Dwayne Norris

Who is Dwayne Norris?

Carl Dwayne Norris is a former professional ice hockey player. He started his hockey career with the St. John's Capitals of the Avalon Junior Hockey League. He left home at the young age of 14 to play with the Notre Dame Hounds. He then went on to play college hockey with Michigan State. From there he joined the AHL's Cornwall Aces after being drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. The Aces then moved their team to Halifax in 1994 under the name Halifax Citadels. Norris appeared in 20 National Hockey League regular season games for the Nordiques and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, scoring 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points and collecting 8 penalty minutes. In 1996 he moved to Germany and joined the Kölner Haie of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. In 2002 he won the German Championship with the Sharks when Cologne beat perennial rivals Mannheim Eagles 3:2 in the best-of-five final series with Norris netting the game winner in each of the Sharks' victories. Before the 2003/04 season he signed with league rivals Frankfurt Lions and immediately helped the Lions win the league title in his first season in Frankfurt. After three more seasons Norris retired from active play and, in a surprise move by his last club, became the Lions' General Manager in 2007, a position he held until the team filed for bankruptcy in May 2010. Norris is still now involved in hockey, he is the hockey director of an elite youth hockey program in Michigan, the Oakland Junior Grizzlies. Norris has three sons, all involved in the Oakland Junior Grizzlies AAA program. He currently coaches the Bantam Major and PeeWee Major Grizzly AAA hockey teams.