Tag: Wilfred Stuart

In the History of Amesbury Maples Goaltending, Nobody Did it Better Than Wilfred Stuart

January 14, 2023 / Mark Allred / 0 Comments

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

Before the 1939-40 winter season, Amesbury Maples hockey team managers Everett Picard and Albie Roy mentioned in an article published by the Amesbury Daily News that the Maples were going to roll with a veteran-heavy lineup. In previous years the organization thrived on scouting younger talent that played in the former Amesbury, Massachusetts “shop” leagues, often poaching the best the area had to offer.

Since the organization’s conception in the winter of 1924-25, the Maples have put together competitive rosters but struggled against higher-ranked talent in the annual NEAAU tournaments often held in Providence, Rhode Island, or the original Boston Garden. During the 1938-39 season, where the Maples posted a 16-2 record, captured an Essex County League Championship but came up short in the NEAAU tournament. These postseason efforts prompted Maples General Managers to change their lineup, especially in goal, when talking about a veteran roster Picard and Roy had already planned.

Picard and Roy rolled out this veteran-laden roster of left-wing Archie Cloutier, left-wing Bob Ouellet, left-wing Henry Graf, center Alphonse Picard, center Chewie Williams, center Leo Le Blanc, right-wing John Fabelo, right-wing Herman Currier, right-wing Red Senechal, left defense, Harold Thurston, left defense Joe Dallaire, left defense Maurice Grodin, right defense Eddie Nichols, right defense John Perkins, and finally right defense A. Le Blanc. The only rookie on the roster was Amesbury native Wilfred Stuart who, by today’s standards, put on a Boston Bruins Tim Thomas effort In his first campaign with the Maples organization.

Before Stuart’s arrival on the Maples organization’s adult team, the young netminder had a successful first year of organized hockey with the Maple Cubs organization. The Cubs led all junior hockey leagues in Massachusetts with a 10-1 record in the 1938-39 season, and a major reason for the Maples success that year for the Cubs was due to the brilliance in goal of Stuart. Four of the ten Maple Cubs victories that year came via a Stuart shutout in goal. Wilfred’s effort with the Cubs and previous on-ice youth development can be credited to former Cubs manager Albie Roy, so it was a no-brainer for Picard and Roy to roll the dice and advance this next-generation phenom in goal.

The Maples managers looked like geniuses with the rookie Wilfred Stuart’s addition to the team loaded with experienced athletes. His often “stand on his head” efforts in the Maples goal proved to be a pivotal asset to a season’s longevity and further looks in the postseason with national recognition. After a 19-3-2 record, the Amesbury team would move on to the NEAAU tournament held at the Boston Garden. The Maples would beat East Boston 13-3, Higham Cove 3-1, Hyde Shoe out of Cambridge, Mass 3-1, and finally, the New England Hockey Championship clinching game where Wilfred Stuart was outstanding in getting this organization to the next level of competition with a 7-0 shutout over the Sacred Hearts club from Concord, New Hampshire.

( Photo Credit: Haverhill Gazette April 29th, 1940 )

After winning all four games at the Boston Garden, the Maples would head to Lake Placid, New York, to appear in the National Athletic Amateur tournament. The Maples were the higher seed representing the North Eastern part of the United States region. The Maples was granted a first-round bye along with the University of Minnesota which; both teams would face each other in the second round.

The Minnesota team was a younger collegiate group that showed up for the final National tournament with a full roster, whereas the Maples were constantly double shifting, with a roster of ten. The Maples did a great job holding the Minnesota team for most of the game, but the Maples didn’t have enough in the gas tank to hold off the pressure of a younger and faster transitioning Gophers team. Minnesota won the second-round matchup at Lake Placid by the score of 9-4, sending the Maples team home after the organization’s most successful season known to date.

( Photo Credit: Amesbury Daily News 1940 )

After the tremendous effort from the Maples in the 1939-40 season, two players who had outstanding seasons were being heavily scouted for higher roles in professional hockey. Longtime Amesbury hockey legend Alphonse Picard (center) and goaltender Wilfred Stuart were offered a chance to try out for the Boston Olympics. The Olympics were a minor-pro hockey team affiliated with the Boston Bruins and were to start playing as an organization in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League in the upcoming 1940-41 campaign.

The Olympics organization was founded by Hockey Hall of Fame builder Walter A. Brown a Hopkington, Massachusetts native and nearby Philips Exeter Academy student. Brown’s assistant and Haverhill, Massachusetts native Edward Powers was reported to have offered Picard and Stuart contracts for the Olympic’s inaugural season. This offer from Powers to a goaltender like Wilfred Stuart came at a time when the young player was in his junior year of high school, with Alphonse Picard being slightly older.

Stuart played for the Amesbury Maples for the better part of 14 years since joining the team after his exceptional 1939-40 rookie campaign. Wilfred graduated from Amesbury High School in 1941, where he excelled in ice hockey, baseball, and football. Per an article published on June 14th, 2002, Wilfred Stuart passed away on June 9th, 2002, at the Port Healthcare Center in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The longtime Amesbury resident was born on January 10th, 1921, and worked many years as a master finish carpenter restoring homes in the local area, like the Mary Baker Eddy house on Main Street.

Also important to mention, Wilfred Stuart is a World War II veteran serving in the United States Navy. He left the Amesbury Maples team during times of war and returned to the club safely after his honorable time away to finish his playing career. Wilfred’s last season as a member of the Maples team was after the 1952-53 season. Stuart returned to the ice for one final time during the 1971-72 season when he and other Maples legends were honored at Hockey Night held at the Exeter Academy rink. Others who were honored on this night, along with Stuart, were Albie Roy, Leo LeBlanc, Alphonse Picard, Eddie Nichols, and Harold “Fuzzy” Thurston.

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.

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!