Men's Ice Hockey | July 03, 2019
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan hockey program will be inducting alum Colin Ward and long-time program supporter Ken Dickie into the WMU Hockey Ring of Honor during the annual Friends & Alumni Weekend, beginning July 26.
The ceremony will take place prior to the golf outing at The Moors at 12:30 p.m.
Ward played four season with the Broncos from 1990-94. As a forward he appeared in 155 career games, reaching 145 points on 88 goals and 57 assists. Ward's 88 goals are tied for seventh-most in a career at Western Michigan. Ward led the Broncos in three of the four seasons, including 31 during his senior season, in which he helped lead WMU to the program's second NCAA Tournament berth.
Off the ice Ward achieved a tremendous amount of success at Western Michigan University. Ward was a First Team Academic All-Central Collegiate Hockey Association selection during the 1993-94 season. That season he was also named the WMU Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year and a CoSIDA Third Team Academic All-American.
After graduating he went on to have an extensive career overseas, primarily in the British Ice Hockey Superleague for the Bracknell Bees and the Belfast Giants. Since retiring from professional hockey he has continued to contribute to the game as a coach and leader for the Mindapore Minor Hockey Association in Calgary, Alberta. With Mindapore he has developed coaching programs for youth hockey, served as the director of coaches, served as a board member and has been voted coach of the Year. Ward has also been instrumental in raising funds to support underprivileged families and scholarships in the MHA.
Dickie enters the Ring of Honor in the "builders" category. His association with WMU hockey goes all the way back to the 1960's when, as a referee, he came to know coaches Harry Lawson and Ed Edwards during the program's club years. Dickie was the voice of the Bronco hockey team on WMUK from 1979-82, when WMU's radio station stopped broadcasting games. After that, he was a season ticket holder and a Bronco Blue Line Club member until his retirement from Westerns Michigan University in 1992.
Dickie returned to Kalamazoo in 2005 and helped as a CCHA off-ice official until 2012, when he became the program's Volunteer Alumni and Events Coordinator. In this role he has authored the monthly alumni and Blue Line Club newsletters, helped create the WMU Hockey Ring of Honor and serving as selection committee chair, planning and coordinating annual events like the Friends & Alumni Weekend, Ice Duchenne, Hockey Cares, meet the team, KOHA Pizza Skates, parent's breakfast, senior breakfast, team holiday dinners and the annual awards banquet.
Registration is open for the WMU Hockey Friends & Alumni Weekend at www.wmugolfoutings.com.
