Forget the eye-popping statistics – goals and assists - that regularly define hockey’s top players.

That was not Mick Mounsey’s game. Instead, Mounsey used his refrigerator-like frame to keep high-flying forwards away from the University of New Hampshire net during the early 2000s. He was so good, in fact, that the officials in charge of electing players into the state’s 12th class of the Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame added his name to this most prestigious list.

Mounsey, a Concord native and resident, will be one of five individuals enshrined on Oct. 22 at the Grappone Conference Center. He’s the lone player going in, and his physical play and unselfish nature – playing an often thankless position – were the reasons why.

“I was a stay-at-home defenseman,” said Mounsey, who works in the real estate and insurance businesses. “You do your job was how I looked at it and you make the easy play. Ultimately, if the team is doing well, that’s all that counts.”

Mounsey played for perhaps the two best editions of the team in its history, playing all four years of his eligibility, from 2000-04, and twice helping the Wildcats advance to the national semifinals, known as the Frozen Four.

He was also part of two Hockey East championships and played in 157 games, most in UNH history. He built a reputation as a physical player who played the game cleanly.

“Defensively, there was nobody better,” said Jim Hayes, the executive director of the Hall’s Board of Directors and a longtime ambassador to the sport in the Granite State. “If you wanted to score a goal, you had to go through Mick before you got to the goalie, and that rarely happened.”

Other individuals made their mark on the game in other ways and include:

■Nelson Hutchings of Portsmouth, who recently turned 100 and will be at the ceremony. Hutchings has been the scorekeeper and publicity agent for the Rochester Men’s Hockey League for the past 45 years.

■David Caron, a native of Biddefore, Maine, who now lives in Belmont, created the Belmont-Gilford cooperative team, and led the effort to bring NHIAA status to the program.

■Walter Nadeau, a native of Berlin, is the key researcher for the Berlin and Coos County Historical Societies, and he oversees an exhibit that celebrates Berlin’s long hockey history.

■Paul Comeau, who was elected posthumously and who was a pioneer of youth hockey’s popularity, making the game accessible to scores of youths across the region.

All are part of the Granite State’s rich hockey tradition. Documentation shows the first organized game of hockey in the United States was held on the lower pond at St. Paul’s School in Concord on Nov. 17, 1883.

Douglas Everett of Concord was one of the greatest players in Dartmouth College history and won a Silver Medal at the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. The local hockey arena, which hosts games on all levels, is named after him.

Also, Mick’s sister, Tara Mounsey, won a Gold Medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. She then won a Silver Medal in the Games four years later. Tara also played defense.

In between, Concord has been the home to numerous college stars. The city also hosted a semi-pro amateur program, first known as the Concord Coachmen in 1960s and then the Concord Eastern Olympics in the 1970s.

Games between Concord and Manchester and also Berlin regularly drew 2,000 fans to Everett Arena and was the place to be on Friday nights in the winter.

The final version of this team was named the Concord Budmen, which disbanded in 1991 and was never heard from again, as youth sports and other distractions replaced formal, structured adult leagues.

That program and tradition will also be honored on Oct. 22, under the name of the Concord Eastern Olympics, which blossomed six decades ago, when players did not wear helmets and often dropped their gloves to fight, before going to work the next morning.

Hayes played for the Budmen from 1975 until the end. He idolized those early players. He said today’s players are in better shape than he and others were from those days.

“We did not work out,” Hayes said. “We were more about cigarettes, beer and liquor.”

In his day, Mounsey was 5-foot-11, 205 pounds. His father, Mike, played a huge role in his development.

“His big job was keeping people away from the net,” Mike said. “I heard from players that they didn’t like going into the corners with him and they didn’t like being out in front of the net with him. He earned his playing time. He was the goalie’s best friend.”

Tickets are $40 and are available to the general public for the luncheon and ceremony until Friday.