Norwood’s Noah Hanifin heading to Olympics

Norwood’s Noah Hanifin is heading to play at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy as a member of the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team.

Hanafin is a defenseman for the NHL Las Vegas Golden Knights. He has skated in 36 games so far in the 2025-26 season, scoring two goals and taking 17 assists.

“Everything’s been crammed together this year, but it’s all good,” he said.

Hanifin grew up in Norwood and played in many local programs, as one might expect for someone heading to the Olympics and playing in the NHL. What you might not expect, especially for a hockey player from Norwood, is that it wasn’t a family tradition for him.

“No one in my family ever really played hockey,” he said. “My dad played recreational hockey when he grew up, but nothing too serious, and no one in my greater family – cousins and so on – ever really played hockey. But ever since I can remember, anytime I had a hockey stick in my hand, I wanted to go and skate. I loved it and I was just obsessed since I was three years old.”

Hanifin said he progressed from there, moving up to more programs as he aged into them.

“It just kind of naturally happened when I was a kid and fortunately, my parents were able to put me in good programs. I was able to play for Norwood Youth Hockey and the South Shore Kings when I was eight years old and just had great coaching and was around other good players, and it just paved the way.”

Hanifin said two coaches had left what he feels were lasting impressions on him and his career growing up, including Norwood’s Tim Lovell.

“He runs Lovell Hockey School now, which is like a big program. Timmy’s from Norwood and was working at Day Street Sports when he was young and that’s where I met him,” he said. “I went in to get my skates sharpened when I was like, I think five or six years old, and Timmy was hanging fliers on the wall for skating school at the pond in Norwood and I just formed a tight relationship with Timmy.”

Hanifin said he and Lovell worked on his skills at the Pond, which used to be over by the Norwood Country Club and has since been discontinued. The Frog Pond has since taken up that mantle.

“We worked on skills from when I was a kid all the way up to 15 or 16,” he said.

Hanifin said his experience with the South Shore Kings, an amateur hockey program based out of Foxborough, also shored up his skills as a youngster.

“Neil Shea, who was with the South Shore Kings, he played at Boston College, and he was a scout for Pittsburgh and now Colorado, but his son played on my team. Neil was my coach when I was like seven to 12 or 13,” he said. “He had a huge impact on me. At that age, he really taught me the game and made me a better player.”

Hanifin played for the USA Hockey National Development Program U17 (under 17) team in Ann Arbor, Michigan and then was added to the U18 team as an underage player in the United States Hockey League, the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and helped lead Team USA to a Gold Medal in the 2014 International Hockey Federation World U18 Championships.

In 2015, the NHL Caolina Hurricanes drafted him, and he played on a three-year entry-level contract. He went on to the Calgary Flames in 2018 and came to the Golden Knights in 2024.

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On Jan. 2 of this year, he got the news he was headed to the Olympics.

“Just getting the call, it was amazing,” he said. “It was such a tough team to make; there are so many guys who could easily be on that team but getting that call was a huge honor. I couldn’t be more proud to be able to go over there and play the best guys in the world and represent America.”

Hanifin said it’s definitely something he’s thought about before.

“It’s a huge honor, and something I’ve always had circled my entire life,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to play in the NHL, but also, playing in the Olympics was always a huge goal of mine. For me, there is so much competition and there are a lot of great American defensemen professionally. I’ve had a few solid years, and I’ve built up some solid relationships with players I’ve played with in the past, and a lot of guys around my age that I played in the National program in Ann Arbor, and we all kind of grew up together.”

Hanifin said he believes the team’s familiarity will be a big help in Italy.

“I think that’s a huge asset for the team, having that chemistry and a lot of the guys are familiar with each other,” he said.

Hanifin said he’s finishing out the season in Las Vegas and then will start training again, if only for a little bit. The first Men’s Preliminary Round for the U.S. Hockey Team is set for Feb. 12 versus Latvia, with the last scheduled game for the Golden Knights set for Feb. 5.