Dartmouth Health Children’s and Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD) announce the rosters for the 18th annual Battle of the Badges Hockey Championship. The annual game, featuring police officers, detectives, marshals, state troopers, sheriffs, department of corrections officers, firefighters, dispatch workers, EMTs, and other first responders from around the Granite State, will take place at Manchester’s SNHU Arena on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at 1:00 p.m.
Tickets will go on sale the first week of December for the 2026 Battle of the Badges Game – don’t miss out on this family fun event to support the first responder community and the patients and families served at Dartmouth Health Children’s and CHaD. Tickets can be purchased starting Friday, December 5, by visiting CHaDHockey.org. Proceeds from the Battle of the Badges Hockey Championship provide kids with critical services such as support when they are in pediatric intensive care and management of chronic illnesses, as well as patient and family support services.
The Team Police squad will be led by Lt. Stephen Soares (Epping Police Department), who has played in the game for years. He will be assisted by Capt. Chris Vetter (New Hampshire State Police, retired). Team Police’s roster includes 25 players representing over 16 departments throughout New Hampshire including, but not limited to Epping, Hampstead, Portsmouth, Hampton, Hudson, Nashua, Kensington, Litchfield, Danville, Londonderry, Manchester, and the New Hampshire State Police.
Team Fire will once again be led by head coach Chief Tom Nault (Concord Fire Department). He will be assisted by Firefighter Timary Malley (Derry Fire Department), and Chief Dennis Comeau (Bow Fire Department). Prior to stepping up as head coach, Nault was a founding player of Team Fire. Malley and Comeau have also previously played and coached in the game. Team Fire’s roster includes 23 players representing over 20 departments throughout New Hampshire including, among others, Bedford, Bow, Concord, Nashua, Derry, Laconia, Keene, Merrimack, Salem, Hollis, and Conway.
Both teams have begun practicing and will continue, months leading up to the game on Sunday, March 15. For more information, please visit CHaDHockey.org or email CHaDHockey@Hitchcock.org.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.
About Dartmouth Health Children's
Dartmouth Health Children's is the only comprehensive pediatric healthcare system in the region. Fully integrated in Dartmouth Health and anchored for more than 30 years by Children's Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD)—in Lebanon, NH—Dartmouth Health Children's promotes health, advances knowledge, and delivers the best patient and family-centered care for infants, children, and adolescents across New Hampshire and Vermont. Dartmouth Health Children's conducts groundbreaking research and educates the next generations of health professionals as the primary pediatric partner of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Highly skilled and collaborative child health professionals provide care in multiple settings across the region. Outpatient specialty visits and same-day surgery services are available at Children's Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD) and Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Manchester. Primary care appointments in general pediatrics are available at Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics in Bedford, Concord, Lebanon, Manchester and Nashua, NH and Bennington, VT; as well as at Dartmouth Health members: Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, Cheshire Medical Center, New London Hospital and Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center.