series with the Eastern Olympics and rival Manchester.

On Saturday at the JFK Coliseum the Olympics won 4-3 at 2:53 of the second overtime as Dick Pinch’s third goal of the evening, assisted by Billy Seabury and Paul Hurley. Tom Aprille was stellar in net stopping 39 shots.

On Sunday back in the Capital City the Olympics had their work cut out in front of 2,200 fans on St. Patrick’s Day, and the locals did not disappoint. They took a 2-1 lead into the second period on goals from Meehan and Pecknold. Four other players scored for Concord, including two from Pinch and Aprille made another 26 saves and the C.E.O won the title, 7-3. The offense was led by Dick Pinch, who tallied 40 goals while assisting on 44 for 84 points. Buzzy Littell closely followed with 36 markers.

1968-69

As the team prepared to defend its championship, it hired Jack Garrity, a Boston University star from the early ‘50s, as its new coach. The league added three teams from Massachusetts, including the Braintree Hawks, Lowell Chiefs and the Framingham Pics, along with the returning Manchester Blackhawks.

Regular-season champ Concord faced off against the Lowell Chiefs in the semifinals and wrapped up its best-of five series with a 10-6 win. The line of Bill Seabury (five), Steve Murphy (four) and Sandy Murphy (six) scored 15 goals in the series to lead the offense.

It was the Blackhawks traveling to Concord to begin this best-of-three championship. The Olympics won the opener by a score of 6-5. Pinch boosted the locals while Bob Brescia made 35 saves. In Game 2, the Blackhawks shut down our locals 6-0 to even the series and force the deciding game.

It quickly appeared the Blackhawks had the momentum in the deciding game, jumping out to a 1-0 lead from Kangaroo Hebert 51 seconds in. On the strength of Andre Prefontaine’s four first-period goals they took a 6-0 lead after one period and cruised to an 8-3 win – and championship.

1969-70

In 1969-70 the team hired Pat Eagan to coach the squad and the league added the Nashua Maple Leafs. Concord finished the regular season with a 23-8-0 record and in first place.

In Game 1 of the best-of-seven finals, the Olympics got off to a flying start in front of a packed house at the Everett Arena, knocking off the Leafs 6-5. At Nashua Gardens for Game 2, Concord jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by Pecknold and McLaughlin, and held a 4-2 lead heading to the final stanza before allowing a third goal to Nashua. But Tom Smelstor protected the goal the rest of the way to secure the 4-3 win and 2-0 series lead.

In Game 3, the Leafs traveled to Concord and took a 3-1 lead into the third before the Olympics came roaring back cutting the lead to 4-3 at 9:30 of the third, but Leafs goaltender (and former UNH player) Rick Metzer made 54 saves and the Leafs held on for the 4-3 win. In Game 4, Concord won 5-1 as Driscoll recorded 38 saves. Game 5 was played before the largest crowd of the season at the Everett Arena. With the score tied 5-5, Bobby Carr let fly a 30-footer that 7 brought the house down and the Leafs with it. Tom Smelstor made 17 saves for the locals.

The Olympics finished 35-9-0 and drew a total of 30,000 fans over the course of the season. The 35 wins tied the team record for wins with the 1968-69 team and tied for the fewest losses in a season (nine) with the 1967-68 team.

Scoring honors went to Bill Seabury (28 goals and 37 assists for 65 points), while Steve Murphy and Dick Pinch finished with 58 and 57 points, respectively. Smelstor got the bulk of the action in net, playing 29 games while posting a 3.10 GAA.

1970-71

Eagan returned to the helm for his third season in 1970-71 and the league had a new commissioner, Bill Riley. Manchester finished first during the regular season scoring a record-breaking 305 goals, which surpassed the old record set by the Olympics the year before (245).

In Game 1 of the finals, Concord lost 8-6 in one of the roughest games of the season. Bob Ring suffered the loss in net. Game 2 was a defensive battle that the Monarchs won 3-2 in OT. In Game 3, the Monarchs pumped home four first-period goals in a span of 3:03 and went on to defeat the Olympics, 6-2, and sweep the series.

The team ended the season with a 27-24 record. It was led for the third straight season by Bill Seabury, who scored 36 goals while assisting on another 44 for 80 points. Steve Murphy went 31-32-63, Tom Mechem had 22-41-63 and Buzz Littell had 30-28-58. Ring started 32 games, allowing 145 goals while Smelstor played 17 games while giving up 93 goals.

1971-72

Eagan began his fourth season and Charlie Blossom entered his second year as GM. The league added the Fitchburg Hornets team, which replaced the Maple Leafs.

After outlasting Braintree in a taut semifinal series, the championship series didn’t begin the way the Olympics hoped, as they fell behind 3-0 en route to a 6-3 loss. In Game 2, the Monarchs powered home four goals in the second period on their way to a 6-4 win and 2-0 series lead.

In Game 3, the Olympics appeared to have righted the ship, completely outplaying their competition through two periods. However, Manchester came alive in the third stanza to pull out a 5-2 win and a 3-0 advantage. Letourneau scored both of Concord’s goals and Berglund made 38 saves. Dave Conte staved off elimination for Concord in Game 4, scoring at 1:15 of sudden-death OT to give the Olympics a 6-5 win. Other goals were scored by Seabury, Littell, McShane and two by Sheen.

In Game 5, the Olympics took a 3-1 lead after one, with Allan Clark and Bob Devaney lighting the lamp. However, by 2:22 of the second, Manchester had tied it 3-3 and went on to score three more and win its second straight championship.

1972-73

Don McKenney took over the coaching reins, having spent 13 years in the NHL. In addition, Bob Tardif returned as the general manager with the responsibility of the overall operations.

In the best-of-five semifinal series, the second-place Olympics (27-11-2) hosted the third-place Monarchs (26-13-1). Bob Ring shut out the Monarchs in Game 1 (5-0) and led the Olympics to a series sweep, setting up a best-of-seven final against Braintree (36-3-1).

After losing Game 1 at the Ridge Arena in Braintree by the score of 4-2, Dave Sheen scored two goals, including the game-winner, to even the series at a game apiece. In Game 3, Concord was anxious to win one on enemy ice. Its sparkplug line of Conte, Letourneau and Arndt took over, and Arndt scored a pair of goals for a 2-1 lead. Fewster scored the eventual game winner at 13:06 of the second period and Sheen scored an insurance goal at 1:17 of the third. Ring notched his sixth victory of the playoffs with a 30-save effort.

In Game 4 the Olympics hoped to take advantage of their great home crowd but instead were shocked by Braintree, 8-2, to even the series at two. A bounce-back in Game 5 was not in the cards. Concord had its second lackluster performance in a row and was beaten soundly by the score of 5-0.

In Game 6, the Hawks had a single vision – to end things on home ice. Ray Letourneau played in net, making 26 saves, and Concord rallied to tie three times, but it was not enough in a 4-3 loss. The win gave the Braintree Hawks the first
league championship for a team other than Manchester or Concord.

1973-74

Players would not know this season would be the last for the Concord Eastern Olympics. The season began with the C.E.O. playing in the newly-formed Can-Am League. Concord played in the Northern Division against only the Manchester Monarchs and Framingham Pics, five games apiece along with some independent games.

In the first game of the Can-Am League triple-elimination playoffs, Concord opened up a five-goal outburst in the final period in Framingham to take a 6-2 victory. Bill Seabury had a field day, scoring a hat trick while assisting on two more.

In Game 2 in Concord, with Ring in net, the Pics scored the first goal in a game that would produce 13 of them. The teams traded leads, with Framingham going ahead 6-5 in the third. But former UNH star Bill Monroe made no mistake at 15:49 and tied the score 6-6. Charlie Floyd scored a hat trick, including the game-winner, with a blistering slapshot at 6:46 of overtime.

In Game 3 it was veterans night at the Everett Arena – Concord veterans, that is, as the line of Buzz Littell, Bill Seabury and Tom Mechem combined for four goals and six assists, leading the Olympics to a 8-5 victory over archrival Manchester. That, coupled with the Monarchs loss to Framingham on Sunday night, eliminated Manchester from the tournament and left Concord and Framingham with one loss apiece.

Game 4 was played on Saturday night, March 9, with more than 1,000 fans, the largest crowd of the season. It saw three first-period goals scored as the Olympics upended the Framingham Pics to win the first and probably the last

Can-Am Northern Division championship at the Everett Arena. Dave Conte, Mickey Goulet, Tom Mechem and Bill Monroe scored for Concord. Bob Ring made 26 saves, allowing just the one goal.

Top scorers for Concord that season were Littell (23-33-56), Seabury (19-35-54), Letourneau (24-21-45), Monroe (21-23-44) and Mechem (12-24-36). Ring played in 21 games (3.62 GAA) while Letourneau played in 13 (4.08 GAA).

The storied history of the Concord Eastern Olympics was now complete. They provided so many great memories to the fans of the Capital City from their inaugural season in 1966-67 to their final one in 1973-74.

The 2004-05 season is the 78th for University of New Hampshire hockey, and it has come to the point where much has been accomplished and much is expected of the Wildcat team – season after season. Four appearances in the NCAA Frozen Four over the past six years … ten NCAA tournament appearances in the past 13 seasons … a winning record of better than .800 at the Whittemore Center in its first ten seasons … the school’s first Hobey Baker winner, Jason Krog, in 1999 … and a UNH record number of wins for Head Coach Dick Umile in his first 15 years … those are some of the benchmarks.

But UNH hockey began modestly, with the first team, coached by Hank Swasey, compiling a record of 2-2-0 in 1924-25. In its third year, the program produced an undefeated 6-0 team in 1926-27, followed by a 7-1-1 record in 1927-28. The players and fans were hardy souls, braving the Durham elements for the practices and games played on the outdoor Batchelder rink. It was not until 1962-63 that UNH played a twenty game schedule.

On February 13, 1965, a new era began when the first game was played at Snively Arena, a 4-3 overtime loss to Norwich University. Snively was widely regarded as one of the toughest places for a visiting team to play, and the Whittemore Center, which opened in 1995, has continued that reputation.

Legendary coach Charlie Holt took over the UNH program in 1968, and in 18 seasons, his teams compiled a record of 347-232-18, bringing the Wildcats to national prominence. After three seasons with the late Bob Kullen at the helm following Coach Holt’s retirement, Dick Umile (UNH ’72) was hired away to take over, and in his 15 seasons, Umile has guided his teams to 13 seasons of 20 or more wins including the last 9 consecutive seasons, and to 10 NCAA tournament appearances (soon to be 11) including two National Championship games. On February 16, 2005, Umile recorded his 348th win as head coach, eclipsing the UNH coaching record previously held by Coach Holt.

UNH has now truly earned its place as one of the elite programs in NCAA Division I hockey. And the best is yet to come!

Acknowledged as “the cradle of American hockey,” St. Paul’s School and hockey have been synonymous since the afternoon of November 17, 1883, when the School community gathered on the Lower School Pond to witness the first game ever played in the United States. From the beginning, hockey was more than a sport at St. Paul’s it – was a way of life. Here in the place blessed with boys, ponds, and long winters, it was natural that the three would come together in celebration. The love of the fabled “black ice” was universal, and the boys, the masters, and their families looked forward to its early arrival.

The extraordinary success of St. Paul’s hockey teams was based on a whole school full of players and a lot of ice time. As many as nine rinks used to be set up on the ponds, and fully thirty-three teams would be ready to play or practice on any given afternoon. With that many teams feeding their best players to the varsity and so much ice time to perfect their skills, is it any wonder that SPS teams dominated the sport?

THE LEGENDARY HOBEY BAKER
Elements of the legend were in place even before he was, as an underformer at St. Paul’s School, awarded the Gordon Medal in 1908 as the School’s best all-around athlete. How quickly he had picked up the skills of skating and hockey as a First Pointer; how he would skate at night in order to perfect his stick handling so that he would never need to look down; how, en route to a school dance, dressed in his tuxedo he performed giant swings on the parallel bars, how he could walk up and down stairs on his hands. Playing for St. Paul’s against the post-collegiate St. Nick’s team at a Christmas hockey game, he was judged a star by the New York
sportswriters.

He looked like a young Greek god: blond hair, a trim, graceful, and perfectly proportioned body apparently impervious to the hard, often vicious, knocks he took as a “rover” in hockey, the primary offensive player, and as the “safety” in football, the last defensive player in an era when drop-kicks and run-backs of punts were the major strategic moves.

The legend grew when he entered Princeton where as a freshman he played baseball and football. As a junior he captained the varsity hockey team, as a senior the varsity football team. At his graduation in 1914 he was voted “the man who has done most for Princeton” as well as the best athlete, the best football player, and the best hockey player. Earlier that year, in a post-season hockey game in Ottawa, he had been crowned “King of Hockey” by the Canadians! His name on the marquee of an ice rink guaranteed standing room only crowds. It was the era par excellence of intercollegiate sport. There was no professional hockey league before World War I, no college then had an indoor rink, and college hockey games were played in big city rinks with big city crowds in attendance and big city newspaper coverage. Hobey Baker was a natural for the crowds and the papers. Speedy, skillful, rugged, handsome, disciplined, an
innovator in the sports he played, he was also the epitome of sportsmanship-he was penalized only once in hockey games. Perhaps his only drawback was his modesty or shyness; he shunned reporters, but they filled their columns with his deeds if not his words.

And with World War I, the legend reached its apotheosis. Commissioned an Army aviator, Hobey Baker went overseas in August of 1917 to join the legendary Lafayette Escardrille (renamed the 103rd Aero Squadron). A year later, a Captain, he became commanding officer of the 141st, a new unit that adopted the Princeton Tiger as its insigne. He shot down three planes- accounts of his death exaggerated the number to 14- the war ended, and on December 21, 1918, he delayed his departure to flight test a recently repaired
plane. The plane crashed, killing the pilot. He was 26.

MALCOLM GORDON, VISIONARY
After graduating from St. Paul’s in 1887, he returned to Millville in 1889 to take up the position of master, which he held until 1917. He was one of the first masters at St. Paul’s to take on the busy year-round responsibilities of a coach in various sports (including hockey); he reported in the School’s Horae Scholasticae magazine on contests and took part in creating the detailed athletic statistics that became such an important part of schoolboy life. He was involved with the 1889 reorganization of the School’s athletic program into the three-club system-Isthmian, Delphians, and Old Hundreds-that continues today, over 100 years later.

As a coach with the ear of the alumni, he bucked the tide that was already running towards athletic specialization. He encouraged diversity in accomplishment rather than specialization, and this led to his creation in 1892 of the Gordon Medal, now the School’s highest award for “the best all-around [boy] athlete and sports man.” Its original requirements demanded participation in five different sports and stressed the need for fair play and sportsmanship; sixty years later he was still concerned with “the fight against commercialism.” In 1917 he left St. Paul’s and shortly thereafter founded his own junior school, The Malcolm Gordon School, in
Garrison, New York. Living into his nineties, he appeared, always trim and erect, at almost every Anniversary to present the Gordon Medal personally He became over the years, to many alumni, “Mr. SPS Athletics,” and for those who follow the game closely as “The Father of American Hockey.”

In Arthur Pier’s 1934 history of the School is this comment “All [the varsity games] except the one in New York during the winter vacation, are played on the school rink.” In the years before World War II and for a few years after it SPS hockey teams played outdoors on their home ice, often their incomparable “black ice.” Except for the Dartmouth team coming from farther north where similar conditions could be found, many college varsity freshman or greater Boston teams simply could not cope with the speed and maneuvering of players for whom this surface was a daily practice arena.

The current Hockey Center, completed in 1998, features a renovated Gordon Rink (named for Malcolm Gordon) and the addition of the Ingalls Rink, named for David S. Ingalls ’52. The two rinks are joined by a building providing on its upper level an entry foyer, the Captains Room, a reception and memorabilia room with views out to the Lower School Pond and down onto Gordon’s ice.

The lower level includes the first adequate dressing facilities in the history of SPS hockey, including space for varsity and junior varsity girls and boys teams, two visiting team rooms, a trainer’s room, and changing rooms for coaches and officials. Also on the lower level is a Zamboni garage servicing both rinks, and mechanical support rooms.

The new facility has met all of the School’s interscholastic, intramural, and recreational skating needs and has provided a fitting home for the trophies and memorabilia, as well as the fine spirit of sportsmanship and keen competition, which are so much a part of the history and the future of St. Paul’s hockey.

The hockey program at Saint Anselm College started unofficially in the spring of 1968 as a result of a chance meeting between Jim Dooley ‘70 and Frank Harrington. Hockey at Saint Anselm up to that point was largely a loose-knit club operation with few practices or games and without official uniforms or a coach.

Dooley was president of his class and in this role had responsibility for ordering class rings. The salesman for the ring company was Frank Harrington and, during conversations between the two, hockey came up.

As it turned out Dooley and Harrington had some mutual points of contact. Harrington grew up in Norwood, Mass. and played hockey and baseball at Boston College. Dooley was a high school hockey player at Catholic Memorial High School, his father was a Boston College grad and his girlfriend was a graduate of Norwood High School.

Harrington, upon learning that there was a club hockey team in place, offered to formally create a team and serve as the coach. In Harrington’s words, “Hockey will put Saint Anselm on the map” and was worth his time, money and effort.

Members of the 1969-70 Men’s Roster included: Kevin Palanski, Andy Manning, Mark Norwell, Curt O’Brien, Rick Morano, Bob Lond, Pat Grasso, Bob Donahue, Phil Pietras, Jim Cerbo, Al Parbisz, John Burns, Curly Burke, Jay Hayes, Bob McCarthy, Jim Dooley (Captain), Jack Hines, Ed Johnson, Mark Citroni, Frank Harrington (Head Coach).

Dooley met with a number of players on the club team and laid out Harrington’s vision. Interest in moving forward was unanimous among the players and the next step would be to set up a meeting with Harrington and Fr. Placidus Riley O.S.B., president of Saint Anselm College, to discuss Harrington’s proposal. The meeting went well from a macro sense but the mechanics proved a little problematic.

There was no money in the budget for a new athletic team, especially an expensive undertaking like ice hockey. There was also no rink on campus, no schedule, no equipment and no coach, among other issues. Harrington told Fr. Placidus that if the school could partially fund the team, he would personally take care of the rest.

Fr. Placidus agreed and hockey became the second major sport at Saint Anselm College. The team continued as a club for the 1968-1969 year and became a recognized varsity sport for the 1969-1970 season.

In its first season as a varsity sport, the team went 3-8 but quickly improved to 10-8 the following season. The 10 victories marked the first of six consecutive double-digit win seasons for the Hawks.

In 1971, Harrington hired Steve Cedorchuk, a former Boston College hockey player, to be an assistant coach and ultimately turned over the head coach position to him for the 1973-74 season.

Cedorchuk recruited the program’s first modern day All-American, Jim Morris. Morris and Mike Gavin each compiled over 200 points in their careers from 1971-75 and Gavin’s 117 assists remain a program record.

Cedorchuk also continued with Harrington’s plan of “you only get better by playing the best “ and scheduled teams such as Army, Princeton, Boston College, Boston University, Vermont and the University of New Hampshire. After two seasons as the head coach, Cedorchuk turned the program over to Alan Davis and Tom Birmingham for 10 seasons in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the 1980s, Saint Anselm made three appearances in the ECAC postseason (1983, 1985, 1987). The 1983 and 1985 ECAC tournament teams were led by NH Legends of Hockey Hall of Famer Hubie McDonough, the program’s all-time leading scorer with 124 goals and 210 points and a four-time All-American. In his junior season of 1984-85, McDonough set single-season program records in points (71) and goals (41) and won the College Division Hobey Baker Award, before going on to the NHL.

Ken Kuzyk took over the program as head coach in 1985-86 and guided the Hawks for 17 seasons until 2001-02, making him the program’s longest-tenured head coach. Kuzyk’s 1993-94 team went 15-6-4 overall and 11-3-3 in the ECAC and the team’s 15 wins were the second-most in program history. In 1999-2000, Kuzyk led the Hawks to the first of back-to-back ECAC Division II Championships.

After Kuzyk’s departure following the 2001-02 season, current head coach Ed Seney took the reins and his second team went 20-7-0 in 2003-04 to set a program record for wins in a season that still stands. Since 2003-04, the Hawks have won at least 10 games in 13-straight seasons under Seney, the program’s winningest coach with a career record of 190-150-34. Saint Anselm has won seven Northeast-10 titles since 2004-05, including four in a row from 2009-2013.

In addition to the success Saint Anselm has had as a team, several Hawks have received major individual honors during their time on the Hilltop. Most notably, Coleman Noonan was selected to the Division II/III All-America Second Team and joined McDonough as the only Saint Anselm player to win ECAC East Player of the Year, after tallying 23 goals and 24 assists to rank fourth in the country in goals in 2009-10. That same year, Noonan was honored with the Joe Concannon Award, which is given to the best American-born Division II/III hockey player in New England, becoming the first Division II player to earn the award since its inception in 2001.

In 2012-13, senior Tucker Mullin was selected as the BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award winner at the NCAA Frozen Four Championships in Pittsburgh, Pa. The award is given annually to college hockey’s finest citizen and seeks to recognize college hockey players at all levels who give back to their communities in the true humanitarian spirit. Mullin co-founded the Thomas E. Smith Fight to Cure Paralysis foundation, was a student ambassador for Team IMPACT and played a big role in the team adopting nine-year old Benjamin Roy, who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia pre-B cell in 2007 at the age of four.

In total, Saint Anselm, has had 5 different players receive All-American honors. Jim Morris (1974-75), Steve Murphy (1982-83), Matt DelGuidice (1986-87) and Coleman Noonan (2009-10) while Hubie McDonough received the honor four times (1982-86).

In 2004-05, the women’s program joined the men’s as a varsity sport. The women have compiled an impressive record of 241-66-13 (.773) over 12 seasons and have won six conference championships.

The Hawks won their first-ever game against Salve Regina by a 5-0 score on November 5, 2004. After a loss the next day, Saint Anselm rattled off 12-straight wins and eventually claimed the ECAC Open Championship with wins over Saint Michael’s and Holy Cross to finish its first season 21-3-1 overall.

After the highly-successful opening season under David Flint, the Hawks posted three more 20-win seasons from 2005-06 to 2007-08. Saint Anselm won ECAC East regular-season and ECAC Open championships in both 2006-07 and 2007-08, while posting a combined record of 47-5-1 over the two seasons. In four years as head coach, Flint led the Hawks to an 88-15-2 record and a winning percentage of .848, before departing for Northeastern.

NH Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Kathleen Twomey spearheaded the Hawks in Flint’s final three seasons. After scoring 24 goals and recording 33 points as a freshman in 27 games, Twomey tallied 42 points on 25 goals and 17 assists as a sophomore to lead the Hawks to the ECAC Open title. To date, Twomey is one of just five Hawks to reach the 100-point mark and sits third all-time with 124 points, while her 75 career goals still stand as a school record.

Following Flint’s departure, current head coach Kerstin Matthews became the program’s second head coach in August of 2008 and has guided Saint Anselm to a record of 153-51-11 (.737), while winning at least 15 games in all eight of her seasons.

After her first two teams went a combined 31-20-3, Matthews’ Hawks posted identical 20-6-1 records in 2010-11 and 2011-12. The 2010-11 team was led by Rosemarie Giarrusso’s school-record 43 points, a mark that was equaled two
years later by Courtney Winters. Giarrusso finished her career as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 140 points on 72 goals and 68 assists.

The 2011-12 team went on to win the first of three-straight ECAC Open titles for the program by routing Holy Cross 7-3 in the championship game. The Hawks and Crusaders met in the title game the next two seasons with Saint Anselm winning 4-3 in overtime in 2012-13 and 2-1 in 2013-14. Goaltender Lindsey Brown anchored the back-to-back-to-back championship teams, posting a 43-6-3 record and a 1.30 goals-against average with 17 shutouts from 2011-15.

After a one-year absence, Saint Anselm returned to the NEHC Open championship game this past season, falling to Holy Cross 4-3 in overtime. The Hawks finished the season 21-6 for their eighth 20-win season in the 11-year history of the program.

Like the men, the women’s program has had eight players recognized as All-Americans: Cindy Lebel (2005-08), Kelsey Johnson (2007-08), Courtney Winters (2012-13), Lindsey Brown (2014-15), Martha Findley (2015-16) and Alex Starzyk (2015-16).

Members of the 2004-05 original Women’s Roster included: Andrea Berlin, Rachel Cooke, Danielle Campbell (Co-Captain), Bevin Padgett, Melissa Jubinville, Julia Messing, Emily Lapworth (Co-Captain), Moraghan McKenna, Meriah Magri, Lindsay Snow, Krystle Murphy, Tiea Kurlowecz, Aislinn Doherty, Brittany Kretzman, Janine Darling, Cindy Lebel, Kelsey Hunt, Jenna Brown, Lauren Struzik, Ingrid Mintautas, Shellie Swan, Mollie Welch, Arden Lyons, Olivia Nuzzo, Kaira Ellis, David Flint (Head Coach), Trina Bourget (Assistant Coach), Megan Healey (Assistant Coach).

Barney Colgan remembers the crowds. Red Adams remembers the rivalries. Pike Colgan remembers the cold. And Tom Champagne remembers how different the game was back then. But they, along with the other living members of the Sacred Heart Hockey Club, remember most fondly a game that shaped their lives and the city of Concord into the hockey hub that it continues to be to this day.

The amateur team was established early in 1931 by Rev. Rodolphe Drapeau. Known affectionately as the “Father of Sacred Heart Hockey,” Drapeau, along with the fervent help of parishioners, was instrumental in the building of an outdoor rink behind the parish school on Pleasant Street in Concord, where the Hearts would play all of their home games. Drapeau formed four teams that comprised the church circuit, with the best players moving on to play for the Sacred Heart Club.

What ensued over the next 20-plus years were local and New England rivalries that helped unite a city around a group of young hockey players that put on a show every time they touched the ice.

Names like Adams, Brochu, Colgan, Couture, Morin, Stuckey and Rice became local legends. They were looked up to and seen as the deities of winter.

The Hearts played their first game on January 22, 1931. It was a contest against the Nashua Hockey Club and Sacred Heart skated to a 3-1 victory. Only three games were played that year, with the Hearts losing the other two – it would be the only losing season in Sacred Heart history.

The sights and sounds in those days are nothing like what’s seen today. The boards at the Pleasant Street rink were short, with fans – sometimes swelling to as many as 1,200 – lining the rink two to three rows deep, standing on snow banks just to get a glimpse of the action. Bill Rice remembers his days before he was a player when he served as a goal judge. Back in those days the goal judge was in the middle of the action, standing on the back of the net and waving a white towel to indicate when a goal was scored.

By the early 1930s the Hearts had struck up rivalries across New England. They played teams from Massachusetts, Maine
and Rhode Island. They played teams from Canada. They played for city pride against the Millville Bruins, another Concord amateur team. They also played the University of New Hampshire freshman team, the St. Anselm College varsity team and the Dartmouth College varsity team. In 1937, the Hearts defeated the UNH varsity team, 5-4. It was the second victory in what would go on to be a 15-game unbeaten streak for the Hearts before it was eventually snapped on Valentine’s Day in 1938 by the Boston Olympics at the Boston Garden, where 400 rabid Heart fans traveled to watch their team play on the same ice as the Bruins.

Winning streaks were not uncommon for Sacred Heart. In fact, the streaks were more common in the post-war years (Sacred Heart didn’t play from 1943-45 because of World War II). The Hearts won 11 in a row from January 1947 to February of 1948. They followed with 14-game winning streak from February 1949 to January of 1950. The streak was broken on January 20 by the Berlin Maroons, who became the Hearts biggest in-state rival.

“You always prepared a little more when you played the Maroons,” Pike Colgan said.”

The loss to Berlin that season did little to slow down the Hearts, however. Sacred Heart went on to win its next 16 games before a showdown with the United States Olympic team on January 9, 1952, in what is known as the defining moment in team history. It was also one of the first times the slap shot was seen in the city of Concord. The American team had a handful of players that could fire the puck with precision, something that caught the eye of Red Adams and Tom Champagne.

“They could shoot the puck,” Champagne recalled. “The only other time I’d seen anyone shoot the puck like that was
Boom Boom Geoffrion of the Canadiens. Guys just didn’t take slap shots back in those days.”

Dan Stuckey, who was a regular in the Hearts lineup back in those days, worked tirelessly with Walter Brown to bring that Olympic team to Concord. The game was played on Sacred Heart’s home ice and the scuttlebutt around town was that the Olympians thought they were just going to show up and skate off with an easy win. That, however, wasn’t the sentiment of their head coach.

“He started seeing all the players on our team come on the ice and recognized that we were more than just a recreation team,” said Bill Rice, who played for the Hearts, but wasn’t suited up for that game. “The coach told the team ‘I want you guys to know you’re going
against a hell of a good team here and these guys are better hockey players than you might imagine.’ ”
7
And the Hearts took it to the United States team. Sacred Heart skated with them stride-for-stride and even held a 5-3 lead through two periods – speared by a pair of goals from Red Adams in a span of 19 seconds. But the Olympians came out hard in the third period, scoring three unanswered goals and holding off the Hearts for an 8-6 victory. A little over a month later that same Olympic team won the silver medal in the 1952 Winter Games in Oslo, Norway.

The 1952 season was also the last for the Hearts, who played their last game in Lewiston, Maine on March 10 against Dedham in the quarterfinals of the AHA New England tournament. Dedham went on to win the championship.

The Hearts won several state and New England championships themselves over the years. All told, Sacred Heart played 168 games. They won 126 of those games, lost 29 and tied 13.

Over 20 years, Sacred Heart saw some of the best hockey players in the city of Concord don its colors. Ted Rice, Dan Stuckey, Addie Brochu, Maurice Couture, Lang Lea, Doc Mechem and Percy Preston are just a few of the best players that will always be synonymous with Sacred Heart hockey.

We have confirmed the whereabouts of eight still-living members of the senior team: Bill Rice, Red Adams, Barney
Colgan, Pike Colgan, Tom Champagne, Jim Stohrer, Dick Ryerson, Gene Lauziere and Fats Hooley.

Sacred Heart All-Time Players Roster
The Sacred Heart All-Time roster may not be complete. Names were taken from available periodicals between 1930-31 and 1951-52. If you have any corrections or additions, please contact Jim Hayes, Executive Director. The asterisk following the players name indicates he played only for the junior team.

Adams, Red Arnold, Ingy Audet, Al * Audet, Henry * Audett, Eddie Audett, Junior Audette, H. * Audette, J. * Babineau, R. * Babineau, A. * Babineau, Francis * Bean, * Bernard, B * Berube, * Boisvert, Wilfred * Boisvert, Roland * Boisvert, Leonard * Bourgault, J. * Brochu, Dukey Brochu, Frank * Brochu, Addie Brochu, Red Brochu, Bob * Calhoun, John Callahan, Lefty Calloway, Chip Carlson, Ed Carlson, Berger * Ceriello, Phonzey Ceriello, Jim Champagne, Pete Champagne, Tom Champagne, John * Champagne, Norman * Chandler, Gerald Chapin, C. Charpentier, Dave * Colgan, Barney Colgan, Paulie Colgan, Pike Colgan, Leonard * Colgan, Louis * Comeau, Rene * Cote, Jake Cote, Al * Cote, Willard * Couch, * Courchene, C. * Couture, Abie Couture, Mo Crowley, Edward Daneault, Arthur * Demers, J. * Denoncourt, Larry Denoncourt, Phil Dionne, P. * Donovan, Paul Drolet, W. * Drouin, P * Drouin, Bob * Dufresne, Albert * Dupont, Paul * Dupont, Marcel * Ellis, Dwight Flammand, Albie * Flammand, J. * Foster, Al Foy, Albert * Foy, Arthur * Frappier, Al Gagne, * Gaudreau, Ernie Gaudreault, Ray * Gilbert, Rolando * Gilbert, Lorenzo * Gregoire, * Harmon, Archer Hart, Tom * Healy, Tarzan Healy, George Hebert, John Hilliard, Toby Hooley, Fats Ianuzzo, Chokey Jacobs, * Jeannotte, N. * Johnson, Tootie Johnson, Willie Jones, Bruce * King, Dave King, Ernie King, Bambie King, Buckie King, Dan * King, E. * King, Ed King, Tom * Labonte, Homer Lachance, A. * Lachance, Pat * Laflamme, Joe Laflamme, O’Neil * Laflamme, Savior * Lammare, Bill Lamirand, Andre Landry, Minnow Landry, Leo * Landry, P. * Landry, Paul * Landry, R. * Lanza, * Lapierre, Charlie Lapierre, G. Laplante, Dick Laplante, Robert * Lapoint, Pat * Lauziere, Gene Lauziere, Maurice * Lauzieres, A. * Lea, Lang Lebell, R. * Lebouthillier, Lebrun, George * Levesque, * Lockwood, Bob * Lyons, Frank * Lyons, James Jr. * Mannion, Jim * Mannion, Dick McIlwaine, John Mechem, Doc Mercier, George * Mercier, A. * Mercier, J. * Mercier, Paul * Merrill, Herb Messier, J. * Messier, Paul * Meyer, Moore, * Morin, Art Morin, Ed Morin, F. * Nadeuu, Albert * Nault, Bruce * Neff, C. * Neff, Ray * Neff, Richard * Noel, Herve Norton, Herb O’Connell, Richard * Olson, Oscar * Otis, Donald Ouelette, Adelard * Patione, Lawrence * Patione, Polo * Paveglio, Ray Pelletier, R. * Phaneuf, Norman * Phaneuf, Bernard * Philbrick, Duck * Pillsbury, Planchet, August * Plourde, Eddie Preston, Percey Purdy, Dave * Racine, Arthur Racine, Chuck Reardon, Bolt Rerdon, J. Rice, Ted Rice, Teddie * Rice, Bill Rich, * Roy, Art Roy, Johnny Roy, R. * Roy, Tom * Roy, Leon * Ryerson, Dick Samales, Edward * Scappettuolo, Frankie Schumaker, Silva, Frank Smith, Soucy, A. * Stevenson, Charlie Stohrer, Jim Strachan, Buddy Stuckey, Dan Tardif, Lionel * Tetreau, Ernie * Thereault, * Thomas, Windsor Turgeon, L. * Tuttle, * Valliere, Ziz Valliere, Nix Vallieres, E. * Vallieres, A. * Vallieres, H. * Venne, R. * Vincent, Jerome Vincent, Cyril * White, Stan Wilson, Bill

Ice Hockey has a long and storied history at Phillips Exeter Academy. Reviewing that history makes it clear that the early years of hockey were heavily influenced by the struggle to sustain play on natural ice despite the vagaries of winter weather. This early era was succeeded by play on an outdoor rink with artificial ice. And finally, the modern era at the Academy is clearly demarked by the completion of indoor rinks.

Early Days
“Tug” Tyler organized an informal hockey team in 1911, acting as coach and captain. Later, Tyler became a hockey captain at Dartmouth College.

In 1913, the Phillips Exeter Senior Council was responsible for starting the first hockey team. A flooded rink, 175 x 75 feet, was placed on the Academy’s Plimpton Playing Fields with little success. The first scheduled hockey game was in 1913 against the Boston Latin School, with Captain Winston’s team winning on the Water Works Pond in 1913.

In 1916, the game against Phillips Andover Academy was played in a heavy snowstorm on a flooded soccer field. An early picture shows the Exeter players wearing white pants, the boards were low, and the cages wooden. This game was in two twenty-minute periods. Class hockey (that is, intramural play) began in 1916 to accommodate the interest among the student body.

Mr. M.B. Perkins became the first official coach of hockey in 1917. Games were played on several areas of Fresh River. It’s easy to realize the difficulties which these early teams encountered playing on the river and ponds without boards.

Captain Dion, who had played with the champion Victorias of Canada and also with the McGill team, took over coaching in 1919. In 1920, Mr. Clarence Parker, who later became the Claremont High School Athletic Director, took over coaching. A severe winter that year permitted all games to be played.

In 1923, three rinks, one for the Academy squad and two for the class teams, were built adjacent to the playing fields. In 1926, in addition to poor ice conditions, a scarlet fever epidemic caused many contests to be cancelled.

This early era of PEA hockey was now overseen by the dominant figure of Percy Rogers, who coached the teams from 1924 through 1949. His teams played 208 regulation games, with a record of 115 wins, 75 losses, and 18 tied scores. He was also a Vice President of the Eastern Hockey Officials Association, and President of the Northern New England Hockey Officials Association. During his career, Coach Rogers’ varsity teams beat Andover 20 times, lost 11, tied 2, and won 8 out of 10 major tournaments. Highlights included:
1930: Hockey became a major sport at the Academy. Captain Frank Spain and Art Lane were outstanding on this year’s undefeated team.

1935: An Exeter hockey team met the Yale freshman for the first time in New Haven.

1937: The Northwood School sponsored a hockey tournament at Lake Placid in the Christmas vacation for eight eastern teams: Andover, Williston, Choate, Nichols, Morristown, Albany, Northwood, and Exeter.
6
By defeating Northwood and Nichols and playing to a 1-1 tie with Albany Academy, Exeter was declared a co-winner of the Whiting trophy.

1937: Completion of a new natural ice rink on the Exeter campus with the first permanent boards, rounded at the corners, a surface area as large as in standard arenas, and covered shelter nearby with arrangements for a fire during intermissions. Nearby were two rinks for the class teams.

Noteworthy players from this era were J.P. Chase ’24, D.K. Stuckey ’37, D. Whiston ’48, H.E. Bothfeld, ’49, all Olympic team selections. Bothfeld was the school’s leading scorer until 1997, with 71 goals and 50 assists for 121 points. In 1955, he played on the U.S. national hockey team in the World Championships.

Artificial Ice – Finally!
February 13, 1954 marked the inauguration of a new outdoor rink with artificial ice. The 200′ x 85′ regulation rink overcame once and for all the uncertainties of carrying on a hockey program in the face of changing weather conditions. Games on this day were scheduled against the Harvard freshmen (a win for the Exeter varsity) and the Percy Rogers Alumni All-Stars versus the Exeter JV (a win for the All-Stars). The new rink was described by Former Coach Percy Rogers as “perfect, well-lighted, with good boards, excellent ice-cleaning facilities, and spectator accommodations.”

Modern Era
The completion of the George H. Love Gymnasium in 1970 ushered in the modern hockey era at the Academy, with its overall area of 220,000 square feet, including two indoor hockey rinks. The capacity in hockey rink “A” is 600. It supports simultaneous play by the boys and girls teams.

Patrick Dennehy ’92, son of Coach Bill Dennehy, became the second highest all-time scorer in 1992 with 39 goals and 75 assists for 114 points. In 1991, he was a member of the New Hampshire hockey team that competed with 28 other state all-star teams and won the national title in Chicago. The current all-time leading scorer for the Exeter boys is Russell Bartlett ’97, who amassed 275 career points with 102 goals and 173 assists, and went on to play at St. Lawrence.

Geoff Koch ’98 (177 total career points) went from Exeter to win a national championship at Michigan in his freshman year and to later become Captain of the Wolverines before being picked in the second round of the NHL draft by the Nashville Predators.

A notable achievement was the success of the boys team, which won the 1999 New England Championship with a 30-3 overall record. This team was captained by Manchester, NH native, Greg Boucher ’99, who went on to play at Yale. Boucher was Co-MVP for the season, along with Josh Prudden ’99. Prudden was named Prep School Player of the Year, went on to play at UNH, and now plays in the AHL for the Worcester Sharks.

Also worth a mention is Tommy Cavanagh ’01, who scored 42 goals, the most in a season at Exeter. He went on to play at Harvard, and now plays alongside Prudden in the AHL for the Worcester Sharks.

Exeter’s boys hockey players have gone on to play at Division I and Division III programs such as Harvard, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Williams, and Boston College. There are at least four former players currently playing pro hockey in the AHL and the NHL. Exeter’s team is one of the strongest teams in New England and has been nationally ranked.

Girls Hockey Debuts
The Girls Hockey program started in 1974-75, one of the first prep schools to have a girls’ team. Charlie Pratt ’52 coached the team from 1980-85. Lee Young ’82 coached the team from 1987-2000. A strong girls team won the Division I New England Championship in 2000, matching the boys success the previous year. The team MVP that year was Kerri Sanders ’01. The co-captains were Kaitlin McGrath ’00 and Kathryn Koch ’00.

Exeter has placed its female athletes at Amherst, Brown, Bowdoin, Boston College, Colgate, Cornell, Harvard, Hamilton, Middlebury, Princeton, Williams, University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, University of Wisconsin-SP, and Yale to name a few.

A Legacy Passed On
Exeter’s contribution to the sport of hockey extends beyond the play of individuals while at Exeter. Some examples of Exeter’s influence beyond its own program include:

Peter Bragdon ’54 coached hockey at the Kent School from 1967 through 1980 before going on to become the Headmaster at Governor’s Academy from 1983 to 1999.

George Crowe (Exeter hockey coach from 1969 to 1974) went on to coach at Dartmouth College. Along with at least five former players from Exeter, Crowe brought Dartmouth to the NCAA National Championships in 1979 and 1980, where they finished third both years.

Joe Marsh ’71 has been the head coach at St. Lawrence University since 1985. St. Lawrence earned a post-season berth in each of his seasons behind the bench. Marsh has taken two teams to the NCAA Frozen Four. He has been ECAC Coach of the Year three times and won his second Spencer Penrose Award as National Coach of the Year at the end of the 1999-2000 season.

Scott Borek ’81 is the Associate Head Coach at University of New Hampshire. He has coached at several different colleges, including Dartmouth, Providence, Brown, Lake Superior State, Colby and New England College.

Tim Pratt ’84 is the Head Coach at St. Pauls School in Concord, NH and former president of the New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association (NEPSIHA). His father Charles Pratt was a coach at Exeter.

Patrick Dennehy ’92 coached hockey for eight years at the Holderness School in Plymouth, NH and is now the coach at Choate.8

It must have been a glorious moment on that long-ago day when the Berlin city road crew erected a sign over Route 16 that announced to all travelers entering the Paper City that they had just crossed over into Hockeytown, USA.

And, indeed, the locals back then did have just cause to strut their pride. There was the legendary Berlin Maroons senior amateur team. There was the formidable Berlin High School team. There was a whole collection of dominant Berlin Youth Hockey teams. But most of all, there was the Notre Dame High School team, perhaps the most extraordinary of all.

The Notre Dame hockey story unfolded beginning with the season of 1944-45. Father Omer Bousquet put out the word that Notre Dame was going into the high-school hockey business. Eleven skaters and two goaltenders responded. Father Leo St. Pierre agreed to become the coach and Father Armand Provost the manager. The school nickname was The Rams and the school colors were blue and white. However, in 1947, those colors were changed to blue and gold-colors the opposition never forgot and probably saw every night in their dreams.

For the season of 1945-46, Father St. Pierre continued as coach and Father Provost remained team manager. Father Bousquet, deeply dedicated to the cause, was energetic and his leadership led to the quick construction of Notre Dame Arena, which rose on the site of the old Coulombe rink, thanks to the mighty work and commitment of many citizens, including players. Construction began in the late summer of 1947 and was completed approximately four months later.

The structure had a roof, some bleachers and was enclosed but the ice was frozen naturally, never quite ready until the high North Country winter set in. Artificial ice-making equipment was still several years away, installed in 1966.

The third season, 1946-47, turned out to be historical, although no one at the time paid it any mind. There were more players, more games, more wins, a new head coach, a cross-town rival and, for the first time, a post-season tournament under the auspices of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Barney Laroche now was coach and that season’s first game was in Berlin, against Magog High School of Magog, Quebec. Notre Dame, on a cold night in front of 300 fans, posted a 3-2 win. It was a sign of good things to come.

The local newspaper, on February 6, ran a story that said inter-city high school hockey, that very night, was about to happen; that Notre Dame would face-off against Berlin High School’s just-formed varsity team. It was to be Berlin High School’s first hockey game in four years. Notre Dame won, 13-0, and it marked the beginning of a Notre Dame win streak over Berlin HS that lasted 15 seasons, not ending until 1962 when the Berlin Mountaineers finally won, 2-1.

Late in 1947 came the official announcement that Notre Dame, thanks to its strong winning season, was headed for the very first NH State Tournament, to be played in Hanover at Davis Rink on the Dartmouth College campus.

In the ’47 tournament’s final matchup on February 23, Notre Dame and captain Ray Dugas defeated Concord High School, 2-0. The game-winning goal came in the first period off the stick of defenseman Bob Fisette assisted by Eugene Rainville. The insurance goal came in the third period on a shot by Emile Arsenault with Bob Fisette assisting. Fisette later was named to the All State first team, as was goaltender Robert Gosselin. Fisette’s seasonal point production was 17 goals and 7 assists. Gosselin accumulated 209 saves in 11 games.

That 1947 victory gave Notre Dame the first of its 16 consecutive State hockey titles, a record that might never be broken-nor even threatened.

Following that win, Notre Dame looked at the possibility of gaining a berth in the 1947 New England tournament at the Boston Garden. The Tournament, back then, invited the “Northern New England” champion. That meant the New Hampshire champion and the Maine champion had to square off for the right to go to Boston. So it was Notre Dame versus St. Dominic’s. The format called for a home-and-home series, with the total goal count determining the winner. If the goal count was even, a third game had to be played. At Lewiston, Notre Dame lost, 3-2. At Berlin, Notre Dame lost, 5-3. A New England Tournament invitation would have to wait.

The 1947-48 team was coached by Barney Laroche, and also Father St. Pierre. The 1948-49 team had Father Odore Gendron as coach. St. Pierre and Gendron both won State titles, Father St. Pierre a 1-0 shutout against Concord HS; and Father Gendron, 6-0, over Berlin HS.

For the next three seasons, there were three more State championships and three trips to the New England Tournament, all of which enlarged the legend of Notre Dame HS hockey. The Ram’s reputation, both in the State and out, now was stouter than ever.

Then came the 1952-53 season, and as it drew to a close, Notre Dame again won the State title and again went to the New England Tournament, which by then had relocated to Providence, RI. In the first round, the Rams defeated Massachusetts Champion Walpole, 4-3 in OT. In the semi-final round, Notre Dame was bumped 4-0, by longtime Massachusetts powerhouse, Malden Catholic HS. In the consolation game, Notre Dame lost 3-2, in OT to Hamden (CT) HS. Rams winger, Archie Primeau was named to the All New England first team, and forward Ray Poirier to the second team. Both players were personally saluted and then rewarded by local Berlin hockey enthusiast, Romeo Lavigne. He gave each boy a free trip to that season’s NHL Stanley Cup playoffs.

The 1953-54 Rams continued their winning ways and earned another trip to the New England Tournament. When Notre Dame advanced to the finals, it was for the first time. But alas, a strong Hamden High School team, one that had dominated Connecticut schoolboy hockey for several years, refused to be denied and won the tussle. The All-Tournament team selections included three Rams players: goaltender Norm Arpin, defenseman Ray Blanchette and forward Al Brodeur.

Over the next two seasons, Notre Dame repeated as New Hampshire champion and then made the trip to Providence,
RI. The dream of winning its first New England title, though, remained unfulfilled.

But then the 1956-57 season dawned. The time had finally come. After once again taking the NH State crown, the Rams and coach Barney Laroche headed to the deep south-to Providence, RI.

In the opening round, Notre Dame stopped Massachusetts champion Lynn English High School, 2-1, and in the semifinals hung a 5-2 defeat on Massachusetts runner-up Melrose High School. Then came the finals on March 9. The opponent was an old familiar bunch-Hamden (CT) High School. Twice in past tournaments the teams had met and twice Hamden had scuttled the boys from the North Country. This time, Rams goaltender Rod Blackburn was invincible and posted an impressive and emphatic shutout, 7-0. Notre Dame was, at last, New England champion.

When the dust settled, Rod Blackburn was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Goaltender and Dede Villenueve was named Most Valuable Forward. Five Rams were All Tournament selections: Rod Blackburn, Richard Couture, Ron Deyette, Dicky Valliere and Dede Villenueve. The following day, the City of Berlin turned out en masse to offer the team a warm and noisy homecoming.

Over the next four seasons, Notre Dame continued to collect State championship plaques, soundly whipping Hanover, 10-2, in 1958; Berlin, 5-0, in 1959; Berlin, 9-1, in 1960; and Berlin, 7-1, in 1961.

With that 1961 title secured, coach Barney Laroche retired, having been at the helm for 12 consecutive State titles, plus that inaugural title he won way back in 1947, the first year of the State Tournament. That made 13 titles in 15 years, a record that perhaps will never be surpassed.

Barney’s successor was Albie Brodeur who steered Notre Dame to the 1962 crown, its 16th consecutive. The string ended, though, the following season, on February 9, 1963, when the Rams fell for the very first time to Berlin HS. The score was, oh, so close: 3-2. A year later, Berlin HS repeated as State Champion, beating Concord HS, 3-0.

When the 1964-65 season rolled around, Notre Dame was back at it, winning games and again owning the State title. The tournament opponent that season? Why, Berlin, of course. The score? A close one, 3-1, giving Notre Dame 17 titles in 19 seasons.

Then came an unusual dry spell of five straight years when Notre Dame failed to play in a single State title game. In all five of those years (1966 through 1970), it was cross-town rival Berlin HS that held sway, being the dominant New Hampshire team, winning four consecutive State crowns.

Down but certainly not out, Notre Dame bulled its way back to the top. With Romeo Tremblay as head coach, the Rams finished the 1970-71 season ranked third in the standings and went into the tournament as underdogs. In the semifinal game, they had to meet number-one Hanover. It seemed grim. During the regular season, Hanover twice had beaten the Rams and was favored to continue that dominance. But hockey life can take sharp turns and so it happened that night in Durham. The final score: Notre Dame 4, Hanover 0. In the other semifinal match-up, Berlin HS squeaked by Concord HS, 4-3, in overtime. Ahead was the final game for the State title. Once again, it would be Hockeytown USA drama at its best: the Rams versus the Mountaineers.

Rams’ goaltender, Denis Parent, focused like a lad possessed, rose to the occasion. When the final buzzer sounded inside Snively Arena, it was Notre Dame 6 and Berlin 2. And, as they say, the joint was a-rockin’!

The win, indeed, was joyous but throughout that miraculous hockey season, and even in the months before it happened, there had been talk in all corners of the City that Notre Dame High School might have to close. Low enrollments, higher operating costs, dwindling resources. There was a conspiracy of circumstances at work.

In the end, the students lost out and Notre Dame was forced to draw the shades on all of its windows.

The closing, though, didn’t happened until after the 1971-72 academic year was done and commencement had been held, which meant the skating Rams had one more crack at a New Hampshire State hockey title.

Fittingly, Notre Dame, prior to the State tournament, played its very last home game against cross-town rival, Berlin HS. The score was close, 2 to 1, in favor of the Rams.

Both teams also qualified for the State tournament and met in the semifinal round. The game went to overtime, tied 2-2. With 30 seconds remaining on the clock, Buzz Beaudoin scored for the Rams and put Notre Dame into the finals. The ending was shaping up to be of storybook quality.

The very last opponent in Notre Dame’s epic hockey history would be Manchester Memorial HS, the first southern New Hampshire team to reach the tournament’s final round. And on March 11, 1972, a close 3-2 win gave Notre Dame its 19th State title in 26 years. Captain Louis Parent had the privilege of skating around the rink with the championship plaque held high-the very last Notre Dame player ever to do so.

The Rams named to the All Tournament team were top scorer Ray St. Onge, Roger Roy, Ray Roy and goaltender Bob Rodrigue.
Ironically, Bob Rodrigue’s father, Robert, in 1947 starred on Notre Dame’s first championship team and 26 years later watched as his son was cited as a star on Notre Dame’s last championship team.

Addendum #1:
On February 27, 1969, the snow-laden roof of Notre Dame Arena tragically collapsed during a junior varsity game and Notre Dame goaltender Norman Boucher sadly was killed. The City was in shock and mourning for a long time. The strategy to repair the roof was drawn by Monsignor Alpheri Lauziere who dedicated himself to the project and saw to it that the rink was reopened.

Addendum #2:
During the 14-year era between 1949 and 1962, Notre Dame met Berlin HS 13 times for the State championship. Each time, Berlin HS fell heavily with Notre Dame outscoring BHS, 84-10. Five games were shutouts.

Addendum #3:
For the 1947 to 1976 period (30 years), the City of Berlin celebrated 28 schoolboy titles. Notre Dame collected 19; Berlin won 9.

From its inception in 1948, to the three straight Granite State Hockey League championship series it played against
the Manchester Tam O’Shanters, to young Bobby Sheehan, who would go on to play eight seasons in the National
Hockey League, the Nashua Royals amateur team left a large mark on the state’s hockey landscape in its two decades of
existence.

Shortly after the conclusion of World War II, Nashua High School and its athletic director, iconic football coach Buzz
Harvey, explored the possibility of fielding a school hockey team. By 1948, other city leaders had planted the seeds to
create a senior amateur team for players age 16 to 21 that would compete against other senior amateur teams in the
region.

Nicknamed the “Royales,” the team turned to city ward alderman Tony Joyal as its coach and plans were underway to
build a rink in the rear of the St. Francis Xavier church on Chandler Street.

Paul and Bob Dionne were chosen as captains of that inaugural team, and were joined by players like Renee Joyal,
Gil Dumais, Roger Kerouac, John Lanoie, Jim Connor and Roland McLoud. But the weather didn’t cooperate that
first season, with rains and some unseasonably warm weather conspiring to keep their outdoor sheet on Lock Street
unplayable.

The next season saw Elmer F. Blakey, the city’s park and recreation commissioner, step in as head coach and the
nickname altered to “Royals.”

By 1952, Joyal was back as coach and the Royals had established themselves on the state scene, meeting the Rye Sea
Hawks for the New Hampshire Amateur Class B League championship. Behind 59 saves from goalie Berube, Nashua
won the game, 8-4.

Beginning in 1963, the Royals were coached Ron Peters (Legends of Hockey Class of ’08), a former practice goaltender
of the Boston Olympics of the EHL. He guided the team to the championship of the Granite State Hockey League
in 1964, the first of three straight memorable championship series the Royals would play against the Tam O’Shanters.
The Tams got the better of it in 1965, sweeping the championship series in three games despite a four-goal game from
George Marineau in Game 3, a game that finished 7-6. Nashua came back to win the title in 1966, closing out the Tams
with a 14-8 win.
6
Some of the standout players included Marineau, Buzz Littell (Legends of Hockey Class of ’06), Pete Merrill, Mike
Frigard, Joe Bellavance and Leo Gould (Legends of Hockey Class of ’06). Also featuring prominently was Sheehan, who would reach the NHL in 1969-70 with the Montreal Canadiens and play several seasons at that level, including the 1978-79 campaign with the New York Rangers, skating in 15 playoff games as the Rangers reached the Stanley Cup finals, losing to the Canadiens. Small in stature, he was listed at 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds in the NHL but was one of the fastest players in the league.

Member of the 1965-66 Championship Team included: Front Row left to right: Kevin Palanski, Joe Monahan, Coach Ron Peters, Captain Mike Frigard, Norm Charland,Bobby Sheehan (aka Bob Terry), Paul Joyal, Pete Maggio Back Row left to right: Guy Marcoux, Pete Merrill, unidentified, Buzz Littell, Bob Christy, Ed Ziflak, Leo Gould, Jean Brosseau, Ed Donahue, Jean Cote, unidentified, Dave Bellavance, George Marineau. Other Championship team members not in photo were. Goaltender Joe Bellavance, John Gilday, Ron Therrien, Dick Daigle,Ken Thompson, Dick Bordeleau, Paul Fisher, Den Cote and goaltender Connors.

The Nashua Royals concluded play after the 1966-67 season.

The history of hockey at New England College dates to the mid-1960s, when a handful of students traveled from the Henniker campus to Everett Arena in Concord to play pickup games. In 1968, a club team was formed, fueled by the promise from then-NEC president Jere Chase to sanction a financially supported varsity team if the club team remained cohesive and dedicated. And it did.

The first varsity men’s season was 1969-70 and over 48 seasons NEC men’s teams have produced 542 wins, 577 losses and  68 ties. Three times (1984, 2001 and 2005) the Pilgrims have qualified for NCAA Division 3 tournaments and twice have won ECAC East titles (2001 and 2005).

Several players have earned All-America honors. The first, in 1982, was Ed Galiani, the program’s all-time leading scorer  with 178 points. Also, Ralph Aiello (2001), Travis Banga (2003, ‘2004), Jeremy Koning (2006) and Brett Kilar (2017) have  been honored.

Nineteen players have come from Concord our Capital City. First Captain was Bob Clement in 1969 and most recently  Kevin Marceau 2015. Over the first 30 years, the vast majority of Pilgrims were from New England, New York and New Jersey. In recent years, student-athletes have hailed from Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Japan, Slovakia, Denmark, Switzerland, England, Iceland, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Croatia.

MEN’S INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS
100 Point Club – 26 players total, the top 3 are Ed Galiani, 178; Brian Stone, 173 and John Lineberry 147
100 Point Club (Highest PPG average over 2.0.) – Jeff Beaney 2.6 and Paul Cozzi 2.2
Most Points Season – Ed Galiani 73
Most Goals Single Season – Ed Galiani 48
Team Leaders for Points – Three players tied with 3 years each, Brian Stone, David Garofalo and Mark Ehl
Defensemen as Team Points Leaders – Red Gendron and Jay Pecora
Most Shut Outs Career – Bret Kilar 8, Sebastian Anderson 7 and Aaron Harvey 5
Most Shut Outs Season – Kilar 5, Anderson 3, Harvey 3, Shimek 3

The influence and guidance of then-athletic director Lee Clement was instrumental in getting the program off the ground. Leo Callahan of Concord was hired as coach. The first varsity game in 1969 was a 6-3 win over St. Francis (Maine) College at the Everett Arena, during a season where the Pilgrims would finish 10-3-1 competing as an independent.

After two seasons as an independent, NEC was accepted into ECAC Division II. Prior to the start of the 1983-84 season, there was a re-alignment and NEC shifted to ECAC East, a Division III league that included national powers Norwich and Babson.

The team would call Everett Arena its home for 22 seasons. In 1990, an effort was made to raise funds to build a rink on campus. In the spring of 1991 it was dedicated and named for Clement, who had passed away in 1988.

Head coaches for the program included Callahan, who oversaw the first three seasons; Dave Conte, Mickey Goulet; Bill Beaney, who go on to have tremendous success at Middlebury; Scott Stuart; Dan Davidge; Tom Pratt; Mark Ostapina; Scott Borek, for one season, between jobs at Division I Lake Superior State and UNH; and Tom Carroll, who is entering his 16th season owns a record of 213-
153-36 – most all time.

The most prolific scoring tandem was Ed Galiani and Jeff Beaney, both Class of 1982. While playing together for only two seasons, the duo combined for 128 and 129 points respectively. Carroll’s team in 2004-05 qualified for the NCAA tournament and reached the
Final Four. Led by players like Koning, Nick Warriner and Jeff Vandyke, the team finished with an 18-12 record.

Last year, the Pilgrims went 19-8-0 overall and finished second in ECAC East, behind only Norwich, which went on to win the Division III national championship.

MEN’S FIRSTS
Goal – Jay Jones versus St. Francis College November 19, 1969
Win – Versus St. Francis November 19, 1969
Playoff Appearance – 1980-81 versus Bowdoin
NCAA Appearance – 1983-84 versus Babson
Final Four Appearance – 2004-05 versus Middlebury
Playoff Win – 1981-82 versus Colby
League Final – 1981-82 versus Lowell
League Championship – 2000-01 versus Norwich

The Friends of NEC Hockey was officially founded in 1991 as a support group for the new arena and the hockey program.  A couple of the major donations have included the existing bleachers and locker rooms improvements.

In 1994, the Friends of NEC Hockey established the annual Lee Clement Sportsmanship Award, which recognizes a boy or girl from Henniker Youth Hockey for his/her sportsmanship and commitment to fellow players.

Since 2001-02, NEC has fielded a varsity women’s hockey team at the Division III level. For 12 straight seasons between 2002-03 and 2013-14, the Pilgrims made the ECAC playoffs, reaching the ECAC championship game in 2009-10, going 12-13-3 overall.

The women’s program began in 1999 when several interested women called upon Professor Philip Huckins to help form a club team. The first two years of its existence, the team was led by volunteer coach, Jim Luckern, and played against high school teams, college clubs, and adult women’s teams.

In its third year of existence the team was granted varsity status as a Division III independent and hired coach Michele Selzer who played at, and then graduated from, St. Lawrence University in 1996. After a season that saw the team facing significantly higher quality talent, the team joined the ECAC East.

In 2002, Phoebe Manchester who played and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1996 became head coach. In each of coach Manchester’s four years at the helm, the team has elevated itself higher and higher in the competitive ranks of women’s collegiate hockey, culminating in this season’s opportunity to play for the ECAC East championship

The team’s best season came in 2003-04, when it went 14-9-3 under Manchester for a .596 winning percentage. That team was led by Jacquelyn Parker and Megan Tepper.

WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS
100 Point Club – Elizabeth Ross, 130; Sarah Tracey, 130; Marissa Porri, 115; Sarah Graham, 101
100 Point Club (Highest PPG average) Sarah Tracey, 1.238; Elizabeth Ross, 1.226; Marissa Porri, 1.19; Sarah Graham, 1.074
Most Points Season – Sarah Tracey, 45
Most Goals Season – Sarah Graham, 24
Team Leaders for Points – Four players tied with 2 years each, Marissa Porri, Elizabeth Ross, Sarah Tracey and Rachel White
Defensemen as Team Points Leader – Megan Teper
Most Shut Outs Career – Jacqui Parker, 9; Teraysa White, 9; Kristen Conners, 3
Most Shut Outs Season – White, 4; Parker, 3; Christina Aiello, 3

Sarah Tracey and Elizabeth Ross share the program honor of most points in a career, with 130. Parker and Teraysa White have been the most accomplished goalies, each winning 33 games.

WOMEN’S FIRSTS
Goal – Kate Sweeney versus Cortland December 8, 2001
Win – Versus Norwich January 12, 2002
Playoff Appearance – March 1, 2003 versus Southern Maine
Playoff Win – February 28, 2004 versus Southern Maine
League Final – March 5, 2006 versus Manhattanville

Following Selzer, who coached the team in its first season, Manchester went 47-52-5 in her four years as coach. She was followed by Eddie Ardito (2006-07), Jackie McMillan (2007-09), Sis Paulsen (2009-13) and Kristi Kehoe (2013-17). Maria Lewis was introduced as the program’s new coach in May, following stops that included a stint at UMaine, where she was named Hockey East Coach of the Year in 2012.

From its inception in 1948, to the three straight Granite State Hockey League championship series it played against the Manchester Tam O’Shanters, to young Bobby Sheehan, who would go on to play eight seasons in the National Hockey League, the Nashua Royals amateur team left a large mark on the state’s hockey landscape in its two decades of existence.

Shortly after the conclusion of World War II, Nashua High School and its athletic director, iconic football coach Buzz Harvey, explored the possibility of fielding a school hockey team. By 1948, other city leaders had planted the seeds to create a senior amateur team for players age 16 to 21 that would compete against other senior amateur teams in the region.

Nicknamed the “Royales,” the team turned to city ward alderman Tony Joyal as its coach and plans were underway to build a rink in the rear of the St. Francis Xavier church on Chandler Street.

Paul and Bob Dionne were chosen as captains of that inaugural team, and were joined by players like Renee Joyal, Gil Dumais, Roger Kerouac, John Lanoie, Jim Connor and Roland McLoud. But the weather didn’t cooperate that first season, with rains and some unseasonably warm weather conspiring to keep their outdoor sheet on Lock Street unplayable.

The next season saw Elmer F. Blakey, the city’s park and recreation commissioner, step in as head coach and the nickname altered to “Royals.”

By 1952, Joyal was back as coach and the Royals had established themselves on the state scene, meeting the Rye Sea Hawks for the New Hampshire Amateur Class B League championship. Behind 59 saves from goalie Berube, Nashua won the game, 8-4.

Beginning in 1963, the Royals were coached Ron Peters (Legends of Hockey Class of ’08), a former practice goaltender of the Boston Olympics of the EHL. He guided the team to the championship of the Granite State Hockey League in 1964, the first of three straight memorable championship series the Royals would play against the Tam O’Shanters.

The Tams got the better of it in 1965, sweeping the championship series in three games despite a four-goal game from George Marineau in Game 3, a game that finished 7-6. Nashua came back to win the title in 1966, closing out the Tams with a 14-8 win.

Some of the standout players included Marineau, Buzz Littell (Legends of Hockey Class of ’06), Pete Merrill, Mike Frigard, Joe Bellavance and Leo Gould (Legends of Hockey Class of ’06). Also featuring prominently was Sheehan, who would reach the NHL in 1969-70 with the Montreal Canadiens and play several seasons at that level, including the 1978-79 campaign with the New York Rangers, skating in 15 playoff games as the Rangers reached the Stanley Cup finals, losing to the Canadiens. Small in stature, he was listed at 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds in the NHL but was one of the fastest players in the league.

Member of the 1965-66 Championship Team included: Front Row left to right: Kevin Palanski, Joe Monahan, Coach Ron Peters, Captain Mike Frigard, Norm Charland,Bobby Sheehan (aka Bob Terry), Paul Joyal, Pete Maggio Back Row left to right: Guy Marcoux, Pete Merrill, unidentified, Buzz Littell, Bob Christy, Ed Ziflak, Leo Gould, Jean Brosseau, Ed Donahue, Jean Cote, unidentified, Dave Bellavance, George Marineau. Other Championship team members not in photo were. Goaltender Joe Bellavance, John Gilday, Ron Therrien, Dick Daigle,Ken Thompson, Dick Bordeleau, Paul Fisher, Den Cote and goaltender Connors.

The Nashua Royals concluded play after the 1966-67 season.

For more than 50 years, the Manchester Regional Youth Hockey Association (MRYHA) has given boys and girls of all ages and abilities the opportunity to play, enjoy and compete in the sport of hockey.

In 1964, the Manchester NH Junior Hockey League was created with a mission of “teaching young boys between the ages of 6 and 13 inclusive the principles of good sportsmanship and of effective participation in the sport of hockey; (as well) to make young boys aware of and proficient in hockey and to build their character and physical fitness through winter sports.”

In 1973, the Board of Directors, under the presidency of Louis Farley, changed the corporation name to Manchester Regional Youth Hockey Association (MRYHA) with a stated goal of “providing effective opportunities for area youth, regardless of race, color or sex, to compete at all levels of youth hockey.”

For a time, MRYHA was one of the largest youth hockey programs in the country and, although it no longer holds this distinction, it still remains the largest and one of the oldest programs in the state of New Hampshire.

In its early days, the organization served as a feeder program for the local high schools and was mostly made of house league teams. Manchester would catch up to and compete with the programs that fed the high school teams at Berlin Concord and Hanover who dominated high school hockey for a long period of time.

Times have changed since then; however, MRYHA has stuck to its core. The program provides opportunities for any child who wants to play the game of hockey with programs ranging from “learn to skate” to the Flames travel programs, whose top-level teams compete at the Tier 1 level of USA Hockey.

Recently, MRYHA was the first organization in state selected by the Boston Bruins to participate in the “Little Bruins Program.” This program allows children ages 4-9 the opportunity to participate in the game of hockey.

Back in 1982, MRYHA hosted the National Midget Tournament, which ran from April 2-4. Competing teams hailed from New York, Philadelphia, Illinois, Alaska, Michigan, Massachusetts and Manchester.

In 1990, Manchester was selected to host another national tournament for the Bantam Division. Teams from Detroit, New Jersey, Chicago, New York, Alaska, Rhode Island, Cape Cod and Manchester competed. These tournaments included future NHL stars Pat LaFontaine and Ed Olczyk.

Over the years, the Manchester Flames/MRYHA organization has competed in several national championships, and winning Junior C national championships in 1985 and ‘86.

MRYHA has also produced many talented players who went on to have successful careers in both the collegiate and professional levels. A few of these players include Rand Pecknold, Jeff Serowik, Hubie McDonough, Kyle McDonough, Jeff Giuliano, Tim Schaller and Zach Sanford.

The Manchester Regional Youth Hockey Association is proud of its non-profit status and is run through the tireless dedication of volunteers. These volunteers range from a Board of Directors consisting of 14 members as well as more than a hundred coaches, managers and on-ice assistants.

Forty years before the creation of our present-day Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, there was a highly skilled local bunch also known by the same name.

Those original Monarchs played in the six-team senior-amateur New England Hockey League, and every weekend local fans jammed the old JFK Coliseum to support “their boys of winter.”

That team sadly existed for just four hockey-mad seasons-1970-71 through 1973-74-and was a spin-off of the NEHL’s Manchester Blackhawks, an organization that had created a rich history with a zealous following.

The NEHL back then had two other New Hampshire entries: the Concord Eastern Olympics and the Nashua Maple Leafs. Massachusetts was home to the other clubs: the Braintree Hawks, Framingham Pics and Lowell Chiefs. There were many heated League rivalries but none burned more intensely than what always lived between the Monarchs and the Concord Eastern Olympics.

At the end of the 1969-70 season, the Blackhawks, for financial reasons, folded. That news, in Manchester’s many neighborhoods, was cause for great lamentation.

But on May 21, 1970, the city’s hockey fans threw off their grief and cheered mightily when the news broke that a quartet of businessmen, collectively calling themselves Queen City Hockey, Inc., had purchased the Blackhawks’ franchise. The promise was to put a team on the ice without missing a beat and the four rescuers who did that were: Al Corriveau (president), Leon Routhier (vice president), Gerard Fecteau (vice president) and Harvey Clement (treasurer.)

The new group then asked the public to help re-christen the team. The nickname of Monarchs by a wide margin was selected over Royals, Kings and Knights. Then uniform colors were decided on-black, gold, white, ala the Boston Bruins-and each jersey’s front was filled with a large gold crown emblematic of The Monarchy.

Next came the hiring of Jerry Paquette, who arrived in Manchester fresh from several seasons as head hockey coach at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. About that same time, management signed the first Monarchs’ player: Norm “Kangaroo” Hebert. A Canadian by birth, Hebert had settled in Manchester in 1962 and had played for the Blackhawks, endearing himself to local hockey fans for his on-ice speed and acrobatics, as well as his goal-scoring skills.  He returned to Canada in 1976 and in 2007 was inducted into the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame.

1970-71
The team compiled a 32-6-1 record and centerman Ray Champagne won the NEHL regular-season scoring title with 30 goals and 60 assists. Teammates Real St. Jean and Pete Belanger, respectively, scored 89 and 87 points, giving the Monarchs the top three scorers in the League.

The team also posted a League best of 15 consecutive unbeaten games, plus League-leading streaks of 17 wins at home, and 15 wins on the road.

In the playoffs, the Monarchs swept Concord from contention in three straight games, and followed up with four straight wins over Braintree to take the title. The season’s overall record was 39-6-1.

1971-72
The NEHL, with the financial dissolution of the Nashua franchise, had a minor re-alignment to make. The Fitchburg (MA) Hornets were invited to join the fold and accepted in plenty of time to begin the new season. Earlier, Monarchs’ head coach, Jerry Paquette, stepped down for work reasons. He was replaced by Ron Peters, former head coach of the Nashua Leafs. However, in early December, Peters was forced to resign due to his heavy work commitments.

The Monarchs then looked to longtime defenseman, Jacques LeClerc, who agreed to step off the ice and move in behind the bench. He coached the team to a 27-9-4 overall record and the Monarchs scored a League best 273 goals, while allowing just 169, the third fewest in the League.

In the playoff finals, Manchester beat Concord in five games to win its second straight League title.

1972-73
Again under LeClerc, the Monarchs this time posted a 24-13-1 record to finish the regular season in third place.  Manchester then was ousted from the playoffs in the first round after four games against rival Concord. Two of those grinding match-ups went to overtime. The NEHL title went to Braintree.

Sadly, at season’s end, the financially weak NEHL dissolved.

1973-74
With the League’s demise, Monarchs’ ownership sold the franchise to Claude Vaillancourt of Manchester.

Ultimately, the Canadian-American (Can-Am) League was created, with two Divisions: Southern and Northern.

The Southern grouping was comprised of the Manchester Monarchs, the Concord Eastern Olympics and the Framinghams Pics. The Northern grouping had four teams: the Montreal Police, St. Ignace, PQ, L’Assumption, PQ, and Boisclair, PQ.

Concord, after a three-team round-robin series, advanced to a best-of-five series against Framingham and in four outings won the Southern Division title. A League championship series was never played, though, due to scheduling difficulties and a lack of ice availability.

The League proved unprofitable and in July of 1974 it became a footnote in hockey history.

The following season of 1974-75 there was no senior hockey in Manchester, forcing local fans to turn their hockey eyes to other places.

As for the Monarchs players, some of them traveled north to Concord to skate that season with the newly formed Tri-City Coachmen. And the following season of 1975-76, many of those players skated with the Concord Budmen.

2001-02
And now, 27 seasons after the original Manchester Monarchs became history, a new group is in town: the professional
Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League.

Affiliated with the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, the team took up home-ice residence in the Verizon Wireless Arena and in 2001 debuted on the road October 6 and at home November 16.

It’s now 10 seasons later and the writing of this latest chapter in the Hockey History of Manchester, NH is still happily going on.

Here is a list of Monarch players from their four seasons of play.

Ken Abbott
Dean Anderson
Pierre Belanger
Willie Bibeau
Paul Blanchard
Dick Brace
Rich Brugman
Rollie Campeau
Ray Champagne
Leon Charron
Len Couture
Larry Davenport

Ron DiGregorio
Baine Donovan
Ron Dubreuil
Jean-Marc Dubreuil
Joe Fiddler
Andre Fortin
Jean-Guy Gagnon
Bob Grottalauria
Ed Grzywacz
Frank Haskell
Norm Hebert
Joe Jangro

Gary Jaquith
Woody Johnson
Steve Jones
Bob Kullen
Andy Lambert
Tom Labrecque
Jack LeClerc
MikeLussier
Ken Martin
Mark McConnell
Joe McGilbrary
Andy McNulty

George McPhee
Charlie Morgan
Steve Murphy
Dave Murphy
Kevin Palanski
Andre Prefontaine
Bob Reardon
Bob Rowe
Larry Smith
Real St. Jean
Andy St. Laurent
Jack Wilkins

Compiled list may not be complete. Names were taken from available programs and news periodicals.

The Manchester Blackhawk story was a Cinderella story and the team was a fairy tale team. They caught the attention of Manchester every Saturday and Sunday evening when they would meet an opposing team on home ice at the JFK Coliseum.

The story of the Blackhawks started in the summer of 1964, when former owner Claude Vaillancourt decided that Manchester needed something and the answer was a good hockey team. After much preliminary work the new team was ready to go for the 1965 season, sanctioned by the Amateur Hockey Association (AHA).

In the team’s peak of interest, the fans would fill the JFK to capacity and for most games it was standing room only. Management wanted to have an idea as to how strong the local team was and the Sherbrooke Beavers were contacted to come and play the newly formed club. The Blackhawks lost 7 to 4, but it was realized that they had strong potential.

The first series that the team had with the Berlin Maroons generated record crowds and growing interest in hockey.

When the Manchester Blackhawks were in their prime they were playing against Lewiston/Aurburn Twins, the Berlin Maroons, Concord Eastern Olympics, Lowell Chiefs, Framingham Pics, and the Braintree Hawks.

The hockey team was a generous organization and one of the groups that they helped was the Manchester Jaycee’s. Whenever the Jaycee’s winter carnival was scheduled, they could count on the Manchester Blackhawks to help raise funds for their treasury.

They attracted international attention at one point by hosting Olympic hockey teams from Austria and Sweden, who were sanctioned by the United States Ice Federation of Hockey.

The original owner sold the team to businessman Al Dupont, who kept the team for a short period of time in 1969. Then contractor Doris Patient took ownership ofthe team until the organization disbanded in the early 1970’s.

During the early 1960’s, Manchester was represented in hockey by the Manchester Beavers, a group of young (and a few old) men who used the Doors Pond rink as their home base. They played other teams in outdoor rinks throughout the state including Rochester, Concord, Wolfeboro (COLD), UNH (before Snively), Exeter and Amesbury and Ft. Devens in Massachusetts.

With the building of the JFK Coliseum in 1963, local hockey came -indoors. The Beavers, through the sponsorship of Peter Rosenberg of the Tam O’Shanter Company, became the Tam O’Shanter Hockey Club.

The six team Granite State Hockey League was formed consisting of Nashua, Concord, Rochester, Laconia-Wolfeboro, the Tams and the Alpine Club. Doubleheaders were played at the Coliseum before capacity crowds and when the Tams met the Alpines, the building was jammed. The Fire Department had to station personnel at the games to keep exit paths open. These games were the most popular events in town.

The Tams always wore tams (Scottish flat cap) on their heads during pre-game warm ups, so when the Alpines came to play them they wore toques (knitted winter caps.) Rosenberg would bring a detachment of bagpipers in full kilt regalia to play at the Tams-Alpines games, so the Alpine Club would send their Drum & Bugle Corps. Between the music and the crowd, the noise level was about a seven on the Richter Scale.

So it went for two to three years until the influx of players from Canada and Massachusetts threw the league so out of balance that it closed operations. In its place came the Monarchs who became the Blackhawks, who continued to pack the JFK by playing the best teams in New England and from Canada.

Semi-pro hockey in Manchester slowly saw its demise after a golden decade with the rise of hockey on television featuring Bobby Orr and the Big, Bad Bruins.

Hockey in its prime in Manchester brought much joy and excitement to the city. This Winter Carnival is a testimonial to what hockey meant to the loyal fans.