Brian Shuman, the winningest coach in Canton High history across all sports, will speak at the school's mandatory athletics kick-off night Tuesday, Sept. 15.

The Student-Athlete and Parent/Guardian Kick-Off Night runs from 7 to 8:15 p.m. and is required for all student-athletes in fall sports and those planning to compete in winter or spring seasons. At least one parent or guardian is asked to attend. The Canton Bulldogs Athletic Boosters are sponsoring the evening, according to a post on the CHS Athletics blog by Athletic Director Danny Erickson.

Shuman compiled a 371-72-38 record across 21 seasons as head boys hockey coach from 2005 to 2026. The Bulldogs won five MIAA Division 2 state championships and 19 Hockomock League titles under his watch. He was named the 2019 USA Today National Boys Hockey Coach of the Year and earned Boston Globe Coach of the Year honors three times.

Canton went 24-1-0 in 2025-26, beating Tewksbury to capture the Division 2 state title in Shuman's final season, according to Hockomock Sports. Erickson announced Shuman's retirement on May 7.

Shuman is a 2026 inductee into the Massachusetts State Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

He also spent more than two decades as a social studies teacher at Westwood High. The athletic department said his talk will draw on his years as a coach, a parent and a Canton community member.

"It is impossible for me to come up with someone who has made a greater impact on so many here at CHS over the past 21 years," Erickson wrote in a May tribute on the athletics blog. "Coach Shuman sits atop a long list of transformational coaches I have worked with over the years."

After the March state championship win, Canton senior Cam Guerschuny, who scored the game-winner, credited Shuman's daily preparation and the team's close bond with the coaching staff.

Longtime assistant Tim Ford, a 2009 Canton graduate who played under Shuman, was named the new head coach on July 2. Ford had been on the Bulldogs' staff since 2014.

The Boosters will also welcome new members at the kick-off night.