Hebron Hockey Begins

The 2022-2023 hockey season marks a century of Hebron hockey. It is a wonder that a century of hockey started with an anonymous group of boys shoveling snow off Andrew’s Field in the early 1920s to create enough ice to skate and shoot. Boys that would have arrived from points south by train arrived at a longforgotten station in Minot. Their hockey gear tossed into the back of a horse drawn carriage, or maybe a Model T, to make the three-mile trek down Station Road to campus.

Did those boys have any idea of the bright hockey future they were starting? A future that would see thousands of athletes come to Hebron in the ensuing decades to play. Over the years, Hebron players have won championships, played at the collegiate level, garnered All-American honors, coached high school, college, and even Olympic teams. A handful have even been inducted into the US National Hockey Hall of Fame.

Hebron’s first hockey team, led by Coach Percy Graves, won games against Coburn Classical Institute and the Lewiston High School Independents. The outdoor rink was a challenge to keep clear of snow and to have consistent ice—a Herculean effort was needed by students and faculty to keep the space playable.

The Stanley Ice Arena was Freelan Stanley’s first major gift to Hebron Academy. As president of the Board of Trustees, he contributed substantially from his own estate to ensure the rink would be completed for the 1925-1926 season. Stanley Arena was the first covered high school hockey rink in the United States and it stood where Hupper Library stands today.

With the attraction of having the finest hockey facility in New England, Hebron hockey would quickly rise to an elite level. Eddie Jeremiah ’26 enrolled at Hebron from Somerville, MA, and would lead

“Hebron Hockey taught me work ethic and creating goals and achieving them as a team. It also gave me best friends for life.

“Hebron hockey means more and more to me as I get older. The family, the brotherhood, the memories of the cold rink in the morning and the night games at home are some I’ll never forget!

Teagan Poliseno ’18