Hall of Fame
After several mediocre seasons in the late 1940s, the fortunes of the Norwich University ice hockey program changed dramatically with the arrival of new head coach Bob Priestley for the 1951-52 season. The Cadet icemen posted a 13-2 record in Priestley's initial campaign and Taylor Arena quickly became the place to be when the hockey team was playing a home game.
After a terrific first season under their new head coach, expectations were higher the following year. Despite a tougher schedule featuring opponents who were geared up to play them each night, the Cadets started the 1952-53 campaign by winning three of their first four games. After a loss to Middlebury dropped their record to 3-2, Priestley's team responded by winning its next five contests. Despite their 8-2 record, the Cadet skaters still received very little respect from people outside the northern New England area.
That all changed after Norwich's performance in its next contest. With approximately half of the Corps of Cadets in attendance, the Norwich icemen invaded Boston Arena for a meeting with the highly touted Northeastern University Huskies who were led by All-American goalie Ray Picard. NU gave the Huskies all they could handle in that contest, taking the lead on three separate occasions thanks to a pair of goals by Fern Cloutier and one by Roger Paquette. Northeastern responded each time however and forced the Cadets to settle for a 3-3 tie. Despite the tie, Priestley's team had sent a message to the rest of New England that the Norwich ice hockey program was a force to be reckoned with in the future.
The 1953 team featured many individual stars, including captain Bobby Horne who was a standout goalie. Horne had lots of support from a defense featuring the likes of Charlie Pulsford, Johnny Gurun, Art Robert, Robert Dommergue, and Steve Kiley. The Cadet offense featured a number of talented scorers including Cloutier, Paquette, Eric Mortenson, Ron Dutil, Clark Ginder, Bob Sudbay, and Steve Eaton.
This exciting team outscored its opponents 87-44 and finished with a final record of 11-2-1. Priestley was named the Eastern Small College Ice Hockey Coach of the Year and more importantly he and his team had firmly established the Norwich University ice hockey program as one of the best in New England.
