Harwood Union boys hockey coach cited for DUI-2 will be allowed to coach championship
March 22, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
Harwood Boys Hockey Head Coach Shawn Thompson, rear left, watches the action from the bench at a home game at the Ice Center in Waterbury. Photo by Gordon Miller
After being stopped by Vermont State Police on Route 100 in Duxbury Sunday afternoon, Harwood Union High School boy's hockey coach Shawn Thompson is due in court next month to face a charge of Driving Under the Influence-second offense, state police said.
The incident, however, won’t prevent him from coaching the undefeated varsity team headed to the Division II state championship game on Wednesday.
In an email to Waterbury Roundabout Monday, Harwood Co-Principal Laurie Greenberg said school officials cannot discuss personnel matters publicly. However, she did say that Thompson would be permitted to coach this week.
The Highlanders are the defending D-II state champions who won the semifinal match against Middlebury, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon. The title game against No. 2 Brattleboro is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday at the B.O.R. Arena in Barre.
When reached Monday, Thompson, 31, acknowledged the weekend’s events but said in a reply email, “I’m not going to comment on the DUI right now as I want to focus on the team.”
Thompson was promoted from assistant to head coach of the Harwood boys varsity hockey team last month just before the delayed, shortened season began. He replaced former head coach Jacob Grout who was fired by Harwood administrators for sending an electronic message that contained multiple profanities to the student-athletes on the hockey team.
Popular with players and fans alike, Grout led the team to its state title in 2020, the first for the program in 15 years. He has appealed his dismissal to the Harwood Union School Board and an online petition supporting his return to the team has nearly 1,400 signatures.
In the news release about Thompson’s arrest on Sunday, Vermont State Police said they were acting on a tip when they pulled over Thompson on Vermont Route 100 in Duxbury. Police received a report just before 4:30 p.m. that Thompson was driving impaired from Stowe and headed to Duxbury. According to Trooper Paul Pennoyer from the Middlesex barracks, the information was relayed to state police from Lamoille County emergency dispatch. “The report was called in by an individual who Thompson had previously been in contact with in Stowe,” Pennoyer said.
Troopers stopped the southbound vehicle near the intersection of Route 100 and Crossett Hill Road, a short distance from Thompson’s residence on nearby Welch Road, Pennoyer said.
The investigation led to Thompson being arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence, the news release states. Thompson was taken to the Middlesex barracks for processing where police said his blood-alcohol level was determined to be 0.157% -- nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08% by which an adult driver in Vermont is considered under the influence.
Thompson is due in Washington County Superior Court in Barre to answer to the DUI-2 charge on April 8, according to the release. An online search of past police reports found an earlier DUI charge against Thompson from a traffic stop on Route 100 in Waterbury on Dec. 22, 2012.