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Borre takes strong West Salem program and makes it better

By Noah Fish, LaCrosse Tribune, 01/17/17, 7:00PM CST

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Third-year coach has record of 51-13-1 thus far

The archives are thin for the West Salem/Bangor boys hockey program, but the prospects are booming.

The Panthers program began in 2012, after the West Salem School Board voted to dissolve the 14-year hockey co-op between Sparta, West Salem and Bangor. From that point, the hockey roster would be fielded largely from West Salem, a village with a population less than 5,000 (there are usually one or two players from Bangor each season).

Like all things, it would take time for the program to form a new identity, but it was clear that West Salem/Bangor would not only weather the split from Sparta — they would quickly become a powerful program. In their five-year history, the Panthers have posted a 87-22-5 record.

At the head of forming this imposing identity was then-26-year old Eric Borre. In 2013, Borre, a Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., transplant with a couple seasons of junior hockey under his belt, was hired as a high school social studies teacher at West Salem, and thought maybe he’d get involved with the hockey program as an assistant like he had at Wisconsin Rapids.

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