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Bernard's 70-Year Love Affair with Ice Hockey Leads to Honor from Lawrenceville Tournament
By Bill Alden
At first glance, the basement in John Bernard's home in Princeton seems pretty ordinary.
There is a workbench, some tools, a few cabinets, and an exercise bike mixed in with standard household knickknacks that have found their way below the main floors of the house.
But upon closer inspection, you notice something different about Bernard's hideaway. The cabinets are covered with all sorts of hockey memorabilia, from ticket stubs to game passes to name tags from hockey functions.
There are hockey programs and equipment in view and there are even brightly painted wooden hockey figurines hanging from the ceiling.
The eclectic collection gives one a glimpse into Bernard's love affair with the sport which started when he picked up the game in the early 1930s on the frozen ponds in his native Wellesley, Mass.
Bernard, now 81, who was honored last month for his many years of service to the Lawrenceville Invitational Hockey Tournament, has been involved with the game in just about every capacity imaginable.
In the 1940s, he was a star defender for Exeter and then Princeton University. After spending nearly a decade in Hartford, Conn. learning the insurance business, Bernard returned to Princeton in 1958 with his wife Peggy and their three young children to help run the insurance firm, Sturhahn, Dickenson, and Bernard.
With his sons Jay and Peter reaching the age where they could skate, Bernard founded a Pee Wee hockey program to introduce Princeton-area kids to the game.
The program grew from 20 kids that first winter in 1958 to nearly 200. It was so novel and successful that it was the subject of features in Boys Life magazine and the New York Times.
In addition to the administrative duties involved in getting the program up and running, Bernard coached and served as a referee.
Bernard's involvement in the game was not limited to the Princeton area. Through providing insurance coverage to U.S.A. Hockey, he played a major role in the growth of that organization.
That affiliation has resulted in Bernard traveling all over the country in connection with hockey events. He is a founding director of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and served as the host of the Swedish hockey team at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
In the 1970s, Bernard helped get the Princeton University women's hockey program off the ground by serving as a coach of the team when it was a club sport.
In recent years, Bernard has written two short stories about the game for children entitled "The Mouse Who Lived at Baker Rink" and "Ballerina on Ice."
In reflecting on the honor he received from the Lawrenceville tourney, Bernard said that there is nothing complicated about his love of hockey.
"It's been fun all the way through," said the genial Bernard with a twinkle in his eye. "The skating, the movement on the ice is enjoyable. The camaraderie with the other players is enjoyable. It was always just fun."
A key piece in the puzzle was Bernard's positive experience playing for Princeton. Bernard, who was accepted at Harvard and nearly went there, came to Princeton after a three-year stint in the Army during World War II.
"I had been in the Army so college was easy," recalled Bernard. "We were older people. We had a good coach (Richard Vaughn). I had a lot of fun with my teammates."
With a chuckle, Bernard notes that at least one aspect of the game was harder than it is today. "The boards at Baker Rink were in concrete," said Bernard. "That was a big deal. When you get hit into the board now, it gives."
Bernard's pleasant memories of his college days made it easy for him to return to town to pursue the insurance business.
"I was very happy to move back," asserted Bernard, who had worked as a special agent in New Jersey for Phoenix Mutual.
"A lot of my friends from the team lived in Princeton. I would go to the rink and see the Zamboni guys and all the trainers. It was a thoroughly enjoyable return."
It didn't take long, however, for Bernard to realize that there was a major void in the Princeton hockey scene. "When I lived in Connecticut, I had read an article about some well-known hockey figure who had run a kids' league in New Haven," said Bernard.
"In the back of my mind, I thought that would be a fun thing to do. That kind of thing didn't exist in Princeton. Princeton Day School and Lawrenceville had hockey but the town really didn't."
It took some help from Bernard's Princeton connections to get the program off the ground. "There were only 20 kids in that first group," said Bernard. "There were several Princeton University hockey players on the board of the Lawrenceville tournament and they were the source of the coaches."
With Bernard's vision and energy, the program grew into something special. "In the beginning, we had a house league and the teams were named after the six NHL teams then in existence," remembered Bernard. "We eventually got to all-star teams and traveled to places like West Point, Long Island, and Andover, Mass."
Bernard's efforts had a profound effect on the growth of the game locally.
"A lot of kids in this area learned hockey because of John Bernard," said Regan Kerney, a former goalie at Princeton University who has also been involved with the Lawrenceville tourney.
"He's also worked very hard on the Lawrenceville tournament. John always was Mr. Hockey around here and still is."
In Kerney's view, Bernard's impact goes beyond the ice. "John is one of the sweetest guys," said Kerney, a 1968 Princeton grad.
"If you have a problem or something on your mind, he's going to give you good advice. He loves people and hockey is people. I don't think John would do very well alone on a desert island. He is into teamwork and working with others."
The upbeat Bernard has never found it hard to see people doing good things on the ice. "As a coach I was always positive," maintained Bernard.
"I'd praise a player for making a good pass even if he had made five dumb ones before. When I watch a Princeton game, I don't care if they lose. I want to see if they make nice plays, that's what I notice."
And few people have provided hockey with as many nice assists over the years as Bernard.
