Hall of Fame
The 2002-03 men's hockey team won the program's second national championship by downing Oswego State, 2-1, on Mar. 22, 2003 in front of the largest crowd to ever watch a game at Kreitzberg Arena. The Cadets' run to the title featured one of the most memorable comebacks in Norwich hockey history in the NCAA Quarterfinals against Trinity when NU rallied from down 4-1 heading into the third period to score four unanswered goals and win, 5-4. Sandwiched in between the Trinity and Oswego victories, Norwich beat St. Norbert, 6-3, in the national semifinals.
Norwich opened the season winning 15 straight games before losing to Trinity on Jan.25; the Cadets won 12 of their next 14 games however, including their final seven games en route to their first title since 2000. Norwich outscored its opponents, 191-73, and was led by a trio of 40 point scorers in Kurtis McLean '05, Phil Aucoin '04 and Matt Schmidt '04. Paul Mattucci '05 and Ed Boudreau '03 each had 30 or more points as well to lead Norwich's well balanced offense. Aaron Lee' 04, Lou DiMasi '04, and Vadim Beliaev '05 all had 25 or more points, too. Head coach Mike McShane won his second national title in just his seventh year at the helm of the program.
