Hanover
And, achieved recently, total victories by Hanover High boys hockey coach Dick Dodds. He is New Hampshire’s career leader, one ahead of Exeter’s Jim Tufts, an average of 14 per season in a sport where teams play roughly 20 games per campaign.
Hanover bowed out of the NHIAA Division I playoffs on March 4, so Dodds’ number won’t grow until next winter, when he plans to return for a 36th year. His coaching days began during the 1980-81 season with two campaigns guiding the Marauders junior varsity under varsity coach Jack Turco.
During 1981, the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran was reaching a boil and the first space shuttle was launched, as was television channel MTV. Dodds had graduated from St. Lawrence University in upstate New York the year before and returned to his hometown, where he lived with his parents for a time.
“I was just so young,” Dodds, 58, and the son of a doctor, recalled with a chuckle. “I really didn’t have a plan at that point. I wasn’t so worked up about finding a real job.”
Dodds was a bartender at Hanover restaurant 5 Olde Nugget Alley. He worked for his family’s land-development company and played a mean third base for a powerful Gardner Agency softball team that wore green-and-gold uniforms like those of the Oakland A’s. During the early 1990s, Dodds became manager of the Hanover Improvement Society’s James Campion Rink and Storrs Pond Recreation Area.
Hanover High hockey has been the constant throughout. The Marauders captured the program’s third state title in 1982 and have added five more crowns under Dodds, a 2012 hall of fame inductee by the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey.
“He’s a little more mellow about it and more of a mentor,” said Melissa (Missie) Dodds, his wife of more than 30 years. “But he works very hard at staying current and paying attention to what interests the kids. He also makes sure he gets young guys to coach with him.”
A young Dick Dodds skated for one of the Hanover Youth Hockey Association’s first significant waves of talent. Competing with rudimentary equipment, no facemasks and wooden sticks with straight blades, he watched Hanover High’s first state-title winning teams, in 1970 and 1973.
John Dodds, Dick’s older brother and now the Marauders’ girls hockey coach, played on that latter squad. No other school from outside Berlin won the boys crown for 30 years after the NHIAA began sanctioning the sport in 1947.
Dick Dodds played on Hanover’s 1974 state-finalist squad and was a captain his senior year. He played freshman hockey at St. Lawrence, followed by a cup of coffee with the Saints’ varsity as a sophomore and that stint as a mixologist after his 1980 graduation. He liked to holler “There’s the girl I’m going to marry!” to embarrass fellow employee Melissa Barrett.
Barrett, a fine athlete in her own right, moved away after her 1982 Lebanon High graduation, but the two renewed acquaintances five years later at John’s wedding. They began dating when Missie returned to the Upper Valley a year later, were married in 1986 and have three sons, Trevor (29), Patrick (27) and Alex (23). Each of the boys played hockey for the Marauders and in college.
The family’s bonds became stronger during the past year. Missie, who works for a Hanover dental practice, was diagnosed with appendix cancer, a rare disease discovered after her appendix burst. The cancer spread to a pair of lymph nodes and necessitated surgery, radiation treatments and chemotherapy. More than $51,000 was raised for the Dodds family online by nearly 300 donors, and hockey quickly became secondary to health. Nonetheless, Dick Dodds missed only a handful of practices and no games this season.
“You’ve got to take care of the love of your life and your family,” the coach said. “If it had become necessary to miss more (hockey), then I would have absolutely done it, but it never elevated to that level. It hasn’t been easy, but the flip side is that I relied on my coaching staff more than I ever have before.”
Strength and conditioning specialist Wayne Burwell supplemented the on-ice work of assistants and former Hanover captains Pat Doherty, Dave Sutton and Dean Cashman. Goaltending instructor Eric Eisendrath was also on the staff, but the head man was often first at the rink.
“The games and road trips are fun, but nothing matches the 90 minutes of practice time we get to spend together,” said Dodds, now a Grantham resident. “Even when it’s 5:45 in the morning, I still feel like a kid on Christmas. My heart’s beating, and I can’t wait to get there.”
Dodds’ passion is apparent to his players and peers.
“You can see that he’s had some long nights, but he gets to practice every day with a smile and gets us all prepared,” said senior Marauder defenseman Will Smith. “He’s always there for you, but the conversations have different perspectives on and off the ice.”
Said classmate Jake Acker: “He’ll be out there early to do individual work with players who need it. The game’s changed so much since he started, but he’s been able to coach any kind of team that comes along. He creates a family atmosphere because he’s the most respectful man you’ll ever meet.”
Lebanon High coach Gary Smith, who wasn’t born when Dodds began coaching, said he’s looked up to him since his days as a Raider skater. Picking the older man’s brain for drills, insight into team dynamics or observations on life is a bonus when the two cross paths at Campion Rink.
“He gets so much out of his players,” Smith said. “He knows what buttons to push, and he knows when to do it. Kids want to play for him and that says a lot about you as a coach.”
Exeter’s Tufts, who just completed his 40th season with the Blue Hawks, said the Marauders have often staged late comebacks against his squad. He attributed their resilience to Dodds’ preparation, inspiration and poise. Missie Dodds said her husband regularly watches videos, reads articles and researches drills, even in the summer.
“It’s often said kids and teams develop their coach’s personality,” Tufts said. “Hanover’s one of the least-penalized teams you’ll play, and their effort and attitude is first-rate.”
On those rare occasions when Dodds gets hot, it’s a show-stopper. Alex Dodds recalled a game in Manchester when a shot hit the crossbar and sailed out of the rink, only to be ruled a goal during a crucial stretch of the season.
“The most angry I’ve ever seen him,” the son said. “He grabbed a stick and was hammering it on the bench. We parted like the Red Sea, and no one was within 10 yards of him. He snapped the stick over the boards, but he’s never done it again, probably because it cost him $200 to replace.”
Dick Dodds’ emotions run mostly towards gratitude of late. His wife said her health has improved dramatically, although she endures monthly checkups. She credited Hanover’s assistants, players and their parents for an outpouring of support. Missie Dodds was able to attend a majority of the Marauders’ games this season and said such normalcy helped both her and her husband.
“He was with me at every appointment and every step of the way, but I would not have wanted him to not have hockey,” Missie said. “I think it was probably very good for him.”
Dick Dodds likes to tell a story about Terry Boyle, one of his players from the late 1980s. Dodds was driving to the rink before dawn and in heavy snow and passed Boyle riding his bike along Route 10 toward Campion Rink. The teenager, whose car wouldn’t start, had his stick across the handlebars and his equipment bag’s straps over his shoulders as if it were an enormous backpack.
“It was a blizzard, really, and the wind chill was below zero,” Dodds said. “But he didn’t want to miss practice because it was fun. It wasn’t work.”
The coach exhibits a similar attitude when asked if he might soon hang up his whistle for good.
“The first morning the alarm goes off at 3:55 and I don’t want to get up for practice, that’s it,” Dodds said. “But I’m still too excited about coaching, and I still want to get better at it.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.