VERMONT SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Photo Credit: Norwich U. Athletic Communications

Norwich University

Hockey-coach

Inducted 2026

After successful tours at Division I St.Lawrence and Providence, Mike McShane came to Vermont when he was named the school’s 10th men’s hockey coach at Norwich University in 1995. While at Norwich he led the Cadets to their first and only four national titles. 

During his 23-year tenure he guided Norwich D-III NCAA titles in 2017, 2010, 2003 and 2000 making 16 NCAA Tournament appearances. His Cadets reached 12 NCAA Frozen Fours and won 19 of 20 New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) regular season titles, including an unprecedented 17 in a row. 

McShane became Norwich’s all-time winningest coach during the 2008-09 season and under his leadership the Cadets never posted a losing season. His Cadets went 498-130-38 and his .776 winning percentage is also tops in NU history.

McShane concluded his coaching career behind the Cadets bench winning back-to-back NEHC Coach of the Year honors in 2017 and 2018, bringing his total career regional and national coach of the year awards to 25. At Norwich he was honored five times by the ACHA as its Ed Jeremiah National Division III Coach of the Year. He also had a hand in Norwich opening its modern Kreitzberg Arena in 1998. 

McShane takes pride in the fact that he has coached a number of Norwich players who went on to professional hockey careers, including Keith Aucoin who skated in the NHL for parts of seven seasons and VSHOF inductee Lou DiMasi III, who played in the minors and overseas. Also current Cadets head coach Dominic Dawes was one his Norwich players.  

Overall in 37 years as a NCAA head coach, the 1971 University of New Hampshire grad tallied an impressive 741-348-69 career record, ranking him in 2026 as the seventh winningest men’s coach of all-time. He is one of three VSHOF inductees to play for all-time legendary high school and collegiate coach Charlie Holt. He and Bill Beaney played for Holt at UNH and Bill O'Neil played for Holt at the Northwood School.

Three of McShane’s teams have been inducted into the Norwich Athletic Hall of Fame and he was inducted in 2019. In 2021 he was the winner of the prestigious John MacInnes Award, given by the American Hockey Coaches Association.