ICE HOCKEY

This article was written by Pete Hartt and appeared in the Times Argus on Nov. 8, 2007 

NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Norwich University has an ice hockey tradition like few other colleges in the United States.

On Friday, that tradition will add another facet. The first Norwich varsity women's ice hockey team will take a face off, make a save, take a penalty and, hopefully, score a goal when the team takes the ice at 7 p.m. There will be familiar colors on the uniform, surrounded by the familiar confines of Kreitzberg Arena, but the team will have a new face.

The face will be that of senior captain Hilary Davis, a Spaulding graduate who spent a year at Elmira, three years out of school (helping to coach the Spaulding girls team) and then came back to help get the Cadets women's varsity program underway.

The new face will also be of former Spaulding star Sophie Leclerc, who spent a season injured at UVM before recovering and transferring to Norwich, and of BFA-St. Albans graduate Amanda Gage, and Quebec freshman goaltender Cindy Fortin and as many as 21 more players.

The other new face, that of coach Mark Bolding, is both new and familiar to area Norwich fans as the 1995 graduate has served the school as both a player and captain, an assistant coach to men's coach Mike McShane and more recently the coach of the women's club team for five years.

"I think the expectations will be high because we are Norwich," Bolding said Tuesday when he and several players joined representatives from the men's team at media day. "Hockey is a big deal at Norwich."

"The men's team set the tone here," Davis said. "Our goal as a team is to win every game. You hate to go back to the cliché of one game at a time, but it is the foundation of what we are trying to do."

That makes Castleton to only thing on the players' minds as the Spartans come to town on Friday to help the Cadet women make school history. Castleton has a slightly longer history of women's hockey than the Cadets, having started varsity play in the 2004-05 season, but every team the Cadets face this year will have more experience.

"I think what our players are going to notice is that the game is going to be fast," Davis said. "Division III in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Association is going to be more consistent throughout the schedule. We won't have a 8-1 game one night and a 4-3 game the next."

Davis has the advantage of one season at Elmira (a team the Cadets play at the St. Michael's tournament in January), though she has taken a circuitous route back on to the ice. After leaving college after her freshman year, Davis came back to Barre to work for three years, helping to Dave Lamarre coach the Spaulding girls team that Leclerc played for. Last season Davis was back on the ice for the Norwich women's club team that went 18-8-1 and made it to the club national championship tournament.

Leclerc has also been off the ice for the better part of a year, spending her first season at UVM on the sidelines with a knee injury.

"It feels good to get on the ice every day," Leclerc said. "We've been doing a lot of skating, and we will outwork the other teams."

Davis and Leclerc are just two Vermonters on a team laden with homegrown talent. Of the 25 players on the roster, 10 are from Vermont. Spaulding graduates Davis, Leclerc and freshman Ramanza Wheeler are joined by Gage and Melissa Bocash from St. Albans, Northfield's Kate Barrett, U-32's Kellie Pickel, South Burlington's Katie Leupp, Derby Line's Nicole Ludwig and Manchester's Kelsey Cone. For good measure, Spaulding and Norwich graduate Keith Maurice is an assistant coach.

In addition to being local (21 of the 25 players are from New England), the squad is also young, with 13 freshmen listed on the initial roster alongside just four seniors.

The youth may be the reason Bolding's expectations are somewhat tempered despite coming off twin 18-win seasons in a very organized club league.

"I think we will be okay,' Bolding said. "I hope we can be an average team in this league sooner rather than later. We want to make this a tough place to play. We won't except being at the low end and the players have very high expectations."

As for the Vermont talent on the team, Bolding isn't sure the roster will keep the same percentage of Green Mountain players, but he wouldn't mind if it did.

"Norwich's success in hockey the last 10 years is not a mystery," Bolding said. "A lot of the good Vermont players have come through Kreitzberg (where the state girls semifinals and finals are played). We are trying to be very conscious of the players in this state. At the same time, you have to cast a wide net and women's hockey is played nationwide."

The schedule kicks off Friday with in-state rival Castleton and is followed by a home scrimmage Sunday against Rhode Island. The Cadets then hit the road for trip that includes Plymouth State College (N.H.) and Castleton on Nov. 17-18 before a great around Thanksgiving.

December opens with three home games Dec. 1 (UMass-Boston), 2 (St. Anselms), and 9 (Connecticut College).

By that time the players and coaching staff should have a clearer view of the team's potential.

"We will continue to work hard and create a fast-paced, free-wheeling team," Bolding said. "The biggest thing we emphasize about becoming a varsity program is about limiting mistakes and becoming a bit more professional. We have to elevate play, the girls have to improve every year and then the program has to improve."

As for step one Friday?

"I expect Castleton to really come along this year - they have a very good goaltender, and they have played more games than us," Bolding said. "We have to move the puck and play our game in our big rink."

As far as his lineup, Bolding noted freshman netminder Fortin, Davis, Leclerc, Gage, Manchester's Cone and Michigan product Juanita Benavides as players that will see a lot of ice time, though the coach emphasizes that the whole team will play, something the players have seen already.

"We are flopping things around a lot, even in each game the lines are changing," Leclerc said. "We have to be ready to play with who is out there."

The important thing is that they'll all be out there with a Norwich logo on their varsity uniforms, for the first time.