Courtesy Trinity Sports Information
HARTFORD, Conn. – Longtime Trinity College head men’s ice hockey coach John Dunham (West Hartford, Conn.), who retired following the 2006-07 season, was honored as the 2009 Parker-York Award by the New England Hockey Writers for his lifelong contribution to New England Hockey. Dunham received the award at the annual awards banquet held on Monday, April 13 at the Prince Restaurant in Saugus, Mass.
Coach Dunham was the guiding force behind the Trinity College ice hockey program for 37 years, beginning his coaching career with Trinity’s club hockey team in 1970 and helping it attain varsity status in 1974. His teams developed into a dominant force in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) North/South in the 1980’s, including the 1986-87 squad which posted a 24-1 record en route to the second of four conference titles, and he guided Trinity in its transition to the highly competitive ECAC East and NESCAC conferences in the 1990’s.
In all, Dunham compiled a 441-306-34 record with 21 post-season appearances, NCAA appearances in 2003 and 2005, four ECAC North/South Championship titles, and a New England Small College Athletic Conference Championship crown in 2003. In 2004-05, Trinity qualified for its second NCAA Division III Championship Tournament and posted the program’s first NCAA victory, 4-0, at Geneseo State to advance to the Bantam ice hockey team’s only NCAA Final Four.
Dunham’s 441 career-coaching victories placed him fourth among all active Division III coaches, fifth in Division III history, 11th among all active coaches in all divisions, and 20th among all coaches in all divisions in wins. He is second all-time in wins in Division III at the same school. Recently, Dunham was named as the 2001, 2003, and 2005 NESCAC Coach of the Year and as a finalist for the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) Division III National Coach of the Year in both 2003 and 2005. Dunham, who played a major role in making Trinity’s on-campus home ice, the Koeppel Community Sports Center, a reality in 2006, continues to serve as a major gifts officer in the Trinity College Development Office.
The Trinity men’s ice hockey squad, coached by David Cataruzolo, won the NESCAC title in 2007-08 and finished the 2008-09 campaign with a 16-9 record and a 12-7 mark in the NESCAC East Division. Cataruzolo presented Dunham with the Parker-York Award at the dinner Monday evening.
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