Paul Chalue
Induction Year: 2021
Birthday: April 20, 1947
City/Town: Needham, MA
Paul Chalue left his mark on the state’s hockey landscape through the decades he spent building the game and the opportunities for people to play it in Dover.
Chalue grew up in Needham, Mass., where he was close friends with the family of future NHL player and coach Robbie Ftorek. It was when he moved to Dover in the summer of 1977 that he began shaping the hockey culture in the state’s Seacoast region.
As the City of Dover’s arena director, he oversaw operations as the newly-built outdoor recreation rink, which would transform the access to hockey opportunities for decades to come. With little staff and minimal resources, he was instrumental in building the outdoor facility into the modern Foster Rink as it is known today.
Chalue served in his arena position from 1977 until 1994, when he was then promoted to be director of city buildings and grounds, a job he held until his retirement in 2007. For 30 years. Dover’s skating and hockey community had an innovator and tireless worker who provided the city with two ice sheets (Holt Rink was later added to the facility that became known as Dover Ice Arena) and a sustainability plan, which included energy efficiency, and modern locker room and support functionality.
Chalue became a national player in the rink business, and was a founding member of the New England Ice Skating Managers Association” lecturing and leading conferences and creatively finding supplemental resources to produce longer ice seasons. The regional increase in both youth and adult hockey players skyrocketed in the 1980s, with ice time usage nearing 20 hour per day.
He was a visionary with the New Hampshire Amateur Hockey Association, serving as vice president for midget/junior hockey, and obtaining a grant from the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States to institute a three-man officiating system in the organization’s junior C division. Many officials, including Class of 2021 NH Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Brian Murphy (who worked for Chalue while he was in college) would credit the initiatives he created to opening doors for countless skaters wishing to enter officiating.
Chalue also coached the hockey team at Dover High School during the 1979-80 season (with Murphy as his starting goalie). The mentor/mentee relationship between them would establish a model the player would follow during his own accomplished career would follow during his career.