More than 36 years of coaching hockey can go by in a blur, and perhaps, in some ways, it has for Rene LeClerc. Yet, on this night, his final night as the coach of the Southern New Hampshire University men’s ice hockey team, LeClerc can remember nearly every single detail.

Standing behind his bench in the Northeast-10 semifinals on Feb. 28, LeClerc said he felt as if he could see things happening before they actually did as his team played rival St. Anselm College into overtime.

The game slowed down, time seemed to inch by and LeClerc, envisioning his team scoring the gamewinning goal, felt laid-back, even through the frantic extra frame. In a word, he said, it was surreal.

“And then all of a sudden it’s a quick turnover, a goal and the game’s over, and you’re like, ‘What? What happened here?’” LeClerc said of Mike Foley’s score that lifted the topseeded Hawks into the tournament championship. “So I wasn’t a good prognosticator.”

But a coach, mentor and hockey mind, few would argue with LeClerc’s credentials.

Though the outcome wasn’t the ending he or his Penmen wanted, LeClerc said he has no regrets as he retires after eight years as SNHU’s coach. Since taking the job in June 1999, the Candia resident has elevated the program to heights it never before reached.

In compiling a program-best .569 winning percentage through a 111- 82-16 record, LeClerc guided the Penmen to a conference title game four times, a school-record 18 wins in the 2004-’05 season – the same year he was named NE-10 Coach of the Year – and their first win over St. A in the program’s 32-year history.

That success followed 12 years as the coach at Manchester Central, which played in two state title games under LeClerc, and the time he spent as a Division I college hockey official.

For all this, LeClerc is being inducted into the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame, which will honor the coach and eight others in a ceremony at C.R. Sparks in Bedford on Sunday, April 1, at 11 a.m.

It’s purely coincidental the honor comes at the same time LeClerc is stepping down. The New Hampshire College alum, who last March overcame a heart attack that put him in the hospital prior to the NE-10 championship, told his players, coaches and the school before the season that it would be his last.

But it surely makes for a deserving ending.

“When Peter Tufts, the previous coach, left, what I really wanted was a guy who was just hockey,” said SNHU athletics director Chip Polak. “And Rene and hockey are synonymous. It’s not basketball, it’s not golf, it’s not tennis – it’s hockey. That’s what I really wanted, especially in terms of professionalism, and that’s what I got with Rene.”

A clear impact LeClerc’s career can be defined by many things, with professionalism and his fiery nature as a coach at the forefront.

Concord High coach Duncan Walsh, who faced LeClerc in each of his 12 years at Central, remembered a fierce competitor unafraid to give the officials his – ahem – opinion. He also recalled a match-up in 1993 when Concord, the defending state champ, brought its 16-game win streak into the JFK Coliseum for a regular-season contest.

Central prevailed in overtime, Concord made the finals later that season, and the Little Green followed the year after.

Yet, that hard-nosed coach seemed to soften a little bit this past season, though that hardly was a negative thing, said SNHU goalie Matt Courchesne.

“I thought he changed after his heart attack,” the sophomore said. “Before, I thought he was that hard-ass coach that, if you screw up, you’re skating. Then he had his heart attack. He appreciated life more, and he became that type of coach that you were good friends with.”

Some players may remember him that way, but as far as his legacy at SNHU, perhaps nothing tops the success he had against the school’s biggest rival.

Winless against St. A since the inception of the program, the Penmen finally broke through last season with a 4-3 win and have split the teams’ last four meetings.

The “godfather of the hockey program,” according to associate head coach Ken Hutchins, who takes over next year, LeClerc made hockey a marquee program at the school. More importantly, he closed the gap between SNHU and St. A, a Division II team rich in history that includes a past Hobey Baker winner, Hubie McDonough.

“We had a couple beers up the road,” Hutchins said of the coaches’ modest celebration following the first win. “I would like to think that first breakthrough game was from the hard work and implementing the tactical systems he knows so well.

“But we could feel it coming. Of course, we were jumping for joy and had a great time on the ice, but when we calmed down, it was business as usual, like, ‘That wasn’t a fluke, and let’s continue trying to improve the program.’”

Gone but still here That progression continues next year without LeClerc, but it’s not as if he won’t be there at all. Retiring to spend more time with his seven grandchildren, he told Polak, “’Chip, I’m going to be at a lot of practices anyway,’” and those that know him don’t doubt it.

Though he never claimed a title while with the Penmen, if they were to win it next season, which LeClerc said he’s confident could happen, he said he’ll be just as happy for them as if he was still behind the bench.

“When we got into the locker room after losing 4-3 in overtime (in LeClerc’s final game), Rene walked into the locker room, and he gave the speech that he thought it was going to be the fairy-tale ending and it wasn’t, but we gave everything that we could,” said Courchesne, who made 47 saves in the loss.

“He started tearing up, and that’s when you can see it in the players,” he continued. “It sent chills right through my body, just knowing that he was emotional, and that his heart was in the game.”

Surely, that’s were it will stay.