Bowman: Hockey Family and Traditions

In most cases recruited athletes wait until visiting campus to make a commitment, but for senior co-captain Shannon Bowman she knew Dartmouth was the traditional program she wanted to play for after meeting a former Big Green standout.

Playing inline hockey in Canada, she met former Dartmouth skater and Canadian Olympian Cherie Piper. Bowman mentioned that she was interested in Dartmouth and Piper told the forward about the traditions and success that the Big Green women's hockey program was all about.

“I actually knew before I came that this was the place for me,” said Bowman. “I played inline hockey with Piper and she filled me in about Dartmouth and its traditions and legacies. I cancelled my last visit to Boston University because once I left I knew I didn't have to look anywhere else.”

For those of you who don't know, inline hockey is played following the winter season when the ice is removed from the rink. Inline is played on a smooth plastic surface, known as a Sport Court, intended to allow resistance on the puck and players' wheels. Same rules as ice hockey, except that there is no icing and offsides and it is 4-on-4 competition. “It's really neat and fast paced,” mentioned Bowman. “I really miss it and I hope to get back into it.”

Bowman and Piper teamed up to bring home gold at the Inline World Championships as members of Team Canada.

Prior to Dartmouth, Bowman played boys hockey for Cardinal Carter in her hometown of Leamington, Ont., and also played for multiple travel teams, including a team started by her father.

“I played two years for the Windsor Wild Cats,” said Bowman “I started playing hockey when I was six and played with the guys all the way up till I was 13 years old and then my father and I started a girls traveling hockey team in my hometown of Leamington and I did that for a few years.”

Bowman's father, Kirk, had three stints with the Chicago Blackhawks, playing in 88 career games from 1976-79. In his career, he scored 11 goals and posted 17 assists for 28 points and played in seven playoff games and tallied one goal. Kirk is not the only family member to take his hockey talent to the next level. Bowman's lone brother, Kerry, played four years at Mercyhurst College and recently graduated and now plays for the Port Huron Icehawks in the International Hockey League.

“The minute I could walk I had skates on my feet and my father is an amazing power skating instructor and a great coach,” said Bowman. “He runs his own hockey school and is very successful in the game of hockey. I also learned a lot from my brother just playing on the pond out back and growing up with him. He taught me a lot.”

Since arriving on campus, Bowman and the other seniors were thrown into college competition right away with the Olympians away for the season. The Class of 2009 came in and made an immediate impact and Bowman remembered her first season and one of her favorite memories in a Big Green uniform.

“During our freshman year, which was an interesting year because we came in and had an immediate impact on the team,” said Bowman. “We played Harvard at home and they were ranked and we were struggling, but we ended up upsetting them at home on national television.”

She posted 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points in her first season, which was tied of second on the team for the 2005-06 campaign. The 12 tallies is her career-high for a season and she was named second team All-Ivy for her effort. Since that first season she has posted 25 goals and 48 assists for 73 points and with her 23 for that first year she now sits just a couple of points away from a milestone that all hockey players want to achieve, 100 points.

In addition to her on-ice, Bowman has also given back to the community that she loves. This season she teamed up with the Cardigan Mountain School in a mentoring program called “Little Green”, where 10 scholar-athletes are brought on campus once a month for a Dartmouth sporting event. Once at the event, they are met by other Dartmouth athletes who join them for the game, then the athletes meet the team that they came to watch. The program kicked off on Jan. 25 at the men's hockey game against Harvard.

When looking back at the career she has had, Bowman believes she has been lucky to be able to compete at a high level and have opportunities that some other players do not get. “I just knew that Dartmouth had a great tradition and it has continued throughout the four years that I have been here which is amazing,” said Bowman. Winning Ivies and ECACs and making it to two NCAA Tournaments is something they cannot say about their college careers.”

With graduation rapidly approaching she would like to continue her education by applying to grad school. She mentioned getting her masters in psychology or clinical psychology and also looking into social work. But there is also that feeling of coaching or going to play overseas.

Bowman has had a fulfilling career here with the Big Green and without inline hockey and Piper, Big Green fans might have seen her in a different uniform.