Honoring Merrill Fay

Merrill Fay is welcomed onto the ice by a large crowd of "lakers" during the celebration in his honor naming the Laconia Ice Arena the "Merrill Fay Arena" on Friday evening. (Karen Bobotas/for the Laconia Daily Sun)

Laconia Ice Arena renamed for a true legend of hockey

By ROGER AMSDEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — Merrill Fay doesn't skate, but he's a member of the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey. He's never scored a goal but he knows how to do the hard, behind-the-scenes work that helps others achieve their goals on the ice.

And, as Jay Meegan, president of the Winnipesaukee Skating Club, told a crowd of over 300 people at the Laconia Ice Arena Friday night, Fay embodies the truth of the saying "It's amazing what you can accomplish when no one cares who gets the credit."

Fay, who has shunned the limelight and tried to remain an unobtrusive, behind-the-scenes presence in the Lakes Region Youth Hockey Association and the creation of the Laconia Ice Arena, was pulled into the spotlight Friday night in a ceremony which was a surprise to him, in which the arena was renamed the Merrill P. Fay Arena.

"There's nobody more responsible for this place, there's nobody who's done more for it, before it was built and after it was built," said Meegan, who pointed out that Fay has been involved for more than 40 years in helping bring hockey and ice skating facilities to the Lakes Region.

" I love to watch people skate," said Fay, whose father, Wilbur, was the hockey coach for for Spaulding High School in Rochester from 1948-1952. Merrill Fay played football and basketball at Spaulding High School and was class president in 1953 and 1954. He graduated in 1954 and attended Phillips Exeter Academy for a post-graduate year in 1955.

He then attended the University of Michigan, continuing his education there in 1956, 1957 and 1958. Unfortunately, his father passed away in the spring of 1958 and Fay made the decision to take over the family's boat yard in Smith Cove on Lake Winnipesaukee.

In the early 1970s, he maintained a skating rink at the boat yard, flooding the ice and keeping it plowed after snow storms. He became involved in hockey in 1978 in the Lakes Region when his son, Will, was 7 years old. He later became chairman of the Lakes Region Youth Hockey Association and helped built the first rink in Gilford at Varney Point. It was on public land and Fay had Bruins' stars Bobby Orr and Don Awrey come up from Boston to help raise money for the new outdoor rink. A roof went up in 1984 and Fay purchased a used Zamboni from the Nashua Ice Palace.

The rink was named the Arthur A. Tilton Rink in honor of the long-time boat builder at Fay's Boat Yard, who was also chairman of the town's recreation commission.

In 1989, Fay helped form the nonprofit Winnipesaukee Skating Club. He purchased seven-plus acres of land in Laconia and did a considerable amount of fundraising towards the $1.5 million goal. When the doors opened in 1994 as the Laconia Ice Arena, it was virtually debt free.

Merrill's son, Will, has been the manager of the arena since it opened.

Fay recalled that a Laconia master plan from the 1960s envisioned the creation of an indoor skating rink and said that the realization that it wasn't going to happen was one of the forces that motivated him.

"This was my vision, and the boat yard supported this 100 percent and that was the main thing," said Fay, who said that his son, Jeff, who now runs the boat yard, helped make it possible for him to have the time to devote to the fundraising needed to build and maintain the arena.

"All the people that helped us with the Winnipesaukee Skate Club, a lot of them were here tonight and were the ones who really built the rink," said Fay, who said that it took nearly seven years of fundraising to make the arena a reality.

He was presented a shovel which will mark his special parking place at the arena and noted that it was the same shovel that was used by former President George H. W. Bush when he took part in a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for the Laconia Ice Arena, which was held at Laconia Airport around 1993 or 1994.

Fay has always been friendly with many of the Boston Bruins players who have ties to the Lakes Region, including Bruce Crowder and Rick Middleton, who helped unveil the banner renaming the arena for him.

And he was also friends with Bob Wilson, long-time voice of the Boston Bruins, who spent a lot of time on Lake Winnipesaukee in his 23-foot Chris Craft ''Big Mouth,'' which he kept at Fay's Boat Yard.

''I used to drive him to the Boston Garden after he had problems with his vision,'' recalls Fay.

Fay, who was inducted into the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey in 2006 for his leadership in building the Laconia Ice Arena, told the crowd assembled at the arena Friday night that he was humbled by the honor and said that it was "unbelievable " to think of all the people who have been able to enjoy the arena over the years. He predicted that someday one of the hockey players who started skating at the arena will be playing in the National Hockey League.

Merrill Fay says a word of thanks to the large crowd of "Lakers" who gathered in his honor during the naming of the Laconia Ice Arena to the "Merrill Fay Arena" on Friday evening. (Karen Bobotas/for the Laconia Daily Sun)

Merrill Fay is welcomed onto the ice by a large crowd gathered for the celebration in his honor. (Karen Bobotas/for the Laconia Daily Sun)