Category: Amesbury Hockey (Page 2 of 2)

Raoul “Chiefie” Lemoine, the First Legend in the Goal for the Amesbury Maples

September 3, 2022 / Mark Allred / 0 Comments

( Photo Credit: Amesbury News Circa 1924-25 )

By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter @BlackAndGold277 & @AmesburyMaples

It’s no myth that the Amesbury, Massachusetts, area produced some of the best hockey players in New England. With the successful High School programs and adult Maples hockey teams, many players thrived here to have amazing hockey careers living and working in our community.

One of the stronger positions when it comes to developing and building a winning team came from the last line of defense, and that was goaltending. Whether it was past netminders such as John Reddy, Earl Ryan, Wilfred Stuart, Arthur Gaudet, Raymond Roy, or Dick Dupere, everything in the crease started with the tremendous playing style of Raoul “Chiefie” Lemoine.

( Photo Credit: 1926 Amesbury High School Yearbook / Amesbury Town Library )

Raoul was born in Amesbury in 1908 and was a multi-sport athlete in his adolescence. Lemoine played baseball, football, and ice hockey in his high school career, excelling at all three sports activities. Raoul started his Amesbury High School playing days as a sophomore and played defense and forward.

During Lemoine’s senior year at AHS, the athletic council added ice hockey as a major sport and played their home games at Patten’s Pond on the mobile rink located near Main Street. The Amesbury team went 4-2-1 in their first official season as a recognized high school sport. Below are the results from the Amesbury High School hockey team’s 1925-26 regular season.

Amesbury 0 – Swampscott 4

Amesbury 0 – Essex Aggies 1

Amesbury 2 – Manning 1

Amesbury 9 – Portsmouth 0

Amesbury 1 – Manning 0

Amesbury 1 – Portsmouth 1

Amesbury 3 – Portsmouth 0

( Photo Credit: 1926 Amesbury High School Yearbook )

Former Amesbury Maples hockey player Albert “Albie” Roy was the driving force in making the Amesbury High School hockey program an actual thing in the late 1920s. Roy believed developing the next best Maples players should come from younger men learning the game in the local school system. In 1940 Albie Roy was awarded a medal from the Northeast Amateur Athletic Union for promoting the game of hockey among boys of high school age. Roy was one of the pioneers of hockey development in the town of Amesbury back in the day. He would often drive around in his pickup truck, giving rides to the Amesbury Park ponds for a day of teaching the game to kids when the weather and ice were suitable.

Although Lemoine played either defense or forward during his Amesbury High School years, Raoul was determined to make the higher Amesbury Maples team. With the adult Amesbury sexlet already fully staffed with defenseman and forwards, Lemoine saw his opportunity to make the team but with an unusual hockey career-changing decision. Raoul went in goal after the departure of netminder Issie Lassard and used his former high school baseball playing days to not only be strong on his feet but also seemingly fit to react to fast situations with his hands.

After graduating from Amesbury High in 1926, Lemoine joined the Amesbury Maples full time and would start the organization’s cornerstone of building a winning team from the goal out. In Raoul’s first campaign with the Maples club, the netminder went 2-2-1 in the short regular season as outdoor ice here in our New England location was tough to manage. Below is the 1926-27 regular season schedule in Raoul Lemoine’s Maples rookie season.

Amesbury Maples 0 – Biddle & Smart Company 3

Amesbury Maples 3 – Biddle & Smart Plant Five 2

Amesbury Maples 1 – Biddle & Smart Plant Three 0

Amesbury Maples 0 – Amesbury High School 2

Amesbury Maples 6 – Biddle & Smart Plant Three 2

Although the 1926-27 season wasn’t a winning campaign, Maples Owners and General Managers Armand Hudon and Emilien “Mickey” Jutras believed in the young netminding of Lemoine and decided to stick with him for another year. As a backup in case Raoul didn’t make the Maples team, they could always fall back on the efforts of Albie Roy to man the nets. Roy’s efforts on the ice were better seen as a forward or defenseman, but that “break glass in case of emergency” backup was always available when needed.

In Lemoine’s second season with the Maples (1927-28), he and the rest of his teammates moved on from the mobile rink set up during the winters at Pattens Pond to a little more sustainable ice over in the old “cow fields” at the bottom of Aubin Street on the old ground of the Biddle and Smart Carriage and Sleigh company. The Maples would call the sheet of ice home for three seasons on the Biddle & Smart sheet of ice.

In my research, it’s rumored that the Biddle & Smart company struggled during the Great Depression and cut back on funding for the rink on their property. Another rumor I’ve heard was that the Biddle & Smart Company was so bitter at Hudon and Jutras for scouting their players and signing them from the local manufacturing shops but also because they assembled a team with the talent to beat all their affiliated factory teams.

After seemingly getting booted from the lower Aubin Street Biddle & Smart location, the Franco American Social Club, the St. Jean Baptiste of Amesbury, came calling with the available property for Maples home games. Maples players, alongside local Amesbury volunteers, constructed a new rink 150 feet by 85 feet. Among the amazing volunteer’s Maples Teammates Eddie Nichols, Albie Roy, Everett Picard, Harold “Fuzzy” Thurston, Aurel Picard, Tom “Ike” Wall, Chewie Williams, John Reddy, and the young upcoming Maples Legend Hercule “Archie” Cloutier were all part in the blood sweat and tears to get a home sheet ready for the forthcoming 1930-31 winter season.

Lemoine, teammates, and Amesbury residents put in a solid effort to get the new home rink of the Amesbury Maples done just in time at the new location to make ice. Behind the original St. Jean’s Club, it was very tight quarters but enough room to play competitive hockey via the standards of that timeframe. The first year of this new outdoor hockey facility would also come at a tragic loss to one of the Amesbury Maples own.

After having a successful 1930-31 regular season, tragedy struck the Maples organization in the middle of the year. In a “pickup” game or practice session on the Friend Street sheet of ice, goaltender Lemoine took a deflected puck to the face. Raoul went to the Amesbury Hospital to seek attention for his injury. While at the Amesbury Hospital, Lemoine got stitches to patch up his one-inch gash near his eye. Raoul would have a life-threatening setback while being in the care of hospital attendees. Lemoine’s injury happened on January 8th, 1931, and he stayed at the Amesbury Hospital facility until his death on January 17th.

After the passing of Raoul, founding members and athletic town officials named the outdoor facility the Lemoine Memorial rink and would be at the Friend Street location up to the 1947-48 winter season. In 1951 Raoul “Chiefie” Lemoine’s name was honored with an award given to the most valuable Amesbury High School hockey player each year.

Amesbury Maples Hockey Legend Archie Cloutier was Hockey’s Example of a Fine Wine

August 6, 2022 / Mark Allred / 0 Comments

By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter @BlackAndGold277 & @AmesburyMaples

Longtime Amesbury, Massachusetts resident and Amesbury Maples hockey player Hercule “Archie” Cloutier was a legend as soon as he stepped on the ice for the town team during the winter of 1928-29. Known as an offensively gifted player, Cloutier’s skating was by far his greatest attribute throughout his decades of on-ice service.

While Cloutier could wow, nearby spectators with how he worked up and down the ice cutting his way through oncoming traffic, he played the game the right way. Archie wasn’t an overly aggressive player in his decades on the ice with his Maples team. With him only registering nine penalties in his Maples career, he would be known today in National Hockey League terms as an annual Lady Byng Trophy winner. Every year at the NHL Awards, the Lady Byng Trophy is given to the player who displays the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability, per the Official Wikipedia Page.

Throughout Cloutiers Maples hockey career, the former Amesbury resident was part of the hockey team’s highest moments in the organization’s early years. Cloutier and teammates would travel long distances from our community to take on an opponent. In many well-known newspapers of the past, I’ve read the mention of the Amesbury team being one of the United States’ best amateur clubs.

In Archie’s 35-year hockey career, he played in all of the NEAAU tournaments held in the early years in Providence at the Rhode Island Auditorium. During the start of the Great Depression, the Rhode Island Auditorium owners were going through financial ruin, and the annual NEAAU tournament was relocated north to Boston, Massachusetts, and held at the original Boston Garden.

( Photo Credit: Alphonse Picard / Picard Family Collection )

In the 1937-38 regular season, after a 15-4-1 record, Cloutier ended the campaign as the Maples leading scorer posting 17-18-35 numbers in 20 games. The Maples would attend the NEAAU tournament in the Spring of 1938 at the Boston Garden. After beating the Waltham Rangers 5-3 in the first round, the Maples would lose 4-3 in the second round to the Massena, New York Scarlets.

The following season, Managed by Wilbrod Picard, head coach by Louis Casavant, and captained by Eddie Nichols, the Amesbury club, was on a mission to get better after knowing they could play with some of the best United States hockey teams. In 1938-39 the Maples won the Essex County Championship with a regular season record of 16-2-0 but was unsuccessful in the return to the NEAAU playoff tournament that spring. Cloutier would take a bit of a decrease in offensive production, posting 8-14-22 numbers in 18 games that year.

In the 1939-40 season, the Amesbury Maples would go on to have their best regular season and postseason in the organization’s history. Before the winter campaign began, the organization would make changes in management as Cloutier and teammates continued to find different systems of success to reach higher level accolades. New team managers Albie Roy and Everett Picard brought new voices to the organization and a new direction.

Cloutier and Maples teammates would finish the 1939-40 season with a 19-4-2 regular season record capturing the team’s second straight Essex County Championship. Cloutier, who missed several games in the organization’s best year, finished the season with 12-29-41 numbers. The Maples would appear in the NEAAU tournament held at the Boston Garden and were not going home until the mission was successful.

In the Spring of 1940, Cloutier and Maples club would go on to sweep all four rounds at the Boston Garden, beating East Boston 13-3, Higham Cove 3-1, Hyde Shoe Cambridge, Mass 3-1, and in the final game shutout the powerful Concord, NH team 7-0. For the first time and the only time in Maples history, the team from Amesbury was headed to Lake Placid, New York, to compete against the U.S. nation’s best.

Archie and Maples team would take the long journey to upstate New York for the daunting task of becoming National Champions. Many Like 32-year-old Cloutier, at the time of the team’s highest success, was among many other aging veterans on the Maples Squad. Cloutier and his Maples team were severely outmatched and outmanned going into the National Ice Hockey Championships held by the United States Amateur Athletic Union in Lake Placid.

In the 1940 elimination tournament, the Amesbury Maples were fortunate to have the first-round bye. The first team Cloutier and the Maples faced was the younger and full bench of the University of Minnesota. Back then, the Maples would operate with a roster of 11-14 players every year, so playing a team of early 20-year-olds with 19 skaters and one goaltender was already a disadvantage.

In the second round of the NAAU tournament, Cloutier and the Maples club did a decent job keeping up with the much faster and more skilled Minnesota team. In the first two periods, the Maples held off the Gophers the best they could. In the final period, Minnesota turned it up and relied on a few rested players to clamp down on a tired Amesbury team. Minnesota would take the game and Maples dreams away with a 9-4 victory in Lake Placid and capture the 1940 National Championship after winning the tournament’s final round.

Archie would continue to be a passionate hockey player and committed to his Maples organization even though he’d never see the team’s success reach the level of the 1939-40 season. Cloutier would remain relevant in the Maple organization’s offensive production in his late 30s and crossing into his 40s. At the age of 49, Cloutier scored a career-high of four goals in one game in the 1957-58 season against the Bradford Vikings at the Exeter Academy rink where the Maples often played in Exeter, New Hampshire. Our area of New England has a funny way of being temperamental when talking about yearly winter seasons. When outdoor ice couldn’t be used at the local Powwow Arena or Stuarts Rinks, the Maples and high school teams would often travel to Exeter or Lynn Arena in Lynn, Mass., for favorable indoor ice to get regular season and postseason games in.

Cloutier would hang up his skates after dedicating 35 years of his life on the year of his 35th wedding anniversary to his wife, Cora. At 56, Cloutier retired from the game he loved after getting a scare back in 1963. An unknown local newspaper article written by local sports writer Ed Gleed mentioned that a game he played against North Reading, where he accrued a significant back injury, was the first of many thoughts to walk away from the game. This injury shook Archie and his family pretty hard for an aging hockey veteran, but since that injury, Cloutier’s wife and family were heavy influencers on his decision as he looked to transition away from the game.

Among all the wonderful times as a player for the Amesbury Maples team, Cloutier was also the team’s head coach and team manager when the void needed to be filled. As a bench boss or player-coach, in the 1956-57 season, Archie orchestrated a 21-3-1 record in his only season in the coaching role.

In the mentioned article by Ed Gleed, competitive hockey was over for Cloutier following the 1964-65 season, but his passion for skating would never end until his death. Before passing away at the age of 58, Archie would take advantage of the several waterways in our Amesbury community during the winter seasons and just skate to keep the legs moving and that sense of game feeling he once had but this time at a safer pace and without contact.

On January 14th, 1967, the hockey world and Amesbury, Massachusetts, the community lost a legend as thousands mourned the loss of Hercule “Archie” Cloutier upon hearing about his passing at his home on this particular Saturday morning. An outstanding player and another Maples member who benefitted from the local development of the game back in the day to keep generations of hockey players involved.

Cloutier was a quiet man on and off the ice but was a leader throughout his career and gave back to younger players looking for advice. As a diehard American citizen, I was thrilled to learn that Cloutier, born in Quebec, Canada, served in the United States armed forces. During World War II, Cloutier stepped away from his family and the game of hockey to enlist in the Air Force. An honorable thing to do is serve a country you weren’t born in. To me, that’s earning citizenship the hard way and should be recognized even by today’s standards.

Archie was a longtime employee of the Amesbury Fibre Company, where he served as a foreman. The old Amesbury Fibre Company was located on the corner of High Street and Pond Street, as seen in the image below. This whole stretch of land in the upper mill yard in downtown Amesbury was originally the United States’ first automated nail-making company which thrived on natural power from the close by Powwow River. Later huge textile companies like Hamilton Woolen (Seen Below) would also feed off gravity and natural water flow to make their products one of the nation’s best.

( Photo Credit: *Associated Mutual Insurance Company of Boston /* *Amesbury* Carriage Museum )

Maples Picard was a Great Hockey Player and one of Amesbury’s Leaders in Developing the Game

July 1, 2022 / Mark Allred / 5 Comments

By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter @BlackAndGold277 / @AmesburyMaples

As a hockey enthusiast and historian, when it comes to the Maples hockey organization, it’s always fun to gather stats and information about a particular player or hockey season. In countless hours of research, I also find it gratifying to learn more about a player’s career and how they impacted the Amesbury, Massachusetts community throughout their lives.

While honorable mentions can be given to Amesbury hockey legends Albie Roy, Eddie Nicols, Fred Fournier, Leo Dupere, and George Dodier for their uncanny ability to develop the next generation, nobody did it better than Alphonse Picard. The former Thompson Street resident was born and bred into the game of hockey with close family relations pretty much owning the upper Thompson Street location.

Picard’s brothers Aurel and Everett learned the game of hockey on the nearby lakes, ponds, and rivers safe enough to play before joining the Amesbury Maples organization in the mid-1920s. Alphonse was in good hands when learning the game at a young age because of the knowledge passed down from his elder brothers and other family members who participated every winter.

Back in those days, Amesbury didn’t have a youth program, so having artificial rinks in the backyard or taking advantage of the sheets of ice in our local areas such as Clarks Pond, Lake Gardner, and Patten’s Pond was imperative. If young men wanted to get into the competitive side of the game, they’d have to wait until their High School years to play organized hockey with a limited travel schedule.

( Photo Credit: Amesbury Public Library / Amesbury High School Yearbook 1932 )

As seen above, the legend once known as “Peco” started his Amesbury High School hockey career in his sophomore year in 1929. The High School athletic program started in the 1924-25 winter season under the forward-thinking of the leading organizer and former Maples player Albie Roy. Later, In the 1939-40 season, Albie Roy was given an NEAAU award for his dedication to promoting the sport of hockey among boys of high school age.

During Picard’s three seasons with the Amesbury High School team, he had enough talent to join the adult Amesbury Maples club when an extra body was needed on the ice. It must’ve been an unbelievable honor to join his brothers Aurel and Everett and their brother Wilbrod who coached the Maples for several seasons.

In his first “rookie” games as a member of the Maples organization, Alphonse would play alongside a stacked team with names such as Charley Broderick, Eddie Nicols, Harlon “Chewie” Williams, Tom “Ike” Wall, Gerard Proulx, and goaltender Raoul “Chiefie” Lemoine.

( Photo Credit: Alphone Picard and Family Collection )

Alphonse would continue to bounce in and out of the Amesbury Maples lineup while continuing his high school career. Picard would join the Maples full-time during the 1932-33 season and would be a massive asset for a Maples team that saw the organization’s best decade in recorded history. Picard and the Maples organization’s best season was during the 1939-40 campaign that saw the Amesbury club become New England Hockey Champions at the original Boston Garden and make their way to Lake Placid, New York, to take on the heavily stacked University of Minnesota in the National AAU elimination series.

During the 1939-40 season, the Maples combined a regular-season record of 19-3-2, and in those games, at the time, Alphonse was playing center and was almost a point-per-game player posting 7-13-20 numbers in 24 games. This was also a big year for Amesbury’s Picard as he and Maples goaltender Wilfred Stuart were invited to try out for the Boston Olympics, a team owned and operated by Boston Garden General Manager Walter Brown.

( Photo Credit: Alphonse Picard & Family Collection )

The Boston Olympics started operations in the 1940-41 season and played in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League, ultimately ceasing those operations 12 years later after the 1951-52 season. The following Maples season Picard earned his first point-per-game season where he posted 14-6-20 in 20 games played in the 1941-42 campaign.

Picard’s hockey career with the Maples would start off and on in 1928-29 and would end with legendary status 30 years later after the 1957-58 season. Alphonse wouldn’t stray far from the game after his retirement from playing. Picard would immediately stay close to his beloved Maples club and become the team’s Head Coach in the 1958-59 season.

As a first-year Head Coach, Alphonse guided the Maples organization to a 19-8-2 record and a roster that saw players such as Leo Dupere, Hercule “Archie” Cloutier, Armand Roy, Joe Lariviere, Dickie Michaud, and Dale Cressy. Picard would go on to be the head coach for the next few seasons before giving up his bench boss duties to fellow Amesbury Maples Legend Freddie Fournier in the 1960-61 season as Fournier took over as player/coach and manager of the organization.

( Photo Credit: Alphonse Picard and Family Collection )

After stepping away from the Maples organization and coaching duties, Picard again went back to hockey, but this time his community effort pointed in a different direction. Amesbury Youth Hockey programs started ramping up in the early 1960s, and Alphonses’ son Randi was one of the original players in said youth systems. Picard was instrumental in the early success of youth development in the Amesbury area and had quite a story when talking about its growth.

As son Randi was coming up through youth hockey to the Amesbury High School level, Alphonse was always close by as an assistant coach to lean on for advice on and off the ice. One of my favorite stories heard in a recent interview Frank Gurzack, and I did with Picard’s son Randi on our Remember the Maples Hockey Podcast seen below is his passion in later years to give back.

Please subscribe to our Remember the Maples Hockey Podcast on worldwide listening platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify Podcasts. Also, please subscribe to our official YouTube channel for the video version of these interviews. We’d certainly appreciate any support as we do our best to make this Amesbury Maples organization more known in this internet world for future generations to research and learn about.

The stories Randi told us and we heard a few times from Picard’s daughter Tammi and even Frank Gurzack’s personal experience living close by at the lower location of Thompson Street was how dedicated to the everyone can play initiative. For years Alphonse would collect older hockey equipment and store the stuff that people no longer wanted.

Hockey’s an expensive sport no matter what generation people around here grew up in. Outdoor ice was accessible and manageable back in the day, but the equipment was expensive. This is where Alphonse showed his class and determination to keep kids’ dreams alive and play the game that so many in this area learned and loved. Even skate sharpening was a little too much for some families to afford regularly; that didn’t stop a founding member of the Amesbury Youth Program. Picard bought a skate sharpening machine and resurfaced edges for years in the family’s basement.

In the above YouTube video, son Randi told Frank and me about the thousands of pieces of hockey equipment his father kept over the years, and daughter Tammi who currently lives in the original Picard household said it was like a sporting goods store down there when it was finally time to clean out the area.

They certainly don’t make them like Mr. Picard anymore. Alphonse was the epitome of hard work and perseverance and will forever be known as one of the leading pioneers of developing some of the best hockey talent back in the day. He left a lasting impression on today’s youth hockey movement, which looks to gain traction with the new Maples Crossing facility at the South Hunt Road location. It’s been over 40 years since our area of Amesbury had a home rink. This future multi-rink training facility will be one of the best in North America and continue the tradition so many like Picard set in place.

I want to thank all the folks who took the time to read this inaugural article on our new rememberthemaples.com website. I look forward to doing more writeups like these about some of the Maples founding members and ones that made a lasting impression in our community.

To keep these informative articles coming, we encourage Amesbury residents who either played for the Maples or a family member that wants to share images or related information to reach out. Even if someone what’s to do their own write-up of a family member and talk about a moment in a former player’s career, please send us an email to blackngoldproductionsllc@gmail.com

If you’d like to join Frank Gurzack and me for a future episode of the Remember the Maples Hockey Podcast, please email us, and we’ll work on an appearance schedule. We provide audio content via worldwide podcast platforms, and video content on the official Remember the Amesbury Maples YouTube Channel.

Traditionally we’d like to do remote recordings at a time of your convenience but are also available for in-person interviews with the utmost safety during these pandemic times. If you have a laptop with webcam access, a high-quality audio external/internal microphone, and a strong internet connection (Ethernet Hardwire to Router is Highly Recommended), let’s talk some Maples hockey!