It began as a dream.

An official basketball team for the NBCC Woodstock campus? Many thought it wasn't a good idea. What about commitment? Will the team be competitive enough? However, with the hard work over the summer of director of adminstration Dale Finnamore and student activities coordinator Lori-Jean Johnson, the team became a reality.

The first question to arise was who would coach the team? It didn't take long before someone stepped up. David Cassidy, a Woodstock businessman and former coach of the Woodstock high school men's team was approached to coach the team. He quickly accepted and the ball started rolling.

The NBCC Woodstock Wolves (as the team would later become known) became only the second Canadian team in the Maine Small College Conference (MSCC). Another college in the NBCC system, Saint John was the other team.

Practices began in mid-September with quite a few guys showing up wanting to make the Wolves roster. At one time, I counted 15 guys out on the court.

From the begining there were two mandatory practices , on Monday and Wednesday. Occasionally an additional practice was held on a Friday night if we had a Saturday or Sunday game.

One thing that coach Cassidy was intent on was getting the team into shape. Since we were going to be a small team, being fit and being fast was the only way we would be able to stay in the games.

Cassidy would leave the last 15-minutes or so of practice for running. Whether it was wind sprints, better known as "killers" by the guys, stair running, or just simple dribbling drills, that would get the guys into shape.