Dan Dagesse
Induction Year: 2024
Birthday: October 23, 1952
City/Town: Colebrook, NH
The city of Berlin traces its rich hockey history back to the year 1903, and at Berlin High School back to 1922. Dan Dagesse has contributed to the more recent part of that rich history greatly.
Beginning in 1976, Berlin hockey and Notre Dame Arena began running into difficult times. That’s where Dagesse comes into the picture. It is difficult to imagine Berlin without Notre Dame Arena and its hockey heritage, but the arena would have shuttered were it not for Dagesse’s support.
Dagesse graduated from Colebrook Academy in 1972 and, in 1977, purchased a Ford automobile dealership in his hometown of Colebrook. Combining a strong work ethic with an entrepreneurial spirit, he purchased several small car dealerships and created Berlin City Dealerships, which settled him in the Berlin area and gave him an up-close look at its hockey history.
From fully sponsoring a Berlin Youth Hockey team; becoming a main sponsor of Berlin Youth Hockey, women’s broomball teams and men’s teams in Berlin’s adult leagues; and serving on the board of directors of the Berlin Maroons when they played in the New England Hockey League, Dagesse became embedded in the city’s hockey culture.
Nowhere was his support greater than it was for Notre Dame Arena. For years, the arena’s non-profit board of directors struggled to cover costs, to the point where the arena needed a massive cash influx to stay open. Dagesse donated $250,000, which was used for state-of-the-art lighting and new fixtures, new dasher boards and perimeter glass, safety netting, an all-new propane-powered dehumidifier system, the replacement of one of the two compressors in the ice plant room with all new electronic controllers, and the replacement of one of the of the two facility boilers.
Dagesse would later donate another $300,000 to the arena for more upgrades, and pledged $30,000 annually to be shared between the arena and Berlin Youth Hockey to help kids who struggle with the costs of playing the sport.
The benefits of Dagesse’s financial support are felt today, with Berlin Youth Hockey having the largest enrollment in its history. The significant energy savings and other improvements have allowed ice time rental costs to remain the same since 2001, the lowest in New Hampshire.
In 2001 he funded an outdoor lighted ice rink with provision for its maintenance.