FOR NORTHFIELD High Boy’s hockey coach Paul Clayton the just concluded season was all about numbers. Three weeks before the season started coach Clayton wasn’t sure if he would have enough players to play a complete season. Injuries and personel considerations can take their toll over a twenty game season and if a team can’t put enough skaters on the ice that team will have to forfeit games. “ Just before practice started I found out that we were down to just eleven players. That sounds great but you throw two or three freshmen in there that are only 13 years old and playing against older players and you take into account that there will be some injuries then you have to consider that you will have a hard time completing the season,” the coach said.

Coach of the Year Northfield Boy's hockey coach Paul Clayton (above) was voted Vermont's Div. II Hockey Coach of the Year by the coaches in the division. Coach Clayton said the award was a total coaching staff effort. The assistant coaches are Mike Gonneville and Aaron Fifield and goalie coach Adam Feldman. Photo by Bill Croney, the Northfield News Fortunately for coach Clayton Northfield’s athletic director, Frank Pecora, and Principal Tom McKone got together with their Montpelier counterparts and did a little outside the box thinking that wound up with Northfield putting a team made up of players from three schools (Randolph already had four players on the Northfield team) on the ice.

They took the Vermont Principal’s Association’s (VPA) Member-to-Member program to a new level.

Once the VPA gave it’s blessing there were some details to be worked out. “There were more than a few. There were some things that we don’t think about every day. Things like exam periods and vacation weeks, There were things like can you practice from five to seven if the players have to be at school at 7:45. The administration on both sides did a great job. They made sure the thing was done quickly but making sure that all I’s were dotted and all the t’s were crossed,” the coach said. There was one bump in the road and that happened when three Randolph players ran afoul of their school’s discipline policy and were not allowed to continue to play hockey. Students were under their home school disciplinary rules. “That’s one of the things that I think was a simple solution in the beginning of the process. This is the first year it’s happened. All three schools did their absolute best with the situation. I think it’s important for us to take a step back and say is it realistic to abide by the same rules or is it realistic to have them (the players) abide by rules sent to us by their schools. I don’t know the answer to that right now but I think it’s something along with some other little things that we should look into,” coach Clayton stated.

When asked if he felt if the experimental program was a success he didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely. I’ve always been excited to coach and work with kids and as a varsity coach it was so delightful to get to work with that number of kids. As a coach it was great to once again have a real varsity team in terms of numbers. The Northfield kids have put so much effort into the program in trying to be successful with limited numbers it’s great to have the numbers again. And, everything’s being done for the right reason in the sense that you’ve got to earn your spot, you’ve got to respect everybody and realize that everybody’s important. With the numbers you are able to run a varsity program the way you should whether it’s a practice or a game. The frustration level was kept down because we felt that if something happened to one player we had another there to take his place,” the coach said.

As far as the coach is concerned hockey players are hockey players no matter where they come from. “ can’t believe how often we think that these are kids from another town or another school, or maybe even from another country and our first instinct is to think they are different.

But kids are kids and that was the great thing. They all just wanted to play hockey. There were some differences and some discomfort early on but that can breed some character. It can thicken your skin. You could see that happening in the beginning. There were no fights or arguments because we were all there with a common goal. Everybody wanted to play high school hockey. It was nice to see that as the season went on they became closer and closer. It was extremely pleasurable to watch that from an educators eye. Adversity isn’t always a bad thing and you have to deal with it. As a group the players were spectacular in working through adverse situations,” the coach said.

Paul Clayton sets his expectations high for his players and he felt that they more than lived up to them this past season. “ They exceeded my expectations. I sit back and evaluate myself as a coach and one of our jobs is to make sure that every single adolescent improves both as a person and a player. And I think that this was the best year of my 10 years as a varsity coach. I feel that every single kid that played on the team improved as a person and made strides as a player. And I think that it comes back to that healthy competitive spirit that we were able to provide because of the numbers.” Coach Clayton said.

He also said that he was fortunate to have been able to coach kids from another school. “ If it were not for this program I never would have been able to work with and get to know the Montpelier seniors on the team,. I’m a more complete coach and I hope that they are more complete hockey players and people because of our experiences. We really got to know each other. And isn’t that what athletics really does,” coach Clayton said.

As for the future, Paul Clayton thinks that after observing the initial experimental season other schools will develop programs of their own.

“In our league alone there are seven teams that have players from other schools and there are programs in bad shape because of numbers. This isn’t really the first time that this has been done but it is the first that is so public. Financially it’s a no brainer. It essentially cut our bussing and practice costs in half. There are a lot of schools that had a great deal of interest in how things worked out. In our society there are some people who are afraid to stick their neck out but we did it and our program benefited from it,” He said. The numbers let him do it.