MCLA Trailblazers

The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Trailblazers or MCLA Trailblazers are a men's hockey team and a women's hockey team representing the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Massachusetts. The teams are based out of the Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Skating Rink in North Adams.
The men's team was cancelled in 2003 but in a 2022 announcement the college announced the return of men's ice hockey along with the establishment of a women's hockey program for the 2023-24 playing season.
==Name History==
The men's team was known as the MCLA Mohawks from 1996 to 2002 and the North Adams State Mohawks from its' founding in 1972 until 1996 when the school was renamed. The team changed its nickname from Mohawks in 2002 (which it had used since 1963) when the NCAA started to pressure schools to change nicknames that could be potentially offensive to Native Americans. The new nickname was intended as a tribute to several trails located in the area and their historical significance to local and American history, as the Mohawk Trail was a trading and travel route that has been used for centuries for migration and trade between coastal New England and upstate New York and the town was a stop on the Underground Railroad (African-American Heritage Trail), which had many locals participate in the relocation of escaped slaves to New England ports and to Canada. The area also is part of the Appalachian, Long, Molly Stark,, Taconic, and Mount Greylock Trails3
==Men's Program==
For more detail please see MCLA Trailblazers men's ice hockey
==Women's Program==
For more detail please see MCLA Trailblazers women's ice hockey
Category:American ice hockey teams