Craig Richard Norwich (born December 15, 1955) is an American former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

player. Norwich led the Edina East High School hockey team to the prestigious Minnesota State High School League Hockey Tournament three times, including captaining the 1974 championship team. In college, Norwich became the second

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

in NCAA history to lead his team in scoring and win the NCAA Championship in the same season. As a professional he played in 145 games with the

Cincinnati Stingers The Cincinnati Stingers were an ice hockey team based in Cincinnati that played in the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979 and in the Central Hockey League during the 1979–80 season. Their home arena was Riverfront Coliseum. They are t ...

of the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

and 104 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

with the Colorado Rockies,

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

, and

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

Playing career

Norwich played three years at the University of Wisconsin. After scoring 45 points in 38 games as a freshman in 1974-75, Norwich was chosen 142nd overall by the Montreal Canadiens at the Amateur Draft. He finished with 168 career points during his college career and was named to the WCHA second all-star team in 1976 and the first team the next year. After helping the Badgers win the NCAA title in 1977, he was named to the championship tournament all-star team. The talented blueliner opted to join the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA where he could play regularly rather than try to break into the Habs' deep roster. He scored 87 points in two years for Cincinnati and was a member of the US team that finished sixth at the 1978 World Championships. On June 9, 1979, Norwich was claimed by the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA Dispersal Draft. He remained with the team when it joined the NHL in 1979-80 and was an offensive force from the blueline. A highlight for him that season was scoring two goals when the Jets earned their first NHL win, 4-2 over the Colorado Rockies. Norwich registered 45 points and scored seven power play goals on the fast-skating Jets. Prior to the 1980-81 season, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues for defensive forward Rick Bowness. He scored 16 points in 23 games for his new club then was claimed off waivers by the Colorado Rockies. He averaged over a point per game in Denver then joined the US squad that finished fifth at the 1981 World Championships. Norwich battled injuries and played exclusively in the AHL during the 1981-82 season. He then chose to explore his options in Europe with the Gardena Finstral club of Italy where he averaged over three points per game. He later suited up for Lausanne in Switzerland before returning to Italy with Groden and HC Fassa and played with Innsbruck, Austria in 1987-88, then Lake Como in Italy retiring in 1990 after winning the Italian Championship with Como.

Post-playing career

From 1990 to 1996, Norwich was the Director of Hockey and Head Coach at Shattuck St. Mary's in Faribault, MN. He moved to Vail, CO to become the Director of Hockey and Head Coach of the Vail AAA Hockey Program. Norwich was the Director of Hockey Operations and Head Coach of the boys Varsity hockey team at

St. Paul Academy and Summit School St. Paul Academy and Summit School is a college preparatory independent day school in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, for students in grades K–12. The school was established through a merger in 1969 of St. Paul Academy, a school for boys ...

in St. Paul, MN, from 2005 until he resigned in January 2010. Norwich has also coached with the LA Junior Kings, the Minnesota Rockets AAA, and Team Midwest Tier One Hockey Program.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norwich, Craig 1955 births Living people Adirondack Red Wings players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans American men's ice hockey defensemen Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey players Cincinnati Stingers players Colorado Rockies (NHL) players HC Gardena players Houston Aeros draft picks Ice hockey players from Minnesota Lausanne HC players NCAA men's ice hockey national champions Sportspeople from Edina, Minnesota Ice hockey people from Hennepin County, Minnesota Springfield Indians players Montreal Canadiens draft picks SHC Fassa players St. Louis Blues players Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players American expatriate ice hockey players in Italy American expatriate ice hockey players in Canada American expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland