First Star Phil Arnone is joined on the ice by CHaD Buddy Isabelle and her mother, Elizabeth, after Team Police’s 5-2 win in the CHaD Battle of the Badges Hockey Championship Sunday, March 13 at SNHU Arena in Manchester. Arnone scored the go-ahead goal for Police in the third period.

LEBANON – For the first time in nearly three years, thousands of fans cheered for the CHaD Battle of the Badges Hockey Championship, presented by AutoFair, on Sunday, March 13, 2022 at SNHU Arena. The major fundraising event for Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD) was back in person and helped raise $210,000 and counting for important programs at CHaD.

The 4,102 fans in attendance at Sunday’s game were at their loudest as law enforcement and fire & rescue personnel hit the ice exactly two years after Team Fire earned a second straight victory in the streaming 2020 game. The 2021 game was canceled due to COVID-19. This year’s edition, also streamed online to provide a viewing option for all fans, saw Team Police snap a two-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory.

The teams exchanged first period goals with Concord’s Ian Gill opening the scoring before Durham’s Erik Burke tied it up at 1-1 for Team Police. Team Police added a second goal from Alex Turgeon (Rockingham County Sheriff) to take a 2-1 lead to the final frame. That’s when the game got wild.

Team Fire’s Ashton Rome (Salem) tied the game with a goal from Micah Ruel (Rochester) with about eight minutes gone in the period. Less than a minute later, Chichester’s Phil Arnone put Team Police back on top, 3-2, on a nifty exchange from Chris Murphy (Nashua). That was all the men in blue needed, adding a fourth goal from rookie Cameron Hult (Concord) with five minutes to go, and then their final tally with 6.6 seconds on the clock from Rochester’s Jake Benjamin.

Arnone earned the game’s First Star honors by snagging the game-winning goal in the final frame. Team Police goalie Chad Fazio (Manchester) was the Second Star with Team Fire’s Ian Gill (Concord) earning Third Star recognition. Nashua’s Murphy tallied three assists with North Hampton’s Kyle Manlow adding a pair for Police. Benjamin and Turgeon each added an assists to go along with their goals.

Funds raised through CHaD Battle of the Badges Hockey Championship help children and their families live their happiest, healthiest lives. Patients and families at CHaD receive expert, compassionate care and benefit from the latest discoveries in child health research.

Police earned the off-ice title of top fundraiser by generating over $72,000 as a team. Once again, Kyle Daly of Manchester Police Department was the top individual fundraiser with more than $11,000 collected with his CHaD Buddy Elliot. Fire raised an impressive $63,000 with Claremont’s Michael Snide once again leading the team effort with a total of $7,068.

After the game, a special tradition also returned as our CHaD Buddies – kids who have needed CHaD services in their lives – got to visit with the teams on the ice. For many Buddies, this was the first time they got to meet their player or the first time they got to see them since the pandemic began in 2020.

Police now has eight wins in the all-time series against Fire’s five total victories. The 2013 game featured East and West squads that each contained players from both police and fire departments.