MSHCA Hall calls for Clifford-This Day In Norwood History-May 10, 2013

Last Sunday evening, in a ceremony held at Montvale Plaza in Stoneham, Norwood High boys hockey coach Bill Clifford was recognized by the Massachusetts State Hockey Coaches Association. Along with several other first-rate Bay State hockey coaches, Clifford was inducted into the MSHCA Hall of Fame in the 41st annual event.

Joining Clifford in a night of awards, speeches, and more than a few good hockey stories were fellow honorees Bob Conceison of Burlington, Bob Anthony of East Boston, and Tom Humphreys of Wakefield.

“To be in the company of these great hockey coaches inducted this year and those already in the Hall of Fame is truly an honor,” said Clifford. “I was very surprised to hear about it at the beginning of the season and I’m very humbled by the experience.”

Paul Podolski, former Dedham hockey coach and coaches’ representative to the MIAA hockey committee, was not at all surprised to learn that his hockey rival for the past 12 years was the recipient of this tribute.

“Over the years, Norwood has been an extremely conscientious, hard-working team and Billy and his staff have done a super job with their program,” said Podolski, a previous inductee who attended the banquet. “They’re highly disciplined and their work ethic is as good as anybody in Massachusetts. I think Billy’s years as an assistant coach contributed to the decision of the executive board to induct him. It was certainly well-deserved.”

Clifford traces his lengthy hockey pedigree back to the early 1960s when, as a 7-year-old, he laced up for Saturday morning skates at the old Tabor Arena in Needham. Soon thereafter, he joined his first organized hockey program.

“Tom Brown started up a youth program in Norwood,” Clifford recalled. “I played Pee Wee hockey and later, joined a traveling team. I skated with the same bunch of kids, year after year, until we all reached high school.”

It was while skating for the Mustangs that Clifford earned his rightful place in the annals of Norwood hockey history.

On the evening of Wednesday, March 12,1972, the majority of the Norwood townspeople could be found filling to capacity, the old Boston Garden. They were on hand to urge their beloved Mustangs hockey team to a first-ever state championship.

“There was a little over two minutes left,” recalled Clifford who was a 17-year-old senior at the time. “I was skating down the right wing and Eddie King was going hard to the net. I directed the puck over to him and he tipped it in for the game-winner.”

The goal triggered sheer pandemonium in the Garden. Onlookers claimed that the legions of jubilant Norwood fans, who had witnessed five earlier title game defeats to nemesis Arlington, were just as loud and boisterous, if not more so, than the Garden crowd that saw the infamous Bobby Orr Stanley Cup winning goal two years earlier.

“That was a fun night,” said Clifford, who earlier contributed to a perfect 22-0 record as a member of the Mustang freshman team. “I remember the Norwood fire trucks met up with us on Neponset Street near Route 95. They drove us all through town and into South Norwood before taking us back to the high school.

There were a lot of parties that night. It was pretty crazy.”

When talk turns to the Norwood Mustangs of 1972, however, little is said about the game that followed that historic win.

“We had one more game after that,” said Clifford. “That 3-2 win over Arlington was for the Eastern Mass title. We went on to beat St. John’s 4-1 in the state finals, which was also played at the Garden in front of 14,000. But finally beating Aldington overshadowed that game.”

Clifford was quick to acknowledge some of his former Norwood teammates, including Mike Martin, who went on to play at Boston College and Peter Brown, who was an All-American at Boston University. He also mentioned goaltender Billy Pieri, who lost just a single game – the state final against Aldington as a junior in 1971 – in his entire career at Norwood.

“I’ve met a lot of great people in this sport, not just in Norwood, but all over,” said Clifford. “I have friends from 40 and 50 years ago that I still keep in touch with. I think the hockey fraternity is made up of a special breed of people.”

Clifford played a stint in college, as well, but it was cut short due to injury.

“After high school, I played a couple of years for St. Anselm’s College,” he said. “But I tore all the ligaments in my knee toward the end of my sophomore year. I did skate again later, on a number of men’s leagues, traveling around and playing four or five games every weekend.”

After a number of years coaching summer leagues in Franklin and the Norwood Pee Wee A club with Orin Gould, Clifford moved through the ranks of the Norwood high school hockey, first as an assistant with junior varsity and in the late 1990s, then head coach for that same J.V. team. Clifford was handed the reins of the varsity program in 2002, following in the successful coaching footsteps of former teammates Martin and Peter Brown. He led the program to three consecutive winning seasons and playoffs before reaching what he considered one of the shining moments of his coaching career.

“The 2006 season ranks pretty high with me,” Clifford said. “We had a very good team that year with the Piccirellis, Sean Arthur, and a great goalie in Ryan Henry.

We ended up with 17 wins and faced Marshfield in the South sectional final, but lost that game, 1-0.”

“Coach Clifford teaches tough, old school hockey,” said Tony Verrochi, who was also a key member of that 2006 squad. “If you made it known that you didn’t like it, you would hear about it loud and clear. That’s the style of hockey he grew up on. He taught us to play that way and I loved it.”

Verrochi, who captained the 2007 team as a senior, went on to mention a photo adorning the wall at Lewis’ Bar and Grill, depicting Clifford standing behind the Aldington net, celebrating the infamous 1972 goal.

“It was a pleasure to play under a guy like Clifford who did such great things for Norwood hockey when he was our age,” Verrochi said.

Midway through the 2010 season, Clifford, the Mustangs, and the entire town of Norwood was put to the test when one of their own, sophomore Matt Brown, suffered a debilitating injury during a game against Weymouth in Hingham. Brown impacted with the end boards at an odd angle and collapsed to the ice surface. He was later diagnosed with a fractured neck and remains paralyzed.

“That was tough on everyone,” recalled Clifford. “It was terrible to see Matt get hurt like that. But we were really impressed with the way the whole town of Norwood got behind him. The outpouring of support and encouragement was just unbelievable.”

Clifford is heartened to see Matt Brown attending Norwood hockey games, giving inspirational locker room talks to the troops, and attending Stonehill College.

While the newly-minted Hall of Fame inductee has amassed a career record of 128-81-27 in 11 seasons and collected multliple Bay State Conference Herget titles, including the last two, the ultimate goal continues to elude him.

“Sure, a state championship would be nice,” Clifford said. “But at the end of the day, it’s all about the kids. I’ll prepare them to play the game, we’ll have some good times, and hopefully, I can teach them to make smart decisions both on and off the ice. If I succeed, then I’ve done some good.”

(All articles originally published at https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/transcript-bulletin/2013/05/10/mshca-hall-calls-for-clifford/38853186007)