By Barbara Tetreault
BERLIN — There have been close calls and agonizing defeats but until last Saturday, it had been 40 years since Hockeytown USA had enjoyed a state championship in high school hockey.
From 1947 through 1976, Berlin hockey teams dominated high school hockey in New Hampshire. Dominated may be too mild a word. Berlin teams took the title 28 out of 30 years and was runner up one of the years it did not win it all. Berlin’s main competition for most of those years was — Berlin. The city put forth two high school teams; Berlin High and Notre Dame High School, a Catholic school. Most years, the two teams faced off for the state title. In the early years, it was all Notre Dame, running off a string of 16 straight victories. But from 1963 to 1972 the title seemed to go back and forth between the two Berlin teams with only Hanover interrupting the intercity rivalry with a win in 1970. Notre Dame High School closed in 1972 but the team went out on top with one final state hockey championship that year. Hanover scooped in to grab the title in 1973.
Berlin High won the title in 1974 and 1975 and was looking to make it a triple crown in 1976.

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