This December, Norwich University will celebrate 100 years of hockey.
The school will be celebrating not only the sport, but the history and the Norwich tradition. Hundreds of alumni will return to the university for the weekend of Dec. 4 and 5 to see the changes and improvements in the program.
Norwich has become a Division III Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference powerhouse in men’s hockey. The men’s team has won eight ECAC playoff championships, 11 regular season championships and two National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships.
Kreitzberg Arena was built in 1999, which had major positive effects on the program. The new rink brought many more fans from the university and central Vermont to watch the games.
Norwich Head Men’s Hockey Coach Mike McShane said, “It’s a great story.” Norwich hockey has become such a proud tradition and something everyone wants to be a part of, he said.
McShane is entering his 14th season of coaching at Norwich. A lot of credit is given to him for the program’s recent success.
“I’m very proud, honored, to be a coach at Norwich. It has worked out better than I ever would have thought. I love Vermont,” said McShane.
Norwich’s plan to build a new rink and the great hockey tradition were a part of the reason McShane came to coach at Norwich.
“Building Kreitzberg Arena obviously helped the program. The timing was unbelievable,” said McShane. “The fan support was absolutely fabulous and getting people from Montpelier, Barre, Northfield and surrounding areas to come to our rink and support our program helped tremendously.”
Norwich Head Women’s Hockey Coach Mark Bolding played as a Cadet and graduated from Norwich in 1995. Bolding remembers playing in the old rink; Taylor Arena. “It was literally a sea of corps kids and the town,” said Bolding. “We used to install the ice as a team back in Taylor Arena.”
Norwich Assistant Women’s Hockey Coach Keith Maurice also played as a Cadet and graduated in 2001. One of his fondest memories was scoring his first collegiate goal in his freshman season of 1998; he scored the game-winning goal.
Another great memory was winning the National Championship out in Wisconsin in 2000.
“The best experience while playing here was the camaraderie. All the guys, even today, keep in touch with one another. We still have that bond that I wouldn’t trade in for anything,” said Maurice.
McShane says one of the greatest games was against Trinity College in 2003. “We came back; we were down 4-1. It was the year we won the national championship. It was certainly a very emotional game. The way we came back, the goals we got, being at home, was fabulous.”
The weekend after the Trinity game the Cadets hosted the National Championship. They were down in both games of that weekend. But they came back in both to win the national championship.
“I think it said a lot for the character of the program and the kids. Winning the national championship at Kreitzberg was phenomenal,” said McShane.
The Blue Line Club is a fan club for the hockey program. It was started about the same time as Kreitzberg was built by Coach McShane, Dave Maxwell, John Fricke, Charlie Holden and some other alumni and locals.
“I think our Blue Line Club has captured hockey and the alums interest,” said Bolding. “I think it says a lot about the university, people are really passionate about it. People love the hockey around here.”
“I want the alumni to come back and see the arena and improvements in the program (some of the older alumni haven’t seen the rink), to take part and have the old meet the new, and to take pride in a great accomplishment. Norwich hockey has always been a great success,” said McShane.
Maurice said is looking forward to seeing the guys he played with, especially his teammates from the “2000 team,” and to celebrating what they’ve accomplished and what the school has accomplished over the 100 years.
“There are e-mails going out from all the guys I’ve played with, there are guys we haven’t heard from in years that have finally surfaced in e-mail. It’s exciting to see that they are talking about it. And having coached some of the younger guys, the 2000 group, it’s going to be a lot of fun to see those guys,” said Bolding.