In Norwood, Hockey Will Be The Name Of The Game Saturday

NORWOOD, MA - On Saturday afternoon, the Norwood High School Mustangs boys and girls hockey teams will play to benefit Norwood 150, a yearlong celebration of the 150th anniversary of the town's founding.

The hockey doubleheader will begin at 3 p.m. at the Skating Club of Boston's hockey rink at 750 University Ave. The Norwood High School girls hockey team will face off against Medway. The second contest will pit the NHS boys hockey team against Medfield. Tickets cost $5 and are available only at the Boston Skating Club at the time of the event. All proceeds will go to funding future Norwood 150 events throughout the year.

The Norwood Nuggets mites team may take the spotlight as they play between games in a mini contest.

"They are just thrilled to get out there with the big kids," said Michael Thornton, co-chair of the Norwood 150 sports and education subcommittee. "It will be a fun event."

The Norwood Nuggets will be celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and will be honored at the Celebration on Ice event on Feb. 26. A team of 8-year-olds will play against alumni of the NHS boys hockey team. The members of the 1972 team, which won the state championship that year, also will receive commendations that evening.

"It's a way for the old men to be passing the torch," said Ernie Paciorkowski, co-chair of the Norwood 150 fundraising committee.

Thornton explained the deep roots of the Norwood Nuggets program. One of its most important coaches was a woman named Sheila Brown.

"Sheila Brown is a very, very unique woman," Thornton said, noting that her father and uncle, Al and Tom Brown, founded the Norwood Nuggets. "She grew up around boys hockey and had hockey and figure skating in her blood."

Sheila Brown was a pioneer who started coaching the Norwood Nuggets in the sport in the 1970s. Hockey locally reached the height of its popularity then when the NHS boy's team won the state championship, while the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 1970 and 1972.

"She had a true appreciation for the skills that girls had," according to Thornton. "Some of the girls she coached in the Nuggets went on to play for Norwood High and at the university level.

"At the time, there were 1,500 kids in the program - and 478 were girls," he added. "I can't imagine 1,500 kids doing anything."

Sheila Brown went on to host a radio program about hockey later in the decade.

"Weston Adams was the owner of the Boston Bruins at the time," he noted of the son of the Bruins' founder and the man responsible for recruiting B's legends Bobby Orr, Wayne Cashman, Eddie Westfall and others. "His son, Weston Adams Jr., was on the show all the time."

Weston Adams Jr. served the Bruins in several capacities, including as the team's president in 1968, according to Wikipedia.

As the Winter Olympic contests currently are being held, Thornton said that women's hockey is gaining more popularity.

"When I start talking about girls hockey, some people say that they have not reached the same level of prominence as the boys," Thornton said. "But that just isn't true anymore. And it started here decades ago."