On Jan. 18, 2025, two eras of Methuen High School Hockey will come together. As part of this year’s boys’ hockey game vs. Dracut at 2pm, members of the 1974-75 MHS hockey team will be on ice and in attendance for a 50th Anniversary Reunion and Celebration.

The reunion is the brainchild of Curt Goulet and Ken Schelling, two members of that 1974-75 team, the first ever hockey team at MHS.

“Our class of 1975 has a reunion coming up next year and I thought it would be a good idea to get the hockey team together too,” says Schelling, 66, who now lives in Lanesborough, Mass. “We put together a reunion at 25 years but time flies by so fast. Fifty years feels like a big deal, and we are so proud to have been part of the high school hockey program from the very beginning.”

While decades have passed, Goulet, also 66, a retired U.S. Postal worker living in Salem, N.H., still has vivid memories of that landmark season. He relates, “Most of us had never played organized hockey until Methuen Youth Hockey was put together in 1970-71.

“Our locker room for the year was the old football team clubhouse near the stadium. We had to be at the clubhouse for about 4:50am to be able to grab our gear and get on the school bus to leave at 5am for practice.

“We then went to Brooks School in North Andover to use their rink from around 5:30am to 7am. After practice, we’d get on the bus back to the clubhouse, shower, eat, and be in homeroom on time. No excuses were accepted. We had to be committed to the sport. I believe our record was 5-15-1 that first year.”

Humble beginnings maybe, but the experience has led to lifelong friendships. Says Schelling, “You hear the cliches about the bonds that are created when you ‘go to war’ with someone. I feel that we have a similar bond that will survive the test of time.”

Goulet agrees: “We have remained close to this day. Even if I happen to see a teammate I haven’t seen in years, there is a special connection you maintain.”

The coach of this legendary team was a legend himself, Bruce Parker, who simultaneously coached the MHS baseball team. Schelling reflects on Parker’s power and presence: “He was a fan of the European/Russian style of hockey emphasizing skating and speed.

“Coach Parker demanded discipline and dedication to the game and your team. I loved every minute playing for him. He was quite a taskmaster and worked us very hard. One time, the folks at the Brooks School rink were pretty mad at us for skating so hard that we scraped off some of the lines on the ice.”

The Rangers’ current head hockey coach Bill Blackwell is a latter-day version of Parker. He also coached baseball while coaching hockey and now coaches the MHS golf team. He is thrilled to host these hockey pioneers Jan 18: “We are excited to give this year’s team the opportunity to speak with a team from 50 years ago. We talk often about tradition, those who came before them, and friendships that last after high school. I can’t wait for our guys to hear about how hockey has changed over the years.

“We will have the 1974-75 team in for a pre-game discussion with this year’s team and will then recognize the team from 50 years ago in an on-ice ceremony prior to the game in January. We have also arranged for any player to skate on free ice at a later time.”

This year’s Ranger team is talented and tight-knit with several varsity players returning to a club that won 16 games last season. Then, as now, the competition will be stiff.

Says Goulet, “Back in 1975, the Merrimack Valley Conference (MVC) included powerhouse teams from Billerica, Chelmsford and Austin Prep along with Wilmington, Tewksbury, Andover, Central Catholic, Lawrence and us. The top teams in the MVC all seemed to do well in the states.”

Adds Schelling, “A lot of the kids we played against went on to play college hockey. I like to think that we surprised some of the better teams as they were not expecting us to be so competitive for a first-year team.”

Fifty years ago, all of New England was still in the throes of a hockey renaissance brought about by the Boston Bruins. Led by Bobby Orr, those Bruins won Stanley Cups in 1970 and 1972. The 1974-75 Rangers were deeply affected by this group of Bruins.

“We played a lot of street hockey and pond hockey,” says Goulet. “Ken and I lived in the same neighborhood, and his father spent hours making a rink in his back yard. Methuen Youth Hockey started in 1970-71, a direct correlation of the Bruins’ success.”

Schelling adds, “Bobby Orr was the reason we all played hockey. Everyone wanted to play. It was tough then because the only rink in the area was the old Frost Arena in Lawrence. It seemed like all the neighborhoods in Methuen were playing on their local ponds and swamps.” 

An overriding theme of that 1974-75 team was work ethic. Emanating from Coach Parker, both Schelling and Goulet have this gene in their respective bloodlines.

Says Goulet, “My father was a ‘work first’ kind of man. I had a paper route when I was young and worked at the old Red Tavern as a dishwasher. I also worked at Haffner’s Car Wash going into senior year. When hockey season started, I was going to be fully committed.”

Schelling played in a couple of hockey leagues after high school and even helped Coach Parker with his Ranger underclassmen. That work-ethic theme remained.

He relates, “I worked hard at trying to improve myself every day whether it was skating or technique. I listened to the coaches and tried to absorb their knowledge. I guess you can take that into your everyday life. Give and live it all you can every day.”

Goulet and Schelling will be joined by many of their 1974-75 teammates, and perhaps even Coach Parker, at the Jan. 18 reunion in what should be a milestone day for Ranger hockey.

Schelling puts it into perspective: “I’m just looking forward to reconnecting with the guys. There are some wild stories I’d like to hear again. The game has really progressed in fifty years. 

“Players today are so much more skilled than we were. They’ve been playing youth hockey all their lives at all the rinks in the area. I feel like we were pioneers as we played on the first youth hockey teams and the first high school hockey team in Methuen.”