Mark Bolding, who led Norwich University to the title game of the 2010 NCAA Women's Division III Ice Hockey Championships, has been voted by his peers as the Division III Women’s Ice Hockey Coach of the Year for the 2009-2010 season. The Cadets went 20-6-5, setting a school record for victories and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the school's brief three-year varsity history. The magical season ended with a 7-2 loss to defending national champion Amherst College.

Bolding has been at Norwich for eight seasons, the last three coaching the program at the varsity level. After an 11-9-2 first year, Bolding led Norwich to a 19 wins and the ECAC East title a year ago, qualifying the Cadets for their first NCAA Tournament appearance. This year, the club repeated as ECAC East champion, shutting out both its semifinal and final opponents.His three-year varsity record is 51-26-8.

A native of Red Deer, Alberta, Bolding is a 1995 graduate of Norwich, where he was a standout defenseman in a Hall of Fame playing career (inducted in the school’s HOF in 2005). Before taking the reins of the women’s program, Bolding served two stints as an assistant to men’s head coch Mike McShane, who was named 2010 Coach of the Year on the men’s side.

Keith Maurice assisted Bolding this year, along with volunteers Dana Bean and Holly Russo. The runners-up for this year’s award were Jim Plumer of Amherst College and Andrew McPhee of Trinity College.

The Coach of the Year Award is chosen by members of the American Hockey Coaches Association and will be presented on Saturday, May 1 at the Celebration of Men's Ice Hockey banquet in Naples, Florida, as part of the annual AHCA Convention.