Ben Lovejoy - NH Legends of Hockey

Year Inducted: 2021

Birthdate: 02/20/1984 -

Town/City: Concord, NH

Concord-born and Canaan-raised Ben Lovejoy starred at Dartmouth College and went on to have an 11-year career in the NHL, becoming the first New Hampshire-born player to lift the Stanley Cup.

Lovejoy’s family moved to Marion, Mass., when he was young but returned to the Granite State when he was 8 after his father, Carl, accepted a position at Cardigan Mountain School. Ben played four years at the school, also helping Hanover Youth Hockey teams win state championships at the Mite and Squirt levels.

Lovejoy played for three seasons in the Metropolitan Boston Hockey League for the Middlesex Islanders and played summer hockey for the Boston Elites, Boston Icemen and HoneyBaked (Detroit). He was twice invited to join USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, but declined, opting to stay at Deerfield Academy.

Recruited by Boston College, he spent one year at BC before transferring to Dartmouth College. Over three seasons he played 86 games for the Big Green, scoring 54 points (11-43-54) as a defenseman. In 2006-07, he was a finalist for the Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England. He also played three seasons of lacrosse.

After parts of two seasons playing in the AHL, Lovejoy made his NHL debut with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 7, 2008, in a 4–3 loss against the Buffalo Sabres. After an All-Star season in the AHL, he’d be called up by the Penguins for the Stanley Cup playoffs, though he did not see any game action and the Pens won the cup.

After getting traded to the Anaheim Ducks in 2013, Lovejoy returned to Pittsburgh in March of 2015. The following season, he skated in 66 regular-season games (recording four goals and 10 points) and all 24 playoff games as the Penguins won their fourth Stanley Cup. He became the first New Hampshire native to win the trophy.

On July 1, 2016, Lovejoy left as a free agent to sign a three-year contract with the New Jersey Devils. He would conclude his 11-year NHL career with the Dallas Stars, playing a total of 544 games (the most-ever by a New Hampshire player), 70 playoff games, while amassing 101 points (20-81-101). Known as an elite penalty-killer, he ended his NHL career with a plus minus of plus-50 for his career.

At the time of his retirement, on Aug. 29, 2019, Lovejoy was the only active NHL player to donate his brain for concussion research to Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center.

He was the first Dartmouth alum to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as a player since Myles Lane (Class of ’28) did so in the 1929 Cup final.