Asphodel-Norwood, Ontario

Asphodel-Norwood is a township in central-eastern Ontario, Canada, in Peterborough County.

The township comprises the communities of Birdsall, Birdsall Station, Norwood and Westwood.

The township was created in its current form on January 1, 1998 when the township of Asphodel and the village of Norwood were amalgamated. The township had a population of 4,041 as of the 2011 Canadian Census.

Players

 * Fred Doherty (Born in Norwood)
 * Marv Edwards (moved to town after retirement)
 * David Stewart
 * Greg Snetsinger
 * Mike Payne
 * Shanley White

Teams

 * Norwood Nemesis (Canadian Premier Junior Hockey League, 2016-Present)

Arenas

 * Asphodel-Norwood Community Centre

Minor hockey history
The Norwood Hornets Minor Hockey Association (previously known as Norwood Minor Sports) has operated minor hockey programs for more than 80 years in the community of approximately 1,300.

The NMHA has operated out of three arenas since the Association's inception in the 1920s. Originally the minor hockey programs skated in the Trent Valley League (TVL) holding games at the Spring Street Arena located north of Spring Street and south of Hwy. 7 (between Pine and Hwy.45). The Spring Street Arena was an outdoor facility that featured Norwood taking on TVL rivals such as neighboring Havelock, Hastings, Warsaw, Douro, Marmora and Keene.

In the mid-1950s, the G.A. Brethen Coliseum was built originally for use for the Norwood Fair, however, was converted into a hockey arena and was used until the year 2001 when the new Asphodel-Norwood Community Centre opened. Around this time, the Norwood programs participated in the Hastings & District League against newer opponents such as Ennismore, Warkworth and Campbellford.

In the early 1980s, former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender Marv Edwards settled in Norwood and implemented the Fundamentals In Action (FIA) skills development system. The program paid immediate dividends as the Hornets had unprecedented success from 1983 to 1992—winning seven (7) OMHA titles and participating in twelve (12) OMHA Finals between 1983 and 1994.

It was believed that much of Norwood's minor hockey success was attributed to the Brethen Coliseum's small, tight quarters. The ice surface was measured at 186 feet long by 72 feet wide. (NHL regulation ice is 200 x 85). The Coliseum's ice was approximately 23% smaller than the traditional North American ice surface.

Norwood's OMHA championship success over the years is one of the most successful among centres of its size (the DD and D classification) for communities under 5,000 residents.

The Hornets program has sent several players onto the various levels of Junior levels of hockey, however, the most notable was forward Fred Doherty who played professionally from 1908 until 1919, including stints in the Maritime Professional Hockey League and the National Hockey Association. After World War I, Doherty was called up to the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL and saw action in three games in the 1918–19 campaign for Montreal.

David Stewart, a key member of several OMHA championships in the mid-1980s, signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Kings in 1992 after three years of major junior with the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs. Stewart spent six years in the International Hockey League (IHL) and East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) playing for the Kings' farm teams in Phoenix, Toledo, Muskegon, Flint and Muskegon. Stewart's final four professional seasons would be spent playing in Roanoke, Virginia for the ECHL's Roanoke Express. His efforts in Roanoke saw his jersey retired after just four years—only the 2nd jersey in Roanoke hockey history to be retired.

Today Stewart is settled in Norwood and operates the Norwood J.J. Stewart Motors Vipers OHA Senior A hockey team. Still playing at age 39, Stewart's Vipers have competed in the Major League Hockey loop for the prestigious Allan Cup since 2006.

Greg Snetsinger, who was a defenceman on several of the same 1980's Hornet teams, also went on to play four years of NCAA hockey at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. Snetsinger graduated the Hornets and went on to play three seasons with the Lindsay Bears Jr. A. club before heading to the NCAA.

Mike Payne, a native of nearby Westwood, graduated Hornets programs at age 17 and played OHA Jr.B. for the Peterborough Roadrunners from 1987 to 1989 before playing four seasons for the University of Waterloo Warriors of the OUAA. While with the Roadrunners, Payne was a teammate of future NHLers, and Stanley Cup champions Darren McCarty and Jassen Cullimore.

The Norwood MHA also started girls hockey in the early-1990s and graduated Shanley White who played for the York University Lions of the OUAA and Heather Richardson to NCAA Division III women's hockey at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

After her playing days were over, Richardson went on to become one of the top women's hockey referees in the world and officiated the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC. She was selected to be a lineswoman for the Gold Medal Final game between Canada and the US, a contest Canada won.

There have been numerous volunteers over the years who have donated their time to the Norwood Minor Hockey Association including Jim Lytle, who went on to be an OMHA Executive Member for 33 years. He was the goalie on the first OMHA finalist Bantam team in 1958.

The Hornets have had sixteen (16) O.M.H.A. Championships and seventeen (17) O.M.H.A. Finalists since 1958. 33 of Norwood's OMHA Finals appearances came in a 27-year span from 1983 to 2010.