Concord
His playing career was one thing, providing Gaudet with an opportunity to attend Dartmouth after high school, a chance he admitted wouldn’t have been an option for him without the sport. Coaching, however, is a whole different set of responsibilities: scouting, recruiting, planning, traveling. The heavy workload has left Gaudet, entering his 22nd season with his alma mater, with little time to reflect on his career.
That changed on Sunday afternoon, as Gaudet was one of six to be welcomed into the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame at an induction ceremony at the Grappone Conference Center. Hanover High graduate and former University of Vermont star Brendan Creagh, former St. Paul’s School and Dartmouth standout Rich Ryerson, University of New Hampshire goaltender Brian Foster, longtime on-ice referee Don McKinnon and Anthony Urban, the 36-year chairman of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association’s hockey committee, all joined Gaudet as part of the 2018 Hall of Fame Class.
“It hit me today,” Gaudet said. “It’s quite a group of people that have been inducted. It’s humbling. I’m honored. You kind of don’t want to think about it, because there’s so much that goes into playing a team sport. I’m just a coach. But it’s an honor.”
Creagh, an Upper Valley native, graduated from Hanover in 1988 as the all-time top-scoring defenseman in Marauders boys hockey history with 54 goals and 73 assists. He played four seasons at the University of Vermont, finishing his collegiate career with 16 goals and 36 assists, and was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1991 National Hockey League’s supplemental draft.
He played seven seasons of professional hockey, almost all of it in the East Coast Hockey League, making stops with the Greensboro (N.C.) Monarchs and the Birmingham (Ala.) Bulls.
Dick Dodds, Hanover’s longtime boys hockey coach, nominated Creagh for the award. Creagh said the honor caught him by surprise.
“Totally out of the blue,” Creagh said. “I’ve been connected to the hockey world for a long time. It just never seemed like something I would be a part of.”
Creagh, now a science teacher at Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Mass., recently stepped down as the school’s boys hockey coach. He still serves as Deerfield’s golf coach, a pace of play that Creagh said suits him well.
“(Hockey) is always going to be there,” he added.
“As I get further away, I feel the pull to cycle back. But I needed to step away for a bit. That actually feels pretty good.”
For Ryerson, Sunday’s induction ceremony was something of a Dartmouth hockey reunion. He and Gaudet were teammates at Dartmouth, helping carry the Big Green to back-to-back NCAA Frozen Four appearances in 1979-80 as a reliable winger. A large contingent at Sunday’s festivities was made of Dartmouth hockey alumni and athletic department staff.
“It’s a special day,” said Ryerson, whose father, Richard, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006, making them the third father-son duo to be honored. “It’s a wonderful honor.”
Ryerson finished his Dartmouth career with 29 goals and 26 points in four seasons. He now works in the admissions office at Kimball Union Academy, getting a taste of coaching with KUA’s third team this past season. The Wildcats enter the 2018-19 campaign as two-time defending New England Prep champions.
Gaudet, a goaltender during his playing years, finished his Dartmouth career with a school-record 2,129 saves in 76 career games, allowing 299 goals for a 4.00 career goals-against average and a .877 save percentage. He was also a two-time recipient of the Canterbury Society Award for the best Ivy League goaltender.
He enters this season as a coach on the verge of history, just three wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in Dartmouth men’s hockey history. Eddie Jeremiah currently hold the record at 308 victories. The Big Green have not finished a season with fewer than nine wins under Gaudet’s tenure.
Dartmouth opens the season with an exhibition match against the U.S. U-18 national team tonight at Thompson Arena. It opens up the regular season at home against Harvard on Saturday.
But the Dartmouth coach said he tries not to think about personal milestones, seeing his tenure with the Big Green as a temporary stewardship over a program that meant so much to him. His hard work is his way of giving back.
“To think that you’d be in the game for this long and still enjoying it, having whatever impact on a bunch of kids is just fabulous,” Gaudet said. “The doors that the game opened for me are mind-boggling. Coming out of Saugus, Mass., going to a school like Dartmouth. That would have never happened if it wasn’t for hockey.”
Tonight’s preseason game begins at 7 p.m.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.