Chris Grassie
Induction Year: 2025
Birthday: June 11, 1967
City/Town: Somersworth, NH
A lifelong Somersworth native, Chris first played youth hockey in Dover, then moved on to Somersworth Youth Hockey before joining Somersworth High School for three seasons. He led the team with over a hundred points in his three years there, then played a post-grad season at Berwick Academy where he was MVP. Chris continued to build his impressive hockey resumé at the University of New Hampshire, playing four seasons from 1986-87 through 1989-90.
Recruited by UNH as a non-scholarship walk-on, Chris became a regular on the Wildcat’s blueline by Thanksgiving, leading eventually to a full scholarship after his freshman season. As a sophomore in 1988, he was voted Best Defenseman by his teammates and received the Rod Langway Best Defenseman Award. He was team captain in the 1989-90 season and led the Wildcats to the Hockey East Semi-Finals his senior year. He received the Charles E. Holt Coaches Award for contributions to the team both on and off the ice. During his four years at UNH, Chris scored 8 goals and assisted on 32 others.
Having been offered a try-out with the Winnipeg Jets, Chris opted instead for an AHL contract with the Maine Mariners and played 22 games with the Boston Bruin’s affiliate. In three combined seasons in the ECHL with the Johnstown Chiefs and the Nashville Knights, he appeared in 161 regular season and playoff games, scoring 15 goals and earning 78 assists.
Following his playing days, Chris served at Berwick Academy for two years as an assistant coach under Charlie Holt before taking over the Head Coach position in 1997-98 after Charlie resigned. He then collaborated with five-time Coach of the Year, Sean Tremblay, as an Associate Head Coach in Junior Hockey. In all, he spent eight years in that role with the New Hampshire Jr Monarchs, Islanders Hockey Club, the Great Northern Snow Devils in Biddeford ME and the Exeter Snow Devils.
The Seacoast Spartans have been called the nugget in the Grassie hockey crown. The organization was co-founded by Chris’s father Gerry and his friend, Bob Brown. After Gerry’s death in 2002, Chris took over as the director of the program and held that position for the next eleven years while still assuming coaching duties. During that time, he tripled the number of full-season teams to nine, and further expanded the program to include fall-season Midget and Mite development programs. In 2008, Gerry was inducted as a member of the NH Legends of Hockey. Chris accepted on behalf of his father and now joins him in the Hall of Fame.