By Patrick T. Maloney ’02

With 167 career-coaching victories with the men’s hockey program at Holy Cross and another 36 wins in three seasons at the helm of the nascent women’s ice hockey program, Head Coach Peter VanBuskirk has amassed over 200 victories at Holy Cross. As one of the winningest coaches in Holy Cross athletics, VanBuskirk has brought tremendous success and attention to the women’s ice hockey program.

“It was an easy transition,” says VanBuskirk, speaking about switching from coaching the men’s team to the women’s team. “The only real difference was adapting to the personalities of the clubs. But both teams had the same approach to the game, a desire to be better after every game. I was pleased to see the women had the same desire, the same competitiveness, as the men, and the skill level has gotten better.”

In his three seasons as head coach, he’s watched the women skaters improv every year, culminating last season with a 17-7-1 record and the ECAC Division III East Open Championship. It was the best finish in the four-year varsity history of the sport, earning the team a vote in the US College Hockey Online Top Ten poll.

VanBuskirk says that this past season was “one of my most successful as a head coach at any level. I say that for two different reasons. The first reason is because of where we ended the season versus where we were picked to finish by the other coaches in the league in the preseason poll. We were picked to finish seventh in the league, and we ended up placing third, which is a tremendous accomplishment for the women. The second reason is the way the players performed consistently over the entire season. The last seven games of the year were against league opponents to whom we had lost during the previous season. All of them were predicted to finish ahead of us, but we ended up winning six of those last seven games.”

VanBuskirk began coaching hockey as an assistant coach at Saint John’s High School in Shrewsbury, Mass., in 1972. He became the head coach at Hudson High School from 1973-79. While there, he guided the Hawks to five Central Massachusetts titles, three district crowns and a Division I State Championship in 1978. VanBuskirk’s next move was to Mount St. James as the head coach of the men’s hockey team at Holy Cross. He coached the men from 1979 to 1988, leading the Crusaders to eight ECAC East playoff appearances; he was named College Coach of the Year in 1983. He later returned to the bench as an assistant with the men’s team from 1991-96 and resumed head coaching duties for 1996-97; during this season the team earned a fourth consecutive trip to the ECAC East Tournament, posting a 14-13 mark. Along with continuing his duties as director of the Hart Center, VanBuskirk took over the women’s hockey program in 1999 for its second varsity season. The Purple earned a record of 19-26-2 in the first two seasons under VanBuskirk before achieving tremendous success last year.

The 2002-03 Lady Crusaders were led, in part, by the offensive production of first-year trio, Kolt Bloxson (Fitchburg, Mass.), Sarah Wetherbee (Canton, Mass.) and Kate Remsberg (Arlington, Mass.), that produced 134 of the team’s 228 points last season. The three found themselves putting their mark on the Holy Cross record books after just one season.

“I can’t think of a more successful line that I’ve coached,” recalls VanBuskirk. “I knew when I recruited them that they would be pretty good, but I didn’t know they would be three of the most dominant forwards in the league.”

Wetherbee and Bloxson each notched 47 points to set a school record for points in a season. Bloxson also set a new record for goals scored in a season (26) and earned a spot on the ECAC First-Team All-Conference and All-Rookie teams. Wetherbee and Remsberg found themselves at the top of the list in single season and career assists with 23 and 22 helpers, respectively. VanBuskirk credits a lot of the success to team leadership as well.

“We got a lot of leadership last year from girls like Jenelle DiSanto ’03,” VanBuskirk says. “She was one of a core group of players on the team who had been playing since they got here and were major contributors over the past few years. Our success was due to that leadership, and how they were able to integrate the first-year players. It made for good team chemistry. The girls had a lot of enthusiasm for the team, and that was a big factor.”

With such success under his belt, VanBuskirk looks to the future, seeking to continue to interest high-caliber players in the women’s hockey program.

“I’m recruiting from mainly the Northeast and the Greater Boston area, where girls’ hockey is popular and growing,” says VanBuskirk. “I would like to expand to other areas where it’s being played, possibly the Minnesota area and Canada. Holy Cross has such a strong academic name and challenging environment, I find it gives instant credibility to you as a recruiting coach. It’s then up to you to sell the program.”

When asked if the success of the women’s team last season has made a noticeable difference in recruiting, VanBuskirk responded with an enthusiastic “absolutely.”

“There is a small community that has an increasing interest in women’s hockey,” says VanBuskirk, “and those girls that play follow the programs they are interested in on the Internet. I believe that success breeds more success, so I am really encouraged by what we’ve been able to do here at Holy Cross. I am pleased with the girls that have been part of the program over the past four years. They have all had the same approach to the game. They focus on being responsible and wanting to compete. They are all well-rounded players and students that are very determined to succeed.”

VanBuskirk is equally upbeat about the direction of the women’s hockey program. “I think gradually we’ve gotten better over the past few years,” he says, “and I would like to see that continue. I want to continue to be a top team in the ECAC East and as women’s hockey grows, possibly moving to the Division I level, putting all Holy Cross sports on the same level.”

If everything goes according to plan, the College’s most successful hockey coach has even more success yet to come.

Patrick Maloney is the assistant director of athletic media relations at Holy Cross.